I've worked with a couple of families who have traveled back to Adelaide specifically for the birth of their baby. Navigating a health-care system you aren't familiar with can add another level of uncertainty to your situation and may mean you are away from your family, friends or usual support network.
Hiring me as your doula provides you with a level of continuity of care and a support person who is there just for you and your family. Thanks to Kate, Craig and their delightful daughter for sharing this with me. We recently hired Kelly as a doula for the birth of our first baby and she was phenomenal! We moved to Adelaide just 6 weeks prior to the birth and we were in search of someone who could provide continuity of care and support with a public hospital birth. She gave us that... and so much more! Our initial meetings with Kelly helped to inform our approach to the birth, allowed us to work through answers to many questions and left us feeling empowered. During labour, when our birth deviated from some of our original preferences, Kelly supported us in the process of making confident and informed decisions that were best for us and our baby. She has a kind nature, a calming presence and an open heart. If you are looking for a doula, Kelly is a dream to work with and we can't imagine our birth experience without her!
As you can see from my client's own words, birth is unpredictable. Sometimes it doesn't matter if you've taken all the classes, read all the books and blogs and even hired a doula. Mother nature can have her own plans. But what can you do when your birth takes an unexpected turn?
6 Things You Can Do When Your Birth Isn't Going To Plan
Everyone has some kind of plan, hopes, preferences or wishes for how they want the birth of their baby to go. Which is great. Hopefully it means that you've thought about your options and your family's values and made a communication document for your care provider.
If you're a client of mine, we will also talk through your back-up plans while you are still pregnant. This includes what your preferences might be if you change your mind about something, pain relief for example, or if your body or baby have their own plans and you need to consider an instrumental or surgical birth. So what can you do if your birth is deviating from your original plan?
If you are interested in a birth planning session that covers all this and more, you can work with me here. You'll soon see that I do things a little differently when it comes to birth plans and expectations! Birth planning and coaching sessions are available to anyone and can be done over Zoom or Skype. They can be single sessions to help you prepare for your birth.
This post is not intended to cover what to do if your birth has left you feeling traumatised in any way. If you need support and resources for a bad birth, please use this link or the resources on Pinterest board below.
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Every person's reasons for choosing to encapsulate their placenta are different. It might be that they've heard about it from a friend or in the media and think it sounds like something they're happy to try. Perhaps they suffered from Postnatal Depression after their last pregnancy and are willing to try everything to avoid a repeat experience. Some women wish to honour the placenta and complete a full circle journey. Whatever the reason, they are all equally valid and unique, just as your placenta is. One of my clients, Kirsty, talks about her reasons and what she experienced from taking her placenta capsules.  I had my first baby in a rural hospital, so I didn’t get to keep my placenta, it wasn’t even an option (or so I thought), and within days of delivery I was slipping into post natal depression. For my second, and last, baby I knew I had this opportunity. The idea of having another placenta literally thrown in the bin was heart breaking for me, and PND is the darkest place I’ve ever been, I would do anything to not experience that again. I can’t say that my capsules alone stopped post natal depression this time, but it helped me form a bond with my midwives who helped me basically smuggle my placenta out of the hospital in a bucket, it made me feel strong, proud, and powerful to be able to bring it home and decide what happened with the parts of mine and my baby’s body. It made me feel like a strong mama bear, using what my body had given me to aid my recovery. Tammy's Birth At Home
After days of niggles and contractions coming and going, Tammy called me around 8:30 at night to let me know her waters had broken. We had a chat on the phone and as things were still early, we agreed I would call her back in about an hour to see how things were moving. After our second chat, we decided I would head up there as she has a history of quick births and her house was a 40 minute drive away. I grabbed my doula bag and hopped in the car.
I was greeted at the door by her hubby and headed inside to find everyone casually chatting on the couch watching TV. After a shower and nice long back massage, things were progressing quite nicely for Tammy so she headed into their spa bath where her precious baby girl arrived just after 1am. The way Tammy inwardly focused herself and headed off into her "labour land" was amazing to be part of and reminded me a lot of myself. Interesting in itself as obviously you can't watch yourself give birth as a third party. As always, I learnt a lot from the independent midwives she had hired to support her; the way they encouraged her through the hard peaks, cheered her accomplishments and just let birth be. Things that will stay with me from this birth: Tammy rocking her birth like a boss, big sister's tears of happiness and watching a man become a father for the first time. Thank you x 
If you are birthing around Adelaide and are interested in having me as your doula, find out more on my Doula Support Page by clicking the link.
 Hi Kelly! I haven't gotten around to messaging you yet to tell you how wonderful my placenta encapsulation is!
I absolutely love the box and thank you so much for such a quick turn-around! I definitely feel like my pills have helped me have that extra energy boost and my milk supply is plentiful! You do such a wonderful job and I can't help but sing my praises to those around me. What some once thought was "disgusting" have been impressed and intrigued on my journey and now don't think so badly of it. Keep being awesome and thankyou so much! I'll definately keep you in my contacts for if we decide to have another in the future. Many blessings x I have used the capsules for my last two births and wish that I knew about it for my first two. The experience was so much more enjoyable because I felt better in myself using the capsules. I felt alive (so to speak) I wasn't tired and was able to function like a normal human being. I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone, I wasn't lucky enough for it to have any impact on milk supply and I have struggled with all four with supply issues. I know that the initial outlay may seem like a lot when you have all of the other stuff you need for a baby but this should be on the top to make your time easier and feel better as they grow so quickly so you want to enjoy every single bit! Jodi - Mum of Four  Jodi's feedback on her placenta capsules |
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About MeKelly Harper is the owner of Elemental Beginnings Doula & Placenta Services in Adelaide. She provides sleep consultancy, placenta encapsulation and doula services to families during pregnancy, birth and in their fourth trimester. 
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