We know that there is a lot of societal pressure to not talk about your pregnancy for the first 12 weeks – we think this is insulting. The idea that you must wait until you have had your 12 week scan (which in itself puts a heavy focus on the expectance of engaging with the medical system) does a lot to undermine women’s intuition, but also their strength. Women can and do cope with loss, but they shouldn’t have to do that alone, or hold in their feelings until everyone around them feels more comfortable. You can read more about our feelings on the 12 weeks “rule” here.
We have created this support plan focusing on the first 12 weeks of pregnancy to give women a place to share their feelings, fears and excitement!
Who is this for?
This support plan is for women who are in their first trimester of pregnancy. Intuitively knowing you are pregnant is enough – you don’t need to have pee’d on a stick if that’s not your thing! You might feel like you can’t tell anyone about your pregnancy yet (“just in case something happens”) but you don’t want to keep all your feelings bottled up. We’re here to listen and you deserve somewhere where you will be heard.
What can you do for me?
During the 3 months of being your doulas our aim would be to reflect back to you all of your wisdom, strength and confidence. To do that, we can:
- be a safe space for you to share all of the feelings that come up during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, that you might not feel able to share in other places
- remind you that pregnancy is a normal bodily function, and that you have everything you need to thrive during this time
- support you in finding ways to celebrate your early pregnancy in ways that feel good for you
- help you prepare mentally, emotionally, and practically and realistically for becoming a mum – for the first time, or all over again
- walk alongside you as you reflect on and process past experiences, whether they were great, disappointing, traumatising, or anything in between, so you can recognise that you are a different woman having a different baby in a different situation, and face this birth afresh
- hold space for the whole and complex woman you are
- listen, we won’t judge, and we trust wholeheartedly that you are the expert on you
- be there for you in whatever way you need if you were to suffer a loss
What does this support plan look like?
Every woman will want and need different things from us, but here are some of the ways you could use this plan:
- unlimited holding space sessions either online or in-person
- a Whatsapp group chat with the doulas where you can share, vent, brain-dump and arrange sessions when ever you want
- unlimited contact via messages and email
- follow-up emails from our meetings to help us keep track
- reminders about our drop-ins and groups
- rewind sessions for processing trauma
- access to our lending library and resources
- pregnancy, birth and postpartum planning sessions including plan templates
- the opportunity to debrief any previous birth experiences
- a plan for when the 3 month support plan comes to an end
I’m interested – what now?
We would have an initial session to talk about your needs and how you envision us supporting you. It’s really important before embarking on a working relationship that we each feel it’s a good fit, so a free ‘get to know you’ 30 minute call is a good place to start. You can book one of these calls here.
In a nutshell..
We will be your team of doulas, for three months for £1300 via unlimited support sessions (which you can book in advance or as and when) and communication by WhatsApp during your first 12 weeks of pregnancy. If the fee would be unmanageable for you, please don’t let that be a barrier as we do have funding available! Just ask us about this.