The Birth Gem Doula

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Doula Services
Massage and Reiki
The postnatal pantry
Blog
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Contact

Contact

Phone

07545 061 535

Email

contact@thebirthgem.co.uk

About
Doula Services
Massage and Reiki
The postnatal pantry
Blog
Birth Art Mandala and Belly Painting
Placenta Remedies
Contact

Upright birth The supported standing squat is suc

Upright birth
The supported standing squat is such a wonderful use of gravity and of your partner!
Such a wonderful way to connect as you bring your baby earth side together.
This position for the 2nd stage has a few advantages
❤️ Pelvis is wide open & you have maximum counterbalance
❤️Efficiency, makes great use of gravity
❤️ Encourages freedom of movement and to follow the natural instincts of your body

Standing, dancing or walking in between contractions. During a contraction your partner may support you from behind as you instinctively squat. Let go and surrender to the force, rest your head against your partner and allow yourself to be fully held. Feet flat, breath deeply into the earth focussing down through your feet.
These images are from Janet Balaskas Active birth book. This mother birthed in a supported squat in just one contraction!
“With the first urges to bear down I searched for a posture to help me to do so. The best one was with my husband holding me up from behind with his arms passing under mine while I just let myself hang loose. It was not only comfortable for me, but feeling his physical strength revives my bow tired body and it also gave us a sense of bonding. The bearing down happened on its own and in just 4 pushes our baby was out.”
Try practicing this position together occasionally at home with your other birth prep and see how it feels. Bare foot with no socks though! Take care of your posture, resist the urge to hunch over and practice grounding together, breathing deeply. Lean back a little, straight back strong thighs with your feet slightly apart. Carry her weight against your pelvis. Arms and shoulders soft. Practice coming smoothly in and out of the pose.
I also highly recommend buying the active birth book, such a treasure and perfect companion to my biomechanics training.
Sources ~ Active birth, the new approach to giving birth naturally
#activebirth #uprightbirth #birthpositions #birthdoula #birthpositions #empoweredbirth #birthfreedom #biomechanics #biomechanicsforbirth

Peanut butter squares recipe as requested! 💖 As

Peanut butter squares recipe as requested! 💖
As I’ve said these aren’t exactly ‘good for you’ but they are good for the soul! Peanut butter and chocolate, such a winning combo! My Reeses loving husband & son have agreed that these are just as good.
🥜Base:
50g dark muscovado sugar
200g icing sugar (I used 180g before and it turned out fine)
50g unsalted butter
200g smooth peanut butter
Put all the ingredients together and either mix with a paddle attachment or combine in the magimix, I’ve tried both and preferred the result in the magimix. If you don’t have a mixer or blender give it some welly by hand! Press the mixture into a lined brownie tin and press down with the back of a metal spoon until you have an even base. Put this in the freezer while you make the chocolate topping.
🍫Topping:
200g dark chocolate
100g milk chocolate (if you prefer swap the milk & dark measurements over. Some prefer a more milk choc topping)
1tbsp unsalted butter
Melt together either in a double boiler or in a microwave until smooth.
Remove the tin from the freezer and spread the chocolate topping over the base and put in the fridge to set.
❤️In around an hour if you can wait that long check that the choc has hardened then slice into smallish squares. You’ll need to hide these from yourself and your family as they are sooooo addictive!
#peanutbuttersquares #peanut butter lover #nobakedessert #sweettooth #peanutbutterandchocolate #doulatreats

Today I felt truly ready to step into Autumn after

Today I felt truly ready to step into Autumn after sharing a tender evening honouring the Autumn equinox with some dear parents and their little ones, I actually felt the chill rising from the earth as I walked the fields this morning. The first of what I hope will be many feasts, and how nice it felt to leave under the glow of a ripe autumnal moon 🌕
We lay some gifts at the altar and feasted by the fire.
🍎Celebrating the bounty of the earth with lovingly prepared seasonal food, our very own feast of Avalon! We shared, connected and chatted about parenting, home Ed and more. I learned of plans that are coming into fruition, connections have been made, children exhausted and plates cleared!
Today I reflect on my inner harvest and give thanks for the abundance.
🍂This equinox is always a good opportunity to ask your soul, what is balanced in your life? just as nature prepares to let go, what are you ready to let go of?
🍂How will you prepare for the darker days? As the leaves change and the blackberries die they seem to ask What will you put in place to nurture yourself into the darkness?
Give thanks and feast, see you at the next mothers supper! You are so welcome 💖
Many thanks to @rebecca_austin86 for the space
#feast #motherssupper #feastofavalon #autumnequinox #fullmoongathering #foodoflove #wheeloftheyear #mindfulparenting #mindfuleating

Hire me to be your Doula and there’s always a ch

Hire me to be your Doula and there’s always a chance that I’ll be feeding you forever!
@laurajohnstone it was a pleasure to again celebrate wonderful, magical you and to feed your party with cake and more 💖 #cake #letthemeatcake #doulalove #feedingislove #foodoflove #celebrationfood

💚Himalayan Balsam also known as the poor mans o

💚Himalayan Balsam also known as the poor mans orchid and kiss me on the mountain.
Not often celebrated but I love her! known to be an invasive non native species but she didn’t ask to be taken from the Himalayas and put in our British gardens in the 1800s! Soon after being introduced to our gardens as the ‘poor mans orchid’ she escaped and spread, and it’s no wonder because those exploding seed pods can spread at least 4 metres from the parent plant. You’ll mostly found her along riverbanks and ditches nowadays. I really enjoy them and their various uses. I enjoy the scent as I take a walk on a warm day, I enjoy the little bee butts poking out of the bonnet shaped flowers, I enjoy the exploding pods and so do my boys! The more we make use of her little gifts, especially the seeds and pods the better we help with the spread.
💚Use the young leaves and flowers in salads, the older leaves in stews and soups
💚The nutty seeds can be enjoyed raw in salads or toasted and ground as a ground almond substitute, Baked in cookies and cakes. Also great in a curry, a client turned me on to this use after telling me of her Indian grandma’s curry that included the seeds both the white and black and the pods. To collect the seeds put a bag over as many heads a possible and shake!
💚Seed pods that aren’t yet ready to pop can be enjoyed like mangetout, they can be stir fried or eaten raw. Also good in a curry. It’s worth noting this plant is very mineral rich so advice I received is don’t eat them too frequently l, not that you could really!
💚Maybe most simple use of all, simply display them with other wild flowers, give her a little love and admire her because like I said, she didn’t ask to be moved!
#himalayanbalsam #wildfoodlove #wildfood #greenwitch #giftsfrommotherearth #kitchenwitch #walksinnature #riverbank

❤️ The village ❤️ You’ve probably heard

❤️ The village ❤️
You’ve probably heard the proverb “it takes a village” before, often interpreted ad it takes a village to raise a child. It really means and I feel this right to the core of me that it takes a village to raise and support a parent. We all know that we weren’t supposed to take this epic journey of motherhood alone, we feel it deep in our hearts but somehow we often feel so alone in our mothering, and stuck there unable or unsure of who to reach out to. Connection is so vital to our health yet It can feel that we have lost this elusive village of the past, I don’t think we have though. I don’t think we have lost the village, I think the village has been re imagined for how we live now. I have so much hope for connection, so much hope for us gathering to fill in those gaps left where the village would exist.
Our village now has to be created and gathered from a web of scattered support that includes paid professionals and loved ones. Our village 2.0 is made not only of friends and family near and far but of online spaces and communities, doulas and their valuable community, one they are so enthusiastic to lovingly share with you, our village can be found in true supportive midwives, lactation consultants and face to face groups. Our village is one that we grow and share and it can be a beautiful thing. Mothers supporting mothers, mother lovers and professionals all here ready to be your village. It can be small or big but always so valuable. Parents need and deserve support, connection, love and tenderness. Parents need community.
How do we grow our village?
💖 create a postnatal plan, reflect on what you may need and who or what might provide this
💖Practice asking for and accepting help
Reach out!
💖Seek out and use recommended and supportive, non judgemental online spaces
💖Build your web of support
💖 Once you feel able, BE a part of the village. Connect, share and support.
Beautiful art by @nomkinnearking
#thevillage #postpartum #the4thtrimester #sacredpostpartum #doula #motherhoodunplugged #motherhoodrising #ittakesavillage

Posted @withregram • @rainbowrialew After a just

Posted @withregram • @rainbowrialew After a just arriving home from a day of serving mothers how beautiful this was to see on my feed from a very precious goddess… of course I cried!
🌸DOULA 🌸

Today I received the most wonderful ‘closing of the bones’ massage and milk flower bath from my incredible doula @doulagemma 💘

Having Gemma with me for my pregnancy, birth and postnatally has been such a gift. Every time I see her, I am mothered to no end. She has brought a whole new meaning to ‘mothering the mother’ ~ a concept we so often forget when we and others become mothers.

Her warmth, kindness and strength in advocacy for positive birthing is contagious and I thank my lucky stars I found her. ✨

I hope to make women feel like you’ve made me feel one day, every mother deserves to feel like a goddess🙏🏻

Thank you for the endless treats, herbal teas and for holding this sacred space so dearly. 🌙
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#doula #postnatal #milkbath #flowerbath #pregnancy #birthdoula #postnatalmassage

❤️ Recipe day! ❤️ Im exiting the inner spr

❤️ Recipe day! ❤️
Im exiting the inner spring stage of my cycle today and feeling inspired to create and renew but not really feeling so energetic! I’ve taken this rainy low energy day as a chance to create and take inspiration from my recipe books. I may be a compulsive cook, I find it such a satisfying way to create and such a simple and joyful way to connect with people. It’s my go to way to create, the other is decorating and adorning my home and garden. Both house and kitchen witch things I notice, going to the comfort of my hearth is my thing I guess!
These two recipe books are so precious to me and are full of love. Today I’m reflecting, gathering inspiration and adding new recipes that at the moment exist partly in odd measurements and notes scribbled on the backs of envelopes and scraps of egg sloshed paper 😆 I’m not great at remembering to write whole recipes down but do love to have them in the books so occasionally I set myself the big task.
❤️The left was gifted to me by my mother in law, it contained just one handwritten recipe for hollandaise sauce and has since become my mother lover book filled with my pregnancy & postnatal creations and notes on nourishment of all kinds, potions, creams, balms, soaks and herbs following the seasons in my much less beautiful handwriting!
❤️The more modern but equally precious on the right was a gift from my sister, the memory of it coming to me in my first Christmas at my home 9 years ago makes me smile, I immediately slipped my old printed recipes in the appropriate spaces and vowed that I would fill it quickly, it took me years to get round to it of course! This is my family recipe book and symbolic of many beginnings. I have recipes from my new motherhood days, when I first taught myself to cook so that I may nourish my family in ways I hadn’t known how to nourish myself previously. I could never had predicted how much this would heal me or how precious the act of creating nourishment would become. I do so love a recipe book, as much as I love any journal or sketch book. Full of creativity, memories and stories ❤️
#recipebook #doula #nourishment #whofeedsyou #compulsivecook #recipes #innerseasons

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The Birth Gem - Doula, Massage and Reiki
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