Birth doulas support women and families who are planning all kinds of birth, from planned caesarean birth or early epidural to home water birth.
Postnatal doulas typically start working with with a family in the first few months after birth, but some doulas do work with families with older babies too. Sometimes postnatal doulas are booked antenatally, sometimes only when a family find they are struggling or feel the need for more support. The length of time a postnatal doula spends with a family varies enormously from the initial 6-8 weeks, to years!
Here to help you with any questions you may have during pregnancy, labour and postnatal.
Doulas provide continuous support for the whole family through pregnancy, birth and the early days of parenthood. Filling a role that new mothers and families have always needed, we are there to listen, give confidence and not judge. Offering flexible, practical and emotional support we work in women’s own homes as well as in hospitals throughout the UK.
Doulas are usually experienced women who have completed some basic training. We do not offer clinical skills and are not medically trained.
I am an experienced birth and postnatal doula having trained with Developing Doulas in February 2020
I am passionate about supporting the whole family through their journey and am keen to encourage a positive experience of the pregnancy, birth and early weeks with a new baby.
"Helen has been an invaluable source of support and information since the first time we met. I would recommend her to anyone looking for a kind, empathetic and knowledgeable person to be on the other end of a phone call or message. I can’t thank her enough for being there for me during this unprecedented time; I don’t think I would have felt as confident without her support."
"Helen gave me the birth of my dreams. I cannot recommend her highly enough. She worked brilliantly alongside my community midwives. I felt in very safe hands and she was a great sounding board for decisions throughout my pregnancy"
"Working with Helen as a doula was fantastic - she is reassuring, knowledgeable, kind and was able to help us to the best homebirth we could have imagined. Our little one came at 41+7 - those last weeks she helped us navigate through the pressures to induce and she fended off suggestions to transfer to hospital even during labour (on the basis of time of day and dates), as she fully understood my preferences, values and the situation. She was right with us from when things were getting going, right up to helping my partner tuck little one into bed for the first time. Helen took the pressure off us with her professionalism, skills, and compassion, allowing us to focus on becoming new parents together"
"Helen stood by me my entire birth giving me so much support. Her confidence in me gave me the strength to have a dream homebirth, something that was so far from me even considering before meeting her. She has made a fundamental difference in my life, and my confidence in myself after experiencing a traumatic first birth then going on to having a birth story I'm still amazed is mine. I can't thank her enough."
Bury St Edmunds
Helen Fortes
07729 817250
natalnurturing@outlook.com
Mon - Fri, 8:00-20:00