If you’ve done your any private birth education, you’ll know exactly what I’m taking about when I say “use your BRAINS” in pregnancy and birth. Of course, I don’t mean your actual brain, although, that is often helpful. I mean the decision making acronym B.R.A.I.N.S that will help you decide if something is a HELL YES or a no thanks. Not only this, it will help guide conversations with your health care providers so that you can fully give informed consent for anything that is done to you or your baby.

I think it’s about time we re-branded Due Dates for good. Due Dates are not only totally out of date (no pun intended), but they are inaccurate 96% of the time and usually do more harm than good by putting unnecessary pressure on mums.

So… how did we come to getting these EDDs (estimated due dates)?

I feel that the idea of a doula is misunderstood in so many ways. In fact, I even named my business The “Modern” Doula because I felt that we needed to modernise the type of care women and their partner’s receive in birth, as we now birth in systemic places like hospitals, instead of the home where traditionally, circles of women and birth keepers would be present.

Perhaps I’m too far ahead of myself though because, let’s be honest, most people don’t even know what a doula is. If i could direct those people here, I would. In the meantime, here are 5 things I wish more people knew about doulas.

I know that you’ve researched the shit out of what you should pack in your hospital bag. I know this, because I was once you too. When I was pregnant, I watched a million YouTube videos, signed up to a few hundred mailing lists just to get the free packing checklist, and devoured every single piece of content around hospital bags that you could imagine.

I always love a good chia pudding, but I’m forever googling trying to work out the correct chia to liquid ratio and never end up using the same recipe twice. I reckon I’ve finally worked it out, and to make sure I never lose it again, I’m sharing it here!

Chia seeds are incredible little guys, and are an amazing source of fibre. I love including chia in my postpartum meals for mama’s as they are delicious, easy to prep the night before for a fuss-free breakfast, and keep you fuller for longer.

My favourite part of being a doula is helping women get out of the passenger seat and into the driver’s seat of their pregnancy and birth. Most of the time, women don’t even realise they’re in the passenger seat, but after reflecting on their journey, realised they had ended up there, feeling like that was the only option.

Partners have a huge role to play on “game day”. So to take the pressure off, I’m sharing my top tips for birth partners to ensure you feel like you’ve got your shit together and you’re ready to take on whatever happens on the day.