Welcome to Doula Praktijk Rotterdam Zuid, where maternal matters!

I am Finnish-Irish, mother of two, married to a wonderful Dutch man, and living in The Netherlands since 2004. I speak English, Finnish, Dutch and basic French, and besides my doula practice work as a visual artist, writer and a researcher at the Utrecht University, from where I obtained my doctoral degree on maternal subjectivity and practices of care as aesthetic, political and environmental forces in the practices of five contemporary mother-artists. I am also the founding director of the international foundation m/other voices, and work as a mentor for aspiring doulas during their work experience periods at In Bloei, Rotterdam. This might sound like a lot, but the wonderful thing is that each of these activities beautifully supports and complements each other. I get to manage my own time and do what I love. I feel very lucky to have managed to create a working life that I am truly passionate about. 

I trained as a doula (2014-2015) with Opleiding tot Doula in Utrecht, recognized by the Nederlandse Beroepsvereniging voor Doula's. Besides the thorough and grounding training, this offered me the opportunity to become an active member of an international community of doulas, midwifes and other birth professionals. Having such a network of knowledge around me is something I value tremendously and that I bring with me when working with clients.

Working as a Doula is one of the most rewarding and meaningful things for me as a woman and a mother and it is a role that beautifully combines all of my other interests and roles, both private and professional. I am passionate about the interactive movement between the birthing bodies of mother and baby, as well as the partner present at labour. My wish is to guide, support and empower the mother-to-be and her partner through the emotional and physical stages of labor so that she can have a birth experience which is not only filled with the most up-to-date medical knowledge, but also love, care and respect. I view labour as a life event where not only a baby, but also a mother and a father are being born.

What Can I Do For You?

Each woman, couple, situation, and birth is unique and different. Each client-doula relationship is unique and different. There is no one standard way to be a doula for all clients as each woman has different needs, desires and history. In my approach I always make the woman and her specific situation and history the starting point. The mother-to-be and her personal story are on the foreground and I take the lead from her. In other words, each birth relationship is personalised and starts from a commitment to work as a team with the mother, her partner, and her whole birthing team.

Main elements of my role as a doula are: 

• Offer personalized, emotional, practical and physiological (bodywork) support to prepare you and your partner for labor and birth with knowledge, confidence and trust.

• Guide and support you prepare both: a birth plan and a postpartum plan.

• Continuous labour and birth support regardless of the duration and place.

• Offer a framework, practical tools and resources to support you and partner to transition from partners to parents, postpartum.

• Offer a framework, practical tools, and resources to support you to navigate your transition into motherhood.

• In the postpartum period I offer support by giving the mother a space where she can process and integrate her experience.

• I employ safe, non-invasive techniques to manage pain and assist the labouring mother in ways that help the birth to progress in a physiologically natural way. I work with touch, sound, movement, (spinning babies techniques), massage, reflexology, counter pressure, acupressure, South American Rebozo Manteada techniques (see ‘Individual Sessions’ under 'Services’ about the Indigenous origins and traditions of the Rebozo), visualisation, breathing techniques, aromatherapy and employ techniques of active listening, being present and attentive as a woman and as a mother, all the while guarding the labouring mother's privacy, wishes and physical space in a way that gives her the most optimum situation to labour and birth.

For more detailed information, see under: ‘The Essentials’, or contact me directly!

Looking much forward to meeting you,

Warmly!
Doula Deirdre,
Doula Praktijk Rotterdam Zuid