Stories From The Womb

Charlotte Butterworth Pool aka The Smart Doula is a mother of two. She proudly describes herself as a geek, with a biomedical background. She is a passionate virtual doula who loves to rake through research based evidence in the birth world, such as it is, with a fine toothed comb.She even watches One Born Every Minute through her scientific lens, analysing the practices she sees from maternity services personnelFollow Charlotte on InstagramVisit her website to join her WhatsApp communityAnd take a look at this article about the evidence behind Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidelines

Shannon endured obstetric violence, coercion and a complete disregard for her wishes during the birth of her first child in hospitalWhen the time came to birth her second child, Shannon knew she wanted things to be differentWith the support of her husband and midwives who were under strict instructions to respect her wishes second time round, Shannon free birthed her second baby at homeAs her husband says, "we got up, had a baby then finished our day"Listen to the whole story in this episodeShannon has turned her experience around and become a hypnobirthing instructor and antenatal teacherFollow her on Instagram visit her website or find her on Facebook

Gina Mundy became a birth injury attorney as she came out of law school. It wasn't a role that was ever mentioned in law school. She has never looked backGina has spent over 20 years studying birth injury cases in hindsightShe analyses what happened, why it happened, which warning signs were missed, and what could have changed the outcomeThat perspective became the foundation for her internationally bestselling bookA Parent's Guide to a Safer Childbirth: Expecting the Best: Using the Power of Knowledge to Help You Deliver a Healthy BabyTime and again, she has reviewed cases which began with induction of labour and led to the well documented Cascade of InterventionsGina's personal wish and ambition is that all labours will be supported by doulas within the next ten yearsShe is a passionate advocate of informed choice and letting nature unfold during birth as a preferred optionFollow Gina on Instagram LinkedIn and TikTok and listen to her podcast YouTubeAnd visit her website to find out more about her work

Tess Lovely is a mother of five and grandmother to five girls. She healed herself from ovarian cancer when her children were young.Tess is a former NHS midwife and passionate advocate for women, physiological birth and home birth.With nearly three decades of experience working within the NHS, Tess supported women and families across countless pregnancy and birth journeys. In 2024 she chose to leave the NHS, and stepped away from the NMC in 2025, after recognising that the direction of the system no longer aligned with her core values around autonomy, informed choice and woman-centred care.Drawing on both her professional experience and her own experiences of motherhood and home birth, Tess now works independently through ⁠⁠⁠Birth From Within Southwest⁠⁠⁠. She continues to support women through pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, while offering a much broader range of holistic support from her Birth From Within studio.Tess's work includes birth preparation, doula and birth-keeping support, hypnotherapy, women’s circles, emotional support, education, workshops and community spaces designed to help women feel informed, supported and connected to themselves.At the heart of Tess’s work is a simple belief: women deserve to feel heard, respected and supported to make informed choices about their own bodies, their births and their lives.Tess is a deeply intuitive birth worker with decades of practical experienceThis is the second half of my conversation with Tess about her experiences as a midwife and Labour Ward coordinatorFollow Tess on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠And listen to her pod - ⁠⁠⁠The Good, The Bad and The Vagina⁠⁠⁠If you like what I am doing, and would like to support my work, please consider ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buying me a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠It will mean I can keep shining a light on female health and the birth world and inspiring the next generation to take back control of this sacred rite of passage

Tess Lovely is a mother of five and grandmother to five girls. She healed herself from ovarian cancer when her children were young.Tess is a former NHS midwife and passionate advocate for women, physiological birth and home birth.With nearly three decades of experience working within the NHS, Tess supported women and families across countless pregnancy and birth journeys. In 2024 she chose to leave the NHS, and stepped away from the NMC in 2025, after recognising that the direction of the system no longer aligned with her core values around autonomy, informed choice and woman-centred care.Drawing on both her professional experience and her own experiences of motherhood and home birth, Tess now works independently through ⁠⁠Birth From Within Southwest⁠⁠. She continues to support women through pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, while offering a much broader range of holistic support from her Birth From Within studio.Tess's work includes birth preparation, doula and birth-keeping support, hypnotherapy, women’s circles, emotional support, education, workshops and community spaces designed to help women feel informed, supported and connected to themselves.At the heart of Tess’s work is a simple belief: women deserve to feel heard, respected and supported to make informed choices about their own bodies, their births and their lives.Tess is a deeply intuitive birth worker with decades of practical experienceIn this conversation we talk about Tess's experiences as a midwife and Labour Ward coordinatorFollow Tess on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠And listen to her pod - ⁠⁠The Good, The Bad and The Vagina⁠⁠Here's a link to the DoTerra product Deep Blue that Tess spoke aboutIf you like what I am doing, and would like to support my work, please consider ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buying me a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠It will mean I can keep shining a light on female health and the birth world and inspiring the next generation to take back control of this sacred rite of passage

Natalie Abouchai is a mother to two daughters, a grandmother a viral Instagrammer, and a passionate doula and birth activistShe has supported over 40 births and continues to work in the birth world as a mentor and pregnancy educatorNatalie won SW and SE doula service of the year in 2026 and continues to use her social media presence to inspire women to make low intervention pregnancy, labour and birth choicesIn this second part of two episodes, Nat and I discuss what is wrong with the birth world and what is available to individual women to help improve outcomes for themselves and their familiesFollow Nat on ⁠Instagram⁠ and on her ⁠website⁠Natalie did her doula training with ⁠When Push Comes To Shove⁠If you like what I am doing, and would like to support my work, please consider ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buying me a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠It will mean I can keep shining a light on female health and the birth world and inspiring the next generation to take back control of this sacred rite of passage

Natalie Abouchai is a mother to two daughters, a grandmother a viral Instagrammer, and a passionate doula and birth activistShe has supported over 40 births and continues to work in the birth world as a mentor and pregnancy educatorNatalie won SW and SE doula service of the year in 2026 and continues to use her social media presence to inspire women to make low intervention pregnancy, labour and birth choicesFollow Nat on Instagram and on her websiteNatalie did her doula training with When Push Comes To ShoveIf you like what I am doing, and would like to support my work, please consider ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buying me a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠It will mean I can keep shining a light on female health and the birth world and inspiring the next generation to take back control of this sacred rite of passage

Tess Lovely is a mother of five and grandmother to five girls. She healed herself from ovarian cancer when her children were young.Tess is a former NHS midwife and passionate advocate for women, physiological birth and home birth.With nearly three decades of experience working within the NHS, Tess supported women and families across countless pregnancy and birth journeys. In 2024 she chose to leave the NHS, and stepped away from the NMC in 2025, after recognising that the direction of the system no longer aligned with her core values around autonomy, informed choice and woman-centred care.Drawing on both her professional experience and her own experiences of motherhood and home birth, Tess now works independently through ⁠Birth From Within Southwest⁠. She continues to support women through pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, while offering a much broader range of holistic support from her Birth From Within studio.Tess's work includes birth preparation, doula and birth-keeping support, hypnotherapy, women’s circles, emotional support, education, workshops and community spaces designed to help women feel informed, supported and connected to themselves.At the heart of Tess’s work is a simple belief: women deserve to feel heard, respected and supported to make informed choices about their own bodies, their births and their lives.Tess is a deeply intuitive birth worker with decades of practical experienceFollow her on ⁠Instagram⁠And listen to Tess's pod - ⁠The Good, The Bad and The Vagina⁠Find out about Kirsten Small's work on CTG monitoring on her websiteIf you like what I am doing, and would like to support my work, please consider ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buying me a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠It will mean I can keep shining a light on female health and the birth world and inspiring the next generation to take back control of this sacred rite of passage

Tess Lovely is a mother of five and grandmother to five girls. She healed herself from ovarian cancer when her children were young.Tess is a former NHS midwife and passionate advocate for women, physiological birth and home birth.With nearly three decades of experience working within the NHS, Tess supported women and families across countless pregnancy and birth journeys. In 2024 she chose to leave the NHS, and stepped away from the NMC in 2025, after recognising that the direction of the system no longer aligned with her core values around autonomy, informed choice and woman-centred care.Drawing on both her professional experience and her own experiences of motherhood and home birth, Tess now works independently through Birth From Within Southwest. She continues to support women through pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, while offering a much broader range of holistic support from her Birth From Within studio.Tess's work includes birth preparation, doula and birth-keeping support, hypnotherapy, women’s circles, emotional support, education, workshops and community spaces designed to help women feel informed, supported and connected to themselves.At the heart of Tess’s work is a simple belief: women deserve to feel heard, respected and supported to make informed choices about their own bodies, their births and their lives.Tess is a deeply intuitive birth worker with decades of practical experienceFollow her on InstagramAnd listen to Tess's pod - The Good, The Bad and The VaginaIf you like what I am doing, and would like to support my work, please consider ⁠⁠⁠⁠buying me a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠It will mean I can keep shining a light on female health and the birth world and inspiring the next generation to take back control of this sacred rite of passage

In this week's episode, Zoe shares her two birth stories.Her first was in hospital and not at all what she hoped for.Her second, at home, brought her deep healingThe man whose name I forgot is Dr Nils Bergman. You can find out more about his work on kangaroo mother care on his websiteBirth Trauma AssociationFind out more about Zoe and follow her on ⁠Instagram⁠If you like what I am doing, and would like to support my work, please consider ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buying me a coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠It will mean I can keep shining a light on female health and the birth world and inspiring the next generation to take back control of this sacred rite of passage