Testimonials

We can’t thank Natalie enough for the postnatal support she provided to me and my young family. During those first six weeks, Natalie‘s guidance and support has been invaluable and I wouldn’t have been able to get through it without her.

I had a caesarean section and during my recovery, Natalie supported myself and my newborn along with caring for my two young children, ages 5 & 2 years. She helped with breastfeeding advice, cooking and prepping meals, school runs and everything else in between.

Natalie has a wonderful nature and is such a calming presence in our home. My children and I adore her and we can’t wait to work with her again in the future.

Thank you so much, The Donald family x

Natalie was amazing and I would recommend her to anyone who wants to breastfeed. She helped assist me with tongue tie issues within the first week of giving birth and then visited to follow up to see how I was doing post division.

The first week of feeding was very difficult but with Natalie’s support I have achieved a successful latch and painless breastfeeding - without her I might have actually given up breastfeeding. And, she was available for any ad hoc calls and questions - would highly recommend!

Natalie worked with our family for 2 weeks after she was recommended to us, and we cannot fault her work. She was professional, understanding of our needs and flexible. She very quickly built up a strong rapport with our children, who she was looking after, and they were beaming every day they were with her. We felt utterly at ease leaving them in her care, which is testament to how good she was.

A good few weeks have passed and our children still talk about what they did with Natalie!

 I am so glad that we got in contact with Natalie about being our birth doula, having initially been uncertain about whether we needed one. Without her we wouldn't have had our calm, empowered home birth.

At our first meeting Natalie gathered a detailed summary of my last birth and familiarised herself with our home waterbirth plans. This enabled her to give very personalised support.

Her support during the birth itself was invaluable. She arrived in less than 30 mins, having had an inkling I would go into labour that night. I felt instantly calmer when Natalie arrived and as she supported me to use the hypnobirthing techniques I had learned. I was desperate to get in the birth pool and she threw herself into setting it up without any instructions. Laurence had planned to do this but wasn't able to on the night due to being really ill with tonsillitis! As she was working on the pool set up she popped in and out offering reassurance, particularly whilst I was going through transition. She held the space for me, so that I could focus entirely on birthing. She also liaised with the labour line on our behalf, and respected my wishes to leave this until I was ready. 

After the birth she transformed our birthing space (living room, bathroom, bedroom) back into our home with no sign anyone had given birth there at all. We had a debrief a few days after the birth, which was lovely in itself, and she also brought the most amazing breast feeding snacks.

I would absolutely recommend Natalie as your birth doula!

Natalie was an invaluable support during our pregnancy. As it was our first baby we were feeling apprehensive but Natalie shared useful knowledge, techniques for keeping calm and answered all our questions, making us feel much more informed and prepared for birth.

The Little Birth company course that Natalie delivered was beneficial for both of us as parents, and we called upon the things we learned during the birth of our son.

Natalie has a calm, professional and caring demeanour that puts you instantly at ease. If you feel you may benefit from extra 1-1 support for pregnancy and birth, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her!

We wanted to let you know that baby River arrived safely into the world on 8th January. My waters broke on 7th January and contractions started but did not progress. The hospital was anxious to induce because of the risk of infection and unfortunately this also meant our desired water birth was no longer considered a safe option. After weighing up the risks and benefits of leaving it a few more days we decided to go ahead with an induction. I was already 2cm dilated when we arrived at the hospital so we went straight in with the hormone drip and I laboured naturally using gas and air and TENS machine. I couldn’t have done it without the breathing techniques and the guided relaxation tracks from our course. Despite the change of plans we were still able to dim the lights, use calming lavender room spray, battery tealights and borrow the Birth Centre's atmospheric frog sound tracks and mood lighting. Rob was a fantastic birth partner who kept me hydrated and calm and advocated for me when we needed to make tough decisions, just like we discussed during the course.

Thank you so much for all your help and guidance in the run up to River's birth. We couldn’t have done it without you and feel so lucky to have had such a positive experience despite the unplanned intervention. 

We just wanted you to know, how important your role has been in helping us settle into parenthood.

We asked for a calming influence, and that's exactly what we got. You do a wonderful job of gracefully gliding into a day, helping out and gliding out again, leaving everything calmer (and more organised) in your wake. We will forever be grateful for your positive influence in our lives as we learned to find our feet.

I was keen to have postnatal support to help me with my twins, in particular as I was keen to establish breastfeeding with both of them. I was conscious that I was going to need help to achieve my goal, in particular as I don’t have any family living nearby.

Having Natalie’s support since the boys' arrival has been extremely valuable. Not only to have that extra pair of hands but also the expertise and experience that she brings when it comes to looking after new mums (in this case me!).

Natalie made sure that I ate well (she cooked some very yummy food), she also helped with the mountains of laundry that come with having a family of 5 and helped me to keep the kitchen and living areas tidy. Most importantly, she made sure that I had some rest and that I was well 'mentally' too.

I always looked forward to Natalie's visits - I knew she would bring calmness to my chaotic days and that I would get the much needed support I was longing for. My babies absolutely adore Natalie, spending hours cuddling up to her in a sling, going on walks or simply having a play and a giggle together.

I would strongly recommend Natalie to anyone who is looking for post natal support - I feel very lucky and honoured that Natalie decided to work with me and I am extremely grateful for the friendship that we have developed over the last few months!

Thank you so much Natalie for coming to my home to deliver the Hypnobirth and Birth Preparation Workshop for me and my husband. It was really useful to spend this time focusing on the upcoming birth of our second child and it was also really reassuring knowing that there is lots that I can do to prepare and stay relaxed.

Going through the role of the birth partner and what they can do to help during labour was fantastic and now my husband feels much more involved. It was also great to be reminded of all the key principles of hypnobirthing. I particularly loved the guided relaxation session that you led at the end.

Thank you for adapting our workshop to make it individual to our needs. Making time to show us the biomechanics for birth exercises too was great- let’s hope they can help get our baby moving into a better position for birth! 

Update following the birth of Alex's baby boy:

I decided that I was happy to be induced on my due date (as my previous baby was so big). Following 2 days in antenatal before much happened, when the contractions started the labour flew by and our baby boy was born less than 4 hours later! Just a bit of gas and air and lots of breathing and I was only pushing for about 20 mins!

So Thankyou, all the hypnobirthing really helped! And my recovery has been a million times better than the first time. I’m so glad I got a simple natural birth, it was a much better experience and very empowering. 

As a solo first time mum, the support that Natalie provided me during both my pregnancy and labour was invaluable. She was so reassuring and supportive, providing a sounding board to help me make decisions about my birth choices and this included attending consultant appointments with me. 

I also completed the full hypnobirthing and birth preparation course with Natalie, over four weeks, which I found incredibly helpful and relaxing, and it gave me some brilliant meditation and breathing techniques to use in labour. She also came to do some great sessions with me to help try and turn my baby when she was breech, as well as showing me some exercises I could do on my own too. 

Natalie was on hand throughout my induction and labour to help while away the hours of waiting and keeping me calm and focused during labour. She made sure that my wishes were respected and that my birth experience was in line with what we had discussed, even though things didn't go quite to plan as I might have hoped. 

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Natalie to anyone looking for a doula, booking her support has been one of the best decisions I have made! 

We would like to thank Natalie for helping us plan for the birth of our son. It was my partner who signed us up for the sessions, so I was a bit apprehensive at first as I didn’t think that as a dad I would get anything from the sessions, but was happy to go along with it anyway to support my partner.

 

The sessions were great, really informative and not only reminded us what would happen during labour but also explained why things were happening at certain points during the birth. It really made us think about what was to come, as a couple, rather than just my partner having her individual thoughts. That made me feel a part of the birth and it got us talking about our expectations, concerns and ideas. I think the course really brought us together and helped when it came to the day, as we were much more prepared, which helped us to have a smooth and positive birth.

I would thoroughly recommend any prospective dads to try hypnobirthing, it was so beneficial to really understand the process and from a father’s point of view I could really help and support my partner during the birth rather than being just one of those guys sitting on the side and hoping for the best.

Everyone has a story and mine isn’t the most perfect one but I can strongly say that I had the most perfect person beside me during one of my most difficult times. My name is Richa and I am 34 years old, I was going to be a second time mother to my precious daughter Zara. After the first emergency caesarean delivery of my son I decided to have a VBAC delivery with my daughter and I was very determined about that. We decided to have a doula who would assist me during the VBAC delivery and we decided to go for Natalie as soon as we read her profile and we were even more sure when we met her.

Natalie was so reassuring and respected my wishes and assured me of her full support with my choices and decisions. During my early labour, while I waited at home, Natalie was in regular contact with me- be it day or night, she gave helpful suggestions to make the labour easier and more bearable. She not only reminded me to embrace the contractions, as they are going to bring me closer to seeing my child, but also advised on how I could manage the pain with meditation, birthing ball, positions, massage, bath etc.

During my hospital stay Natalie came to be with me as soon as I informed her I had been admitted and she did not leave my side, she gave me the moral strength that I needed to continue with my decision and I was able to manage the pain without medication. It was like having the most faithful companion by my side, we shared our life experiences and our future plans and all this made the most painful time go by so quick. All I remember now is our conversations and not the pain to be honest.

Natalie made sure I understood what the midwifes and doctors were explaining at all times and was very respectful of them. When the final time came and I had to make the unfortunate decision to have another caesarean delivery Natalie supported me and helped me realise that what I was choosing was best for the baby. She was there at all times, like an angel by my side, who was constantly whispering that everything would be fine and that I had tried my best and given my all. I was so lucky that she was the first one to hold our daughter and ensure that I had skin to skin with her immediately. Natalie also came and visited me postnatally, at home, to ensure that my mental well-being was good and to see that Zara was thriving well.

All I can say is that, for me, Natalie was a God send and I couldn’t have asked for a better birthing partner.

 

Let’s begin at the end…Oliver was born at home, in a warm birthing pool and his first hours were spent in the place where he will grow up, in the arms of his mummy and daddy.

At the beginning of our pregnancy we would never have envisaged that we would have the amazing home birth that we did. We are first time parents and our approach was thar babies were born in hospital.

Then we were fortunate enough to complete a hypnobirthing course with Natalie and this changed everything we thought we knew. We were very open to the idea of hypnobirthing, having embraced fertility acupuncture and ways to reduce stress while we were trying to get pregnant.

Originally we were anticipating a group course but were fortunate enough to end up ‘one to one’, via Zoom, with Natalie Stoker, which we would highly recommend.   We both enjoyed the course immensely and learned a huge amount about the whole pregnancy and birth journey, in particular, all the choices and options that we as parents had open to us that we honestly knew nothing about.

This included the importance of creating the right birthing environment which was continuously emphasised and a great deal of the time was spent learning about how to achieve this.

We were able to do the ‘homework’ together as well as listen to the mp3 recordings about lowering anxiety and having positive mindsets. Doing all of this brought us closer together and my husband found it made him feel as if he had a real role in the birth and he learnt that he was more than just a hand holder.

Working with Natalie was just brilliant. She is extremely knowledgable and honest with her advice and training. As the training went on we found that we had new friend in our lives and were sorry to reach the end of the course, such was our enjoyment of it but also the important part it played in giving us confidence boosts after each session. Natalie even visited us after the birth to meet us and baby Oliver, which was wonderful after having only ever seen each other on line.

When we started our NCT course we really realised how much we had already learned from Natalie and we were both grateful we had done more training than just the NCT course.

Fast forward a few months along in the pregnancy and thanks to the course, we had written a birth plan and had a clear idea of the birthing environment we wanted - comfortable surroundings, low light, as little stress as possible and a water birth.

At our 36 week midwife appointment the midwife surprised us by suggesting we consider a home birth. We were a low risk pregnancy and she thought we were a good couple to go for it. At 36 weeks this was quite a late decision to make but when we talked about it, we realised that what we were hoping to be able to have at the midwife led unit and/or hospital was already in our home. This also echoed everything that we had learned from the hypnobirthing course about managing stress by creating the right birthing environment. A home also meant that we had a greater chance of a water birth as hospitals only have so many pools - ticking off that source of anxiety. Thanks to the hypnobirthing course, we had the confidence to make the decision to go for the home birth and made contact with the home birth midwife team for our area.

And so to the big day itself…on the day of the birth the waters broke at midnight and then we had a few hours while the contractions slowly started. I was able to use the hypnobirthing training straight away, listening to the recordings in bed to help me relax before things started to move along.
By early morning I was in the birthing pool with my husband holding my hand while we went through some of our positive affirmations. We closed the blinds to make the room darker (no lights as it was daylight) and we had cushions, a birthing ball and a sofa covered in sheets so I could change position and get out of the pool if I wanted to - all to keep relaxed. As things progressed I was able to use the breathing techniques we had been taught on the course and my husband was coaching me through the breaths. The final stages of labour were actually quite fast and with the midwife in control and plenty of deep breaths with gas and air our beautiful son was born in the pool and was placed straight into my arms for skin to skin bonding.

Thanks to the course, we knew our birth plan and the midwife had a copy so we were able to do delayed cord clamping and my husband cut the cord when the time was right, he also announced that our baby was a baby boy.

Oliver, his mummy and daddy then spent their first few hours as a family together in their home, cuddling on the sofa. Oliver was able to feed quite quickly and we spent the time just getting to know each other.

The whole home birth was just amazing and it would absolutely not have happened if we had not done the hypnobirthing course. The training gave us such an understanding of what we could do, how we could do it and how important it was that we did things the way we wanted to because of the impact this would have on our birth. The fact that we were able to have things as relaxed and low stress as possible can only have helped make the birth as smooth as it was.

I believe the fact that I was looking forward to the labour and so relaxed about the birth, is what made Oliver come when he was ready at 39+5. I truly trusted my body to give birth to my son when I was ready and trusted my body knew what to do, which it did, all courtesy of our training.

Natalie has been a big part of our lives for the last 6 months. We completed a hypnobirthing course during my third trimester, which was informative, reassuring and extremely useful during the final few weeks of pregnancy and in labour.

Natalie was then our birth doula for the home birth of our son, which was everything we had hoped for. Her practical and emotional support kept us both calm and allowed us to focus on what mattered the most. She dealt with some minor disasters with the birth pool and supported me with such care in the first hours after the birth.

Since then, Natalie has been visiting us weekly for postpartum support, which has been fantastic. Her calm and supportive personality is perfect for the role and she clearly has huge knowledge and experience to back it up. We couldn't recommend her work more.

Natalie came to provide us with postnatal support from 6 weeks old.

Having Natalie's support has meant time and space just for me, at a chaotic time of life where that is a rare commodity!

Having that time and space for a few hours a week (2 x 3 hour sessions) has supported me in being a far calmer and more compassionate mummy in general, during the early months of Harry's life.