A lifelong human rights activist with a penchant for talking a little too much, I moved to the UK from my native New York City in 2008 and earned a degree in English Literature from the University of Sussex before qualifying as a Bikram yoga instructor and, later, studying for a Graduate Diploma in Law. The ability to uphold bodily autonomy is something that I have held dear since I was a child as a result of having been diagnosed with Uveitis, an autoimmune condition affecting my eyes, when I was six years old. Sick of being dictated to by doctors, I quickly learned the importance of keeping myself fully informed of my options and asking questions before accepting a treatment pathway.
I therefore knew straight away, upon falling pregnant with my daughter, Lucy, in 2019, that hiring a doula would be at the top of my to-do list. At no other time in our lives are women more patronisingly dictated to by medical professionals than during pregnancy, and I knew I’d need a strong voice to back me up in my decision making in order to avoid being steamrolled by the infamous “conveyor belt of care”. With the help of my incredible doula, Amber, Lucy arrived in my home and on my terms just before Christmas of 2019, and she quickly changed my life. Lucy didn’t just make me a mother; she made me an impassioned advocate for all things birth rights. Lucy’s birth showed me what birth can look like when we are given the space to listen to our own instincts above all else.
How I was going to channel this newfound passion, I wasn’t initially sure. I was still focused on law at the time and was also trying to learn how to be a mother. But, when Lucy was just over three months old, lockdown started and turned the world upside down. Along with the chaos and heartache the pandemic brought us all, it brought me a struggle with postnatal depression and a complete loss of my sense of self; I felt I no longer had any idea who I was or what I had to give the world. I knew I loved being a mom, though, and I knew that birthing my daughter had ignited a fire in me that didn’t seem to be dying down, regardless of the months that passed by. Watching birth scenes on TV depicting women lying on their backs with their legs in the air and screaming for pain relief infuriated me. People asking me what hospital I’d had my daughter at (assuming that was the only option) baffled me. I wrote a series of strongly worded tweets directed at ex-obstetrician-turned-author, Adam Kay, addressing his extremely harmful assertion in his book This is Going to Hurt, that “home delivery is for pizzas”. And nothing - besides being woken up five times a night by my daughter - drove me more nuts than hearing a pregnant woman say something like, “I wanted [insert birth choice here] but I wasn’t allowed.”
So I just knew. I had to become a doula. It wasn’t a choice. It was simply the only way I could think of to productively utilise all of the knowledge, drive, and love for all things birth that I’d gained over the previous year.
I welcomed my first doula baby two weeks after Lucy’s first birthday, and I subsequently trained as a full-spectrum perinatal doula with Continuum Doula Training in Frome four months later. I have since been lucky enough to support numerous wonderful women through their transitions into motherhood alongside welcoming my second child, Bertie, in 2021. I believe, really and truly, that I have the best job in the world, and I am so excited to bring all I have to offer to new and expectant parents in my new home county of Derbyshire.
Thank you for considering me to share your journey with. I can’t wait to meet you.
About Sam
Kind Words
“Sam is incredibly confident and knowledgeable in all that she does. In labor, these qualities were essential to helping me feel continually reassured that we were on the right track. Sam was calm, resourceful, and comforting throughout the entire labour and was constantly aware of what my birth preferences were.”
– 2020 Doula Client
