FF 05: ‘Thoughts on Birth’ with Newcastle doula She Births educator Nichola Kinnane

Flourishing Families

Discover the magical benefits of a natural birth with local doula, Nichola Kinnane, and our very own Newcastle baby’s chiropractor, Dr. Dorte Bladt.
Nichola talks with us about supporting couples with knowledge and skills for birth.
Intro: Flourishing Families with Dr. Dorte Bladt, the Switched-On Kids chiropractor and her passionate friends sharing the secret of inspiring wellness to help your families thrive.
Dorte Bladt: I’d like to welcome Nichola Kinnane to our podcast today. It’s lovely for you to travel down and have a chat with us today. Welcome.
Nichola Kinnane: Thank you for having me, Dorte. It’s lovely to sit down and have a conversation.
Dorte Bladt: Excellent. So tell me, who are you, Nichola?
Nichola Kinnane: I am a doula and also a childbirth educator. At the moment, I’m offering the She Births course which is a holistic, evidence-based childbirth education course in the Newcastle and mid-north coast areas.
Dorte Bladt: Excellent. So just for our listeners, just tell me what is a doula?
Nichola Kinnane: A doula is an independent, professional childbirth support person. Generally, a couple or a single mother might employ me at some stage during her pregnancy and then you are on call for the pregnancy two weeks before the due date, two weeks after the due date, and you give support during that time and then attend the birth and just offer tools and techniques and support in whatever way that looks to be for the couple or for the mother.
Dorte Bladt: So what’s the difference between a doula and a midwife?
Nichola Kinnane: A midwife has been trained and is a nurse and a doula is an extra set of hands. We offer all those things that you might need, where there’s someone to hold the bucket while you vomit, will give massage, acupressure and even emotional support, and support for the dads as well so they can really be involved in the birth and help to facilitate a beautiful experience for all of you there.
Dorte Bladt: Excellent and how does that then fit in with the She Births experience that you offer?
Nichola Kinnane: Yes. Well, I trained as a doula about 10 years ago and since then I’ve had two children of my own. I was kind of dipping my toe back into the birth world and wanted to find something else. I had a diploma in counselling as well and I wanted to find something else that I could incorporate into that work that was still in birth and I found the She Births course which was developed by Nadine Richardson in Sydney, and it seemed the perfect addition to what I was already doing and I’ve really enjoyed sharing with couples so far.
The thing that I love about it is that in my experience training as a doula, I heard so many birth stories and listened to women, what they planned on using the birth they hoped to have and then I was able to also hear their experiences afterwards. In my training, I was going to birth classes with the women and going to mothers’ groups as well.
What I heard during that time for the year that I was doing my training is that women have really diverse experiences and you never know exactly what you need on the day of your labour, and with all the things that you think you want, you want the candles and you want the massage and then suddenly you’re in labour and it’s, “don’t touch me, don’t come near me!” You just want to be in that corner by yourself birthing but have the right team around you to support you and She Births is a fabulous course because it offers an opportunity to explore all of the tools and techniques that ...