Women sometimes find it hard to advocate for themselves in labour – especially when there is a lot of pain, they are overwhelmed with emotion and confused by all the medical jargon.

Natalie Flood and Rebecca Cottingham are offering help. Their doula services provide emotional support, advocacy and information throughout labour and in the delivery room.

At Shamana Circle on Front Street, the pair teach Mamabody, an optimal birth position class, and prenatal yoga.

Ms Flood was inspired to become a doula after she had a tough birthing experience in 2018.

Ideally, babies are positioned head-down for delivery, facing their mother’s back; her son Leo was facing her stomach.

“I did not want to have an epidural but I was in so much pain I ended up having one,” she said. “Then I had to give birth on my back, which meant I could not use gravity or optimal birthing positions to help the situation.”

What prevented the birth from becoming even more traumatic for her was her doula.

Fiona Dill helped her and her husband, Jonathan Flood, construct a birth plan before labour and provided emotional support in the delivery room.

“She was just supporting me, talking to me, rubbing my shoulders using essential oils, and trying to keep me in my focal space as much as she could,” Ms Flood said.

She became focused on how she could pay it forward. In 2021, during a two-week Covid-19 lockdown, she took an online course with Child Birth International and was certified as a doula.

Meanwhile, her partner, Rebecca Cottingham, became interested in becoming a doula after she was asked to teach a prenatal yoga class while working at another studio.

She enjoyed it but felt sad that she did not go through the whole process with the women she met.

“It became blatantly obvious to me that it was really silly to work with women through the whole pregnancy and then be like, best wishes on your birth, and leave them,” she said.

In 2017 she qualified as a doula with Dona International.

“I was awestruck the first time I attended a birth,” Ms Cottingham said. “It was the pure magic of witnessing a soul enter this world. There are no easy births, it is undoubtedly one of the hardest things we do.”

Ms Flood’s described her first experience as a doula as “life-altering”.

“I was not sure what my job was when I arrived at the hospital [but] once labour started, my job became very obvious. The three of us worked seamlessly, communicating through touch, vocal toning, eye gazing and intuition. She was a true warrior and had the birth experience she worked hard and educated herself for.”

Together, Ms Flood and Ms Cottingham meet regularly with clients to help them create a birth plan. They divide the time in labour between them.

“It may be that she starts the birth and I finish it,” Ms Flood said. “Rebecca lives on an island so if the weather is bad, I’ll take the birth.”

The pair will support mothers wherever they want to give birth but are huge advocates of doing it at home, having each gone that route with their second-born.

Ms Cottingham intended to give birth to her son, Jack, at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital but a month before her due date the hospital called.

“They were in a Stage 4 emergency due to Covid-19,” she said. “They said don’t come to the hospital unless it is life or death, basically.”

She decided if the hospital was so risky, she did not want to have her baby there. She now believes it was one of the best decisions she could have made.

“When the day came I was so comfortable,” Ms Cottingham said. “I could have given birth that way once a week, I felt so good. If I could relive that day over and over again, I absolutely would.”

Ms Flood watched her friend’s home birth video and “thought it was absolutely glorious” so decided to do the same when she had her second son, Guy.

The doulas believe there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about home birth in Bermuda and want their clients to be well educated about their rights and options.

“To start with, it is legal to give birth at home,” Ms Flood said. “It has never been illegal, as some people think.”

Even if they are considering a home birth, pregnant women should still attend regular appointments with their obstetrician, she added.

“It is required that their health records are kept in good standing and are anticipating a low-risk pregnancy, labour and birth,” she said.

The pair want women to at least have the chance to try giving birth the way they want.

“Even if things did not work out the way they expected, they will have had a more positive experience – their opinions were supported, and they were given a chance,” Ms Cottingham said.

• For more information about Shamana Circle’s doula services and classes, visit shamanacirclestudio.com