The Safari Doula

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The Safari Doula

Childbirth Educator
Teaching Lamaze Based Curriculum ~
Labour Support Specialist ~
Based in Nairobi ~
Will Travel to wherever I'm needed

15/10/2023

Sundays are for contact naps, holding little hands, snuggles and reading great books.

For anyone thinking about starting solids, or think you might one day be thinking about starting solids, I highly recommend adding Why Starting Solids Matters by to your reading list.

Actually, I highly recommend adding any of the books Amy Brown has written to your reading list… they’re beautifully written and researched and really helpful for finding your way through some major mine fields.

06/08/2023

This isn’t the typical World Breastfeeding Week post. This is heartbreak.

This is me, pumping. It’s 10:30 at night; I’ve fed my baby his bottle and put him to sleep in his Dockatot beside me while I pump his next feed. I’ll be up again at 2am to pump and he will likely wake around then for another feed.

I’m so exhausted that the blood vessels in my eyes have burst. I was trying the new Medela Handsfree pump hoping that it would boost my supply. It actually did the opposite and I hate it.

I’m not pumping because I want to be. Or so that I can give my baby to someone else to feed. Or because I feel breast milk is better than formula. I’m pumping because breastfeeding is simply not an option for me, despite having an overwhelming primal need to breastfeed my baby.

I started pumping when he was 2 weeks old. My ni***es were shredded and bleeding. Breastfeeding was more than toe curling pain; it was pure agony. 46 hours of labour was nothing compared to the pain that I went through when my baby latched on. So I started pumping to keep my supply up and give us time to work on our latch and hopefully figure it out. It’s been 5 months and we still haven’t figured it out. I’m coming to terms with the fact that we probably never will.

So this is for those mothers out there who wanted to breastfeed their babies; who planned to breastfeed their babies; who have the overwhelming instinctual maternal urge to feed and nurture and bond with their babies through breastfeeding. But can’t.

Somethings just don’t go according to plan. And it’s ok for you not to be ok.

03/08/2023

So, I’ve been changing a lot of dirty nappies recently. 5 months worth of poopy smelly diapers!!

It's not glamorous, but you likely knew that poopy nappies were in your future as soon as you knew your bundle of joy was on their way to meet you. But how do you know what's normal? And what's not?! And how much is too much?!

If you're expecting a baby, or you've just come across this post while you're scrolling at 2am, make sure to save this post to refer back to during diaper changes, and swipe on to get the dirty details in this visual guide to Baby Poo - do - do - do -doo!

12/11/2022

An Inspiring Cesarean Birth story ❤️

This is what happens when you know your rights, know what your options are and know how to advocate for what you want and need from your medical team. That's what you gain from Childbirth Education Classes.

.elle • thank you for sharing your beautiful birth story below.

The moment I met Lando for the first time

You may not realize it, but the fact that I am holding Lando is major. This is just one example of how my labor and delivery was able to be a positive experience.

When I delivered Crew via C-section, my arms remained tied down, I was given a quick glance at him and then whisked away into a recovery room alone.

As much as I am disappointed Dean couldn’t join me in the OR this time around, I’m so thankful for a medical team that took excellent care of my physical AND mental needs.

From the team agreeing to untie my arms so I could hold my newborn, the anesthesiologist asking if I wanted him to hold my hand during operation, my obstetrician allowing me try for my VBAC, to my midwife being a mother figure for me.

Giving birth is mental just as much as it is physical.

My positive birth experience wasn’t a result from ticking all the boxes of what I hoped would have happened. It came out of understanding my rights, making informed decisions, and advocating for myself and my child.

I will forever be grateful to ALL the people behind the scenes who helped me bring my child into this world — all while thinking about ME in the process.

It’s not about how you gave birth.
It’s about how you got there.

11/11/2022

Maternity Leave

Even us Doula's have to schedule this in!

Well folks, this really makes it official. I have one more birth to attend in December and then, I'll be on Maternity Leave from the 1st of February until the end of June, 2023.

If you're due before 1st of July next year, and you want a Doula to support you during your birth, then please do reach out anyway - I'm always happy to refer you to other members of the birth work community who may be able to be there for you.

As for classes; I'm not doing any more group classes, however I still have some space in my schedule for private classes; both one-on-one and closed group classes. So if you and some of your friends are expecting during my maternity leave window and would like to get some classes in before February, let me know! There's still time to schedule them in.

09/10/2022

For many women, morning sickness is often what triggers the realisation that they could very well be pregnant. That wasn't the case for me; but it is very common. It didn't kick in until about week 7 for me. Instead, I was starving, from approximately 5 days after I had conceived (but wasn't aware of it yet) until week 14. During this time, there simply wasn't enough food for me to eat. I had transformed into a hobbit. I will neither confirm nor deny if this transformation came with the hairy hobbit feet.

According to my hubby, my sense of smell also heightened at this time but I did not register it at this point; even though he did and he began to wonder if I might be pregnant… but knew better than to say anything. I became obsessed with how he smelled and how my dog smelled! And totally averse to my favourite perfume which suddenly smelled so strong I could taste it by breathing it in and even just one sq**rt of it was suffocating me.

I was also very tired and napped in the afternoons for the first time in my life. Not to mention that bed time was about 10 minutes after the sun went down and it got dark!

Very quickly I noticed that my heart rate would increase dramatically at the slightest of exertions; due purely to the increased blood volume my body was now pumping to carry my baby. This, combined with the fatigue, meant that I went from intense regular workouts 3 or 5 times a week to 1 or 2 gentle yoga and stretching sessions consisting mostly of floor work (ideally leaving my hands free to shovel cookies into my mouth throughout the session) and gentle dog walks on weekends.

And my boobs… swollen and tender is an understatement. The slightest of breezes was akin to a howling gale and I hope you'll catch my drift when I say the girls were permanently standing to attention. A heating and cooling pad helped with that somewhat.

Still here and reading?! More details of my trials and tribulations are continued in the comments!

Address

Dagoretti Corner
Dagoretti Corner
00509

Website

http://www.thesafaridoula.co.ke/

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