Jo Askham - Birth Attendant

Doula and bringer of community to life and birth through support, events, knowledge, and advocacy. I moonlight in the day as a student, website concocter, administrative consultant, and organise a broad range of birth & family events, camps, workshops, yoga, and support circles.

My passion lies in supporting optimal birth experiences and outcomes. I have had three babies of my own whose arrivals took me on a journey through a hospital birth and the process of two planned home births. After a fully managed pregnancy and birth in the United States, I knew there must be some other way to better the ‘production-line’ birth experience and I discovered there was.
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This discovery lead me to realise that woman striving for a natural birth are in a better position to achieve this outcome if they trust in their body and its natural ability to give birth. They are also empowered with the knowledge to make necessary choices along the way in a system that may not embrace the same ideas. Being well informed and feeling physically, emotionally, and spiritually supported in the pregnancy and during the birth process leads to greater birth fulfilment however that journey looks.

As a doula since 2002, I have gained experience in homes, hospitals, and birth centres, family & sibling involvement, single mothers, same sex couples, a variety of ethnic & cultural backgrounds, inductions, VBACs, and C-sections.

All of the above and a continued passion for birth knowledge help me feel confident to assist birthing families find their power to have the best birth possible. I know this outcome is achieved by working closely with individual situations, personal connections, and intuition.