Asalaamu’alaiykm wa rahmatuallahi wabarakaatuhu!

I’m Amy, known by my Muslim sisters as Khadeejah and I am a birth and postnatal doula in the East Midlands, UK. 

As a doula, I work as a non-medical trained professional to provide women with personalised emotional and physical support throughout pregnancy and birth. I carry this support right through to the postpartum period during which, I am available for; birth debriefs, breastfeeding advice and peer support, simply listening, helping out in the first days of bonding and the complementary therapy: Hijamah (cupping), for which I am certified, qualified and insured to carry out.

It disturbs me that so many women and more specifically; Muslim Niqabi women, Black, Asian and Muslim solo parenting women are now more fearful than ever about childbirth, maternity care and all that it entails. As a Muslim woman myself, observing the full Islamic attire and face veil, I have unfortunately encountered the trials of discrimination firsthand in the UK.

As your doula, you can rely on me to support you with your birth choice, whether that be; planned hospital births, elective C sections, unassisted physiological birth, home births and ‘free birth’. Furthermore, my role is to advocate with you and to protect the birth space for you and your family. I am here to provide you and your family with the attention, unbiased information and the support you need to make informed decisions about your pregnancy and labour.

I am a firm believer in informed choice/consent, equal rights to care and the eradication of coercion and racial disparity. I am here to support women who aspire to being in control of their own birthing experience, as far as possible.

As a postpartum doula, I take a holistic approach and feel it is important to support the family as a whole as they adjust to all that is new, and I do so whether it be by lifting the load from a practical/domestic point of view or by simply offering guidance and reassurance.

I am a mama to three beautiful children Allahumma baarik lahum (may Allah bless them) and have breastfed them all up to the age of two (as per the Sunnah). 

I consider myself somewhat of a ‘birth-nerd’ and an activist for physiological birth. I am not anti anything to any degree but I believe in nature and natural ways and therefore give the body its rights, naturally! 

Birth is not a medical affair. Birth works and unnecessary medical intervention and/or assistance and over-medicalisation during childbirth has been proven to cause harm. 

• I have been doula at heart for years and finally trained in 2021 with Leila Baker.
• I am a registered member of Doula UK and an Access Fund Doula.
• I also completed a Younique Postnatal Planning course with Sarah Tessier in 2022.
• I volunteer for ‘Doulas Without Borders‘ and ‘Mother Tongue‘ as a doula, an interpreter/translator.
• I am also an active volunteer and participant in my local MNVP, pioneering for improvements in maternity services, primarily Continuity of Care and Home Birth Services (which have been suspended since June 2021 in Derby but recently reinstated as of 4th July 2022)
• I have a Podcast channel ‘Muslim Birthworld’, where I host a Podcast show ‘Muslim Birthwork‘, through which I share information and interviews around first-hand Muslim life experiences.
• I run an Islamic Birth Education Workshop; ‘As We Are’, every 3 months (at the moment) for sisters who are TTC, pregnant, in their postpartum period and in motherhood.
• I run two closed, private Facebook groups; As We Are – a community group for Muslim women which runs alongside my As We Are Birth Education Workshop and the other which is a Muslimah Freebirth Support group for sisters in the UK.

I have a variety of support packages to suit your needs accordingly. For more information, details of my availability or to book, head over to my services page!

What’s more, I offer a free 45 minute consultation to everyone so please feel free to get in touch if you’d like to know more!