Honouring the Postnatal Period and Truth-Telling with Nicola Goodall

Sep 4, 2019

Nicola Goodall lives in Edinburgh and has supported women during and after birth for over 20 years. She grew up in a diverse community in South London and became a Muslim and a mother by the age of 24. Nicola is passionate about traditional storytelling, sharing and learning amongst women. She is one of the founding members of the Scottish Doula Network and a birth educator and Muslim doula 

 

• What is a doula? “Your ultimate faith-bearer, ready to fill any gaps that might be there”
• The woman that has that blessing
• Fully in service to the mother
• Humility and spiritual development 
• Becoming a doula in her spiritual community
• Training to become a doula with Michel Odent
• Earning money from something in service
• Fair exchange
• The importance of the postnatal period
• The impact of the fourth trimester on the rest of life
• Issues of depletion on health
• Prioritising well-being in the postnatal period e.g by reducing spending on non-essentials
• Simple ways of restoring wellness such as stockpiling bone broth, massaging ginger oil into the legs and keeping warm
• Warmth to retain energy and assist blood flow around the body for efficient healing and recovery 
• Keep snug and wrapped up
• Science backing up traditional wisdom
• Medicalisation and the colonial approach to health care
• Witches, Midwives and Nurses
• Class and choices
• Conflicting voices around breastfeeding and other choices
• The change in postnatal services 
• Cultural competancy and woman-centred care
• Profiting from traditional wisdom and cultural appropriation in the birth world
• Ancestral memory passed down through the women in the family
• Instagram culture makes it acceptable for 
• The book: ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race’ by Renni Eddo-Lodge
• Postnatal ceremonies around the world such as ‘Closing The Bones’, mainly involving women, bathing as a ritual cleansing, anointing by the elders
• The 6 week check as a remnant of the 40 day laying in period 
• ‘Churching’ where you get blessed in church after having a baby
• The concept of a death ritual, saying goodbye to who she was and welcoming the new mother
• The birthkeeper is the storykeeper
• Facing death and dying 
• The common fear of dads-to-be that their partners might die in childbirth
• The impact of generational trauma
• Matching care to their cultural experience
• The MMBRACE report https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/reports, which states that black women are 5 times more likely to die than white women, and Asian women are twice as likely to die at birth 
• Postpartum herbs for rebuilding energy and blood https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/711176497/postnatal-herbs-v-steam-or-bathe-large?ref=shop_home_active_12
• Dr Sims and the origins of barbaric gynaecological experiments on slave women
• Telling the truth of the history of medicine
• The impact of pregnancy, birth and maternal-baby bonding on the psyche
• The need for loving care after having a baby
• Nicola’s article about the ethical consumer and the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), who partner with Clarion, and hold arms fairs https://nicolathebirthkeeper.com/2019/07/31/can-an-ethical-consumer-still-spend-money-with-the-nct/

Resources:

Twitter https://twitter.com/letstalkbirth1

 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nicolamahdiyyahgoodall

  

• Nicola’s book: ‘10 Oils Aromatherapy for The Childbearing Year’

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1907839178/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=avnitouch-21&creative=6738&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1907839178&linkId=23046c80354aae4375ca4653a2ce8c18

 

You can find out more about Nicola by going to her website https://nicolathebirthkeeper.com

 

Or visiting Red Tent Doulas

https://redtentdoulas.co.uk

 

Nicola’s TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uNHnbGkh4s