The practical questions

Most families book between 20 and 30 weeks, but women come to me at every stage of pregnancy, and sometimes in the last fortnight. I take a limited number of births at a time so that I'm genuinely available to each one, so it is worth asking as soon as you are thinking about it.

I have a backup doula. She knows your plan, because I brief her before your due date.

Yes — public liability insurance for my doula work. I also have a current DBS check, and my first aid and paediatric first aid training was updated in October 2025.

That I've completed Doula UK's mentoring process, not simply joined it — a period of working under an experienced doula's supervision before being recognised. I work to their code of conduct, and you can find me in their directory.

All of them, across London — plus birth centres and home births. If you haven't chosen your unit yet, that's one of the first things we can work on together.

Then you'll have one, and I'll still be there. I don't have a preferred kind of birth for you. My job is that the choice is yours and that you know what it involves.

The opposite. I show him how to help, so that he can be with you instead of trying to work out what to do. Most partners tell me afterwards that the doula was as much for them as for the mother.

Yes. A deposit confirms your dates and the rest can be spread across your pregnancy. Say so at the first conversation — it changes nothing about the support you get.

What's included, what happens if your birth doesn't go to plan, what happens if either of us has to step back, and the payment schedule. You'll have it before you commit to anything.

Yes — I work in English, Russian and Ukrainian. If English isn't your first language we can prepare in Russian or Ukrainian, and I'll speak to your midwives in English.