Kim Mousley
Get to know your doula…
I’m a full-time birth worker – I’m fully committed to this work. It’s my both career and my passion to support as many women as I can to see how perfect for this you are!
Where it all started
Pregnancy was a real shock to the system for me. I felt sick almost immediately and it didn’t let up for most of my pregnancy. I’d been an exercise addict beforehand and had secret plans to be one of those people flashing their bump around the gym whilst carrying on as normal… but my body had very different ideas and I was quickly forced to change things up.
It was really challenging for me. All the things that had previously given me my sense of self became untethered – not just my exercise regime, but my work, my social life, even the things I ate and drank. I was fed up of people telling me I must be so excited and happy to be pregnant, when all I felt was sick, tired and lost. I didn’t realise it at the time, but my identity was starting to shift already and I wasn’t ready for it yet!
I’d practiced yoga for years before pregnancy, but really just as another form of exercise back then. I enjoyed Iyengar yoga, which is strong and masculine, and all about being bigger and stretchier and better. My teacher gently suggested looking into Pregnancy Yoga, which I dutifully did. My first session was another shock to the system! It was so easy… but also somehow just what I needed. It offered me a space to share how I really was feeling, without the judgement I was getting everywhere else, and to rest. And somehow, with that rest, I left feeling a little better.
What changed?
My pregnancy yoga practice became so vital. It wasn’t just about exercise now, but about having time and space to listen in to my body. It taught me to accept the messages I was receiving (pretty strongly!) and respond.
It taught me a softness I hadn’t leaned in to before. I found that actually I felt better, physically and emotionally, by giving myself a break. It enabled me to develop TRUST, in myself and my body again. Things I hadn’t realised I’d lost.
Alongside this, I’d spent a lot of time in pregnancy, with my partner, preparing for birth. I’ll be honest – I felt absolutely terrified of giving birth and wasn’t sure I could do it. As it was inevitable that the baby had to be born, it felt like a sink or swim situation! So I took action to support myself.
We invested in a Hypnobirthing course, in addition to NCT, and it was groundbreaking! It was like a remembering – this wasn’t supposed to be terrifying. It was actually something my body was perfectly built for. And there were so many ways me and my partner could support the process. Who knew?!
I was forced by my sickness to rest every day anyway, so I prioritised my Hypnobirthing relaxation practice and something in me shifted. The fear dissipated and the confidence grew.
Pregnancy wasn’t becoming much easier for me but my ability to manage it was. Through seeking the support I’d needed, learning how my body worked and exploring how to support it (and actually embodying those things through my yoga and Hypnobirthing practice), I went in to birth with a sense of trust and a grounded energy.
The birth was the most intense experience of my life, but it was completely transformational. Afterwards, I felt I had to get to know my body all over again – and not because I’d ‘lost it’ in pregnancy, but because it was suddenly clear it was so much more powerful than I had ever realised. It wasn’t something to be controlled and punished with exercise regimes and food restrictions, but to be revered for it’s deep wisdom.
What next?
Pregnancy yoga had played such a part in my pregnancy and birth experience, that more people just to had to be able to access it!
When I was pregnant, there weren’t actually many classes in Bristol, so after my maternity leave, I decided to train with Lushtums and offer Pregnancy Yoga classes myself. The training was incredible and helped me piece together so much of what I had experienced and learned in my own pregnancy (that’s a whole other blog post though!) and I morphed identity again, this time in to a full blown birth nerd!
I started sharing pregnancy yoga sessions in Hanham in January 2020, just a few weeks before lockdown hit (a terrible time to start self-employment!) I was immediately hooked on working with women so later that year I also did my post natal yoga training. Something I had really felt was lacking in my own pregnancy had been continuity of carer and this gave me a chance to support women both sides of their birth.
And from then my passion just continued to grow and grow. Pregnancy yoga had been the spark and working with other women, witnessing their challenges and hearing their stories, ignited the fire! I decided to leave behind my previous identity as a school teacher completely and did my doula training in January 2022.
Where I’m at now
I’ve had the privilege of supporting 100s of women through their transition to ‘Mother’ now. I know the challenges that you’re likely to come up against in your own journey, and the things that are likely to support you.
I know that your birth will be a transformational experience, however it unfolds for you on the day. Your identity will shift in ways you can’t even imagine yet. In fact, like me, if you’re reading this in your pregnancy, that transformation is already starting to unfold (even if, also like me, you don’t realise it yet!)
I’ve supported all kinds of birth – from planned caesareans to home births. I’ve worked with parents opting for induction and those navigating 42 week+ pregnancies. I have experience with preterm births, twins, multiple ‘high-risk’ pregnancies, IVF families, and births after loss. In any or all of these scenarios, I’m not here to tell you what the right course is, but to help you access your own innate power. When your trust in your own wisdom is allowed to grow in your pregnancy, you carry it through into not just your birth, but your parenting beyond.
I believe you deserve, and are capable of, a birth that makes your feel strong, capable and confident. It is a rite of passage. It is written into your DNA, your body knows how to do this at a cellular level, even if your mind hasn’t quite got there yet. And it will have a profound impact on all that comes next.
Pay It Forward
I also volunteer as a Mother Companion with Project MAMA, supporting refugees and asylum seekers through their birth journey.
If you choose to work with me (in any of my offerings), you can know you are not only investing in your own birth but supporting some of the most marginalised people in our society to have the support they deserve too.
Training
Doula support
Hypnobirthing
Pregnancy yoga
Postnatal Yoga
