Hello there! I am Karen.
How can I help you?
The Virtual Midwife was created to meet the increasing need for professional advice online and has enabled me to support hundreds of families around the world to enjoy their pregnancy and have empowering birth experiences.
Pregnancy Support
The Due Date Club is the first of it’s kind all inclusive closed community online program. Membership circles are based on your due date so everyone is due in the same month. This means you are all experiencing the same changes, asking the same questions and needing the same information.
The focus is on providing balanced and holistic information as you need it rather than a once off class at the end of your pregnancy.
Home Birth
Presently I am based in Cape Town, South Africa. I work in private practice as in independent midwife offering home birth or birth at Al Nisa private MOU. Click the CONTACT ME button and we can set up a time to chat.
Traveling Midwife
All travel plans are presently on hold due to the corona pandemic but I am still supporting couples virtually in Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and Rwanda and I am certain that my traveling midwife services will resume again in 2021. Contact me for more info
Holistic Birth Preparation
If you have been looking for a class that will take you step by step from pregnancy through birth – you just found it.
Get the skills and confidence to have the birth you want, on your terms. PS: Use coupon code COVID and get a complimentary 19% (see what I did there 😘)
Gentle birth through breath
Not ready to go all in yet? Start here.
Powerful in its simplicity, this will radically transform the way you experience the sensations of labor. Effective breathing is the true essence of all birth preparation techniques. PPS This is included in the Midwife Guide Birth Bundle. Just saying.
Virtual Support
Personalised ongoing online support. Includes 24/7 pregnancy hotline (whatsapp/email), access to all my online courses and 90 mins/month of 1:1 consultations. By far my favourite way of working with couples through pregnancy.
Fast track your care
This is for you if you need an answer or help RIGHT NOW. All calls include detailed notes and recommendations plus 1 week whatsapp follow up to make sure you stay on track or that your issue/concern is resolved.
Get my Book
I spent 14 years working abroad with expats and while nothing about pregnancy is different, it shaped the way I teach while embracing different cultures and beliefs and adapting everything I know accordingly. Available on Amazon.
How Karen helped me
Karen taught me about “holding space” before I even knew it was a thing. The lessons I learned from her altered the course of my life. My pregnancy and birth experience was so amazing that it inspired me to become a doula.
Hayley RandKaren was not only with me for both of my pregnancies and births, she was also my mentor during my doula studies. She taught me the value of honoring every woman’s experience.
Lindsay Lane Ward HoffmanThroughout my wife’s pregnancies I often felt overlooked and rather like a spare wheel. Karen was the only person to make me feel entitled to share and take part in the birth experience. For that I will always be immensely grateful.
Ross BairdLISTEN TO MY PODCAST
A sneaky peek into my life
Honest feedback
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Facebook Posts
Do you have a story you would like to share?
You don't need any equipment or preparation and you can choose to stay anonymous if you prefer. It doesn't matter if english is not your first language or you have an accent. It's just an opportunity to chat about:
❤️ How Covid impacted your birth plan and preferences
❤️ What you wish you had known
❤️ What you would do differently
❤️ What you would do the same
❤️ What you wish someone had told you
❤️ The biggest "pearl of wisdom" that emerged from your experience
❤️ What you would like to share with others.
Just click here thevirtualmidwife.setmore.com/ and book a podcast interview spot and let's chat
Changing the Words, you use to Get the Outcome you Desire
I had a question on the Live Pain Webinar last week that has been on my mind since then and I wanted to share with you.
YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF PAIN
I was talking about the importance of RE FRAMING the words you use during labor. Words like PAIN that have associations to something being wrong or needing to be fixed.
The pain of labor is an indication that everything is right and working. And when you understand what causes it and that it is really a sensation - you can choose what you would like to call it and how you will manage it.
THE HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL STAFF UNDERSTANDING OF PAIN
However, when you go into the hospital, you will more than likely be faced with these words again and they will be used repeatedly in a way that suggests pain and suffering and offers you relief from this suffering. The power of suggestion may influence your own preparation and state of mind negatively.
YOU NEED TO BE PREPARED FOR THIS
So here is my suggestion. Make a list of all the words that "trigger" an anxious response. Words like "pain" and "contraction" and "labor" ......(what are your words?)
Now replace those words with a word of your own. A word that makes sense to you and triggers a response of calm acceptance.
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES
Pain could be changed to sensation, feeling, intensity, power......
Contraction could be changed to surge, wave, flow, tightening.....
Labor could be changed to process, journey, meeting my baby......
DO YOU SEE HOW THIS WORKS?
Because here's the thing. No matter how many times I tell you to think of it as sensation rather than pain, there will be articles, videos, and Instagram stories talking about it and referring to it as pain. It is up to YOU to constantly change the words in your mind. When you hear the word pain, immediately you replace it with your own word. This is a mental exercise and it starts RIGHT NOW.
SO WHAT ARE YOUR WORDS AND HOW WILL YOU CHANGE THEM?
If you missed the class and have no idea what I am banging on about you can watch it by clicking here (it's free to watch)
event.webinarjam.com/register/18/2zn4ou9
When you understand the pain - you can manage the pain
