This is for you if you are pregnant outside of your home country.
While nothing about your pregnancy will be different, everything else feels completely foreign. Choosing the right care provider, knowing when and where to get the right tests and deciding where to give birth seem like impossible tasks.
I can help you. I am an expat midwife and I work exclusively with pregnant expats. I will guide you to the right resources and be your sounding board so you can flourish during pregnancy rather than take the first plane home!
Hello there! I am Karen.
How can I help you?
✅ I wrote a book just for you! No more random online searches and horrific birth stories – just straight up expert medical advice and curated content.
✅ No chance of missing important tests or investigations with tick lists, cheat sheets and your own personalised care plan.
✅ The knowledge and skills to make informed decisions and communicate them effectively with your OB/GYN.
✅ Get the lowdown on pain management techniques and the confidence to know when you need them.
I have been a midwife for 30 years. I spent 14 years working as an expat in the Middle East and it opened me up to finding innovative ways to support women within a system that supports policy.
I studied prenatal yoga RYT 200, Hypnobirthing the Mongan method, the Mama Bamba way with Robyn Sheldon, Spinning babies with Gail Tully and Active birth with Janet Balaskas.
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
Join my Community and feel the love
Facebook Posts
There is no reason why you should not travel during pregnancy and in fact, a “babymoon” between week 18 – 28 should be mandatory! Especially if you are able to have a midwife on hand to make sure that every detail is safe for pregnancy.
This is the ultimate solution for couples who want just enough of the right information and you want it on your terms.
The support that you get during your VIP stay does not end when you go home. Stay on track with your Doctors appointments and get answers to your pregnancy questions with 24/7 Whatsapp support + access to my VIP directory of allied health and fitness professionals to ensure optimal health and wellbeing for the rest of your pregnancy.
Click on the link to see where you would like to be pampered as you celebrate your pregnancy.
www.thevirtualmidwife.com/vip-experience/
Imagine if you had something creative to do that would help you to reframe and shift your limiting beliefs?
I have created a gorgeous colouring book of carefully selected images and affirmations that address common challenges that I see in my practice
1- fear of the pain
2- wondering if you can do it
3 - feeling lonely and unsupported
4- afraid of how long it might take
HOW IT WORKS
Birth is a "right brain" activity.
Your right brain is the seat of imagination, creativity and dreaming. You can imagine anything you want from the safety of your mind. And here's the thing I bet you did not know. Your mind does not know the difference between imagination and reality. Your mind allows you to think whatever you want. You can choose if you would like to entertain thoughts of horrific births with images that you have seen on TV of women screaming. Or, you can choose to entertain thoughts of a calm and peaceful birth, where you feel in control and you trust what is happening in your body.
When you fill your mind with images of yourself screaming in pain during birth, your body will release adrenaline, the fight or flight hormone, because your mind thinks it is really happening.
When you fill your mind with images of yourself giving birth in calm awareness, your body releases oxytocin, the hormone of love, because your mind thinks it is really happening.
So the images in this book are designed to take you into that space of loving awareness of what is possible. To guide you into a space of deep intuitive knowing and stimulate the release of oxytocin and endorphins. To imprint images of the beauty and power of birth and affirm your inner strength and ability.
www.thevirtualmidwife.com/store/
How will your baby be born?
1 - you will go into labor spontaneously and give birth vaginally
2 - your labor will be induced and you will give birth vaginally
3 - you will go into labor spontaneously or induced and require a c/section
4 - you will have an elective c/section
While these are not necessarily choices that you need to make, they are variables that you need to be aware of. It's really frustrating not being able to predict or plan exactly how you will give birth because there are factors that are beyond your control that will influence how your labor unfolds. But that does not mean that you cannot prepare for the birth that you would like. And it certainly does not mean that you should just let go and be steered into making decisions that do not support your birth preferences.
What you need is to be clear about the choices you will be faced with and your role.
If you want a little bit of guidance or a nudge in the right direction then why not book a call? My expertise lies in helping you to uncover deeply held fears and limiting beliefs that can easily get in the way of feeling confident and clear about what you want and HOW to go about getting it.
By the end of this call you will
✅ Understand the variables and choices you will be faced with
✅ Know your role in preparation
✅ Understand importance of your birth team
✅ Choosing where you will give birth
✅ Have a clear plan of action to prepare for birth
✅ List of resources required
✅ Sense of calm
thevirtualmidwife.setmore.com/
