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
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Honest feedback
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Sensitive Midwifery conference in Cape Town. A wonderful day spent with ordinary women doing extraordinary thing’s
Pain is always at the top of the list when I do Exploration Calls. It's such a big unknown and it can be really confusing when you hear stories from women who practice hypnobirthing or similar and talk about "painless" birth, and the next moment someone tells you it was the most excruciating thing they ever experienced!
In my 30 years as a midwife, I have seen both ends of the spectrum and everything in between. I was only 20 when I was a student midwife and despite my training, I was terrified of the pain and felt that a large part of my role was to do everything in my power to stop the pain or eliminate it.
I was about 25 when epidurals became really popular and were introduced as a blanket solution. We all thought they were fantastic and we recommended them to everyone.
Now, I am 50 and I know that epidurals have their place but they are not for everyone. They are not a solution because labor is not a problem and neither is the pain/sensation.
I have spent the last 10 years UNLEARNING all I thought I knew and RELEARNING in a way that honors nature, your body and you! And that includes a deep understanding of the nature and function of pain. It goes so much deeper than just PAIN. Being open to explore your expectations of pain is the starting point for how you will experience your birth and an opportunity for deep transformation on so many levels. This is what makes my work so rewarding.
When you joined this group, I offered you an opportunity for a free get to know me call. If you have not yet booked your spot, then click on the link to do so, and let's talk about your expectations. What, if anything is getting in the way of an empowering birth experience and how can I help you with that?
thevirtualmidwife.setmore.com/
