Behind Birth & Mother
Mother.Doula.
Meet Emma: Welsh by birth, at home in Potsdam, mother to three.
5 min read · Last updated September 2026 · Written and reviewed by Emma, Birth & Mother
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About Me
Hello, I'mEmma
I am Emma, a Welsh-born doula based in Potsdam, supporting families in English and German. I am also a mother of three daughters.
A decade ago, I became a mother. That moment changed the direction of my life, stretching me across countries and cultures and eventually guiding me towards the work I love.
Two of my daughters were born in Germany, so I first experienced the maternity system from the inside, as a mother navigating pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood, long before I trained as a doula.
I know that becoming a mother is a journey of enormous change. For those building a life away from familiar surroundings, navigating a different language, culture, or maternity system can bring another layer of uncertainty.
Birth & Mother grew from a quiet wish for the kind of support I did not yet know how to ask for, and from the hope of offering that care, understanding, and reassurance to other mothers.
The BeginningMy story beginsin Wales
I was born in Wales, in the UK, in 1985, in a small village where the sea was close and everyone knew everyone. Care for one another was simply part of daily life, and it was the women, mothers & grandmothers, who held the heart of it. When a new baby arrived on our street, they appeared without being asked: a warm meal left on the step, an older child taken for the afternoon, the new mother told to sit while someone else saw to the washing up. Watching them, I absorbed a deep trust in intuition, in the wisdom of the body, and in the quiet strength women carry, long before I had words for it.
In that same spirit of community, birth was once deeply woven into village life. It was a shared and intimate event, supported by the steady presence of women who understood the rhythms of birth. Babies were commonly born at home in Wales, my own father was born within the familiar walls of his family home. This understanding of birth as something natural, supported, and deeply human continues to shape the way I show up for families today.
Birth unfolded within the heart of the home, surrounded by the quiet reassurance of women who had witnessed birth many times before.
What Shaped MeThree births,three daughters
I have given birth in two countries, and each one was different.
My first arrived in London. In the birth room there were moments my voice was hushed and my instincts blurred, yet I found my footing quickly as a new mother and loved every quiet hour of it.
My second daughter, in Germany, was a harder kind of arrival. The pregnancy brought months of pelvic pain (SPD), and her labour came so fast I had no time to prepare. Low iron and a deep fatigue made recovery slow, and far from the steady company of home, becoming a mother again was harder than I could put into words at the time. The fear of birth I had carried stayed with me, quietly, long afterwards.
I began to understand how much our emotions shape the way we birth and recover.
By the time my third daughter was born, something had settled. I had done the slow work of meeting my own fears. I remember the morning I went into labour: a calmness arrived with the sun, and I was ready. That birth was different. I was different. Across all three, I slowly learned to trust myself and find my voice.
A New ChapterTraining andcertification
What my own births taught me, I wanted to carry with more skill. So I trained as a doula with Nurturing Birth London, a Doula UK accredited provider, adding structure and evidence to everything I had already lived. I write about the road that led me here in Birth Without Your Village.
Certification gave that experience a professional grounding, and my practice grows and evolves with every family I support.
The moment a baby is born, a mother is born too. Every woman deserves to feel safe in that space: in her body, in her voice, and in the choices being offered to her.
When something falls outside what a doula can offer, I will tell you, and point you toward the person who can help. The shape of the support meets you where you are: a workshop, a stretch of postpartum visits, or a single quiet conversation.
Becoming a MotherMothers deservecare too
Across three births I learned that a mother needs care as much as her baby does. Living in Germany showed me the gentle weeks that have a name and a tradition here: the postpartum (Wochenbett), where a mother is nourished and cared for while she recovers. I write about it in the Wochenbett tradition and the fourth trimester.
I have gathered what helped me move from fear to trust, and built it into a birth preparation workshop I hold from my home: a quiet space for the inner work of readiness and the practical tools to meet birth feeling calm, grounded, and ready.
A large part of that work is making sense of how maternity care is organised here in Germany. Understanding the system early is its own kind of calm, especially when the language and the paperwork are still new. If it helps, start with navigating the German birth system or choosing where to give birth.
Ready to Begin
Could we be a good match?
Finding a doula you feel comfortable with, and can truly trust, matters more than anything else. Whether you are preparing for birth, navigating the early weeks, or wondering whether doula care is right for you, I would love to hear from you.