World Doula - India's First Birth Podcast

S1 E10: World Doula Podcast - Prof. Dr. Lesley Page on global midwifery by Sangheetha Parthasarathy

Laura Godfrey-Isaacs is an artist, midwife and birth activist. We explore how a feminist academic and artist found midwifery - we explore impact of women and how birthing bodies are portrayed in art and media, using creative arts within the pre-and post natal context for better mental health and so much more. We focus on two of her projects - the maternal journal and creative birth.

Lina shares her story of how she became a midwife, her global travels working in some of the poorest slums in the world and how she ended up becoming the Mumbai Midwife. She shares hard hitting tales, a summary of state of maternity in India through her eyes and her hopes for change and embedding professional midwifery in India. And yes, there is Hindi scattered throughout the interview !

Did you know Chennai had it's first Doula more than nine years ago ? Deepa shares the story of how she came about supporting families in Chennai, the ups and downs of being a doula, Indian hospitals, family attitudes towards birth and labour and the emotions that go with it. This is extra special because we've done this in Tamil. Did you know Deepa brought the mother of the global Doula movement Penny Simkin to Chennai all those years ago ? This episode massively ups Namba Chennai's cool factor. Kaettu Magizhveer.

Can a foot massage be an effective natural induction tool ? Can you actually tell a baby's position by massaging the mother's feet ? Can you birth a breech baby vaginally ? What is the existing evidence on effectiveness of maternity reflexology ? Can family members double up as birth Doulas ? Maidenhead Doula, Reflexologist and Baby Massage expert Louise Prince talks candidly.