Empowering women to birth without fear. Promoting Nurturing Touch. 

Louise, after a wonderful 4 week private course with our twins, I am so sad that our time has come to an end. The course content has been fantastic and it has been a lovely experience learning with you but it’s you that really makes it special! You are a joy to be around and you’ve made our babies smile and laugh every week… and have also given us the tools to relax them so completely that they are sleeping again like newborns! Thank you for giving us the confidence to really benefit from the power of touch and gentle parenting. I’m looking forward to putting all of our newfound skills to use! For now, bye bye Lou Lou, bye bye Lou Lou, bye bye Lou Lou and thank you for the course! PS here is a picture from today after you made my cry with the lovely back to work poem!

As my husband travels a lot for work, I was really concerned that should I go into labour early or late, he might not be around for the actual birth (spoiler: thankfully, that didn’t happen!). The fact that he would miss the birth of his first child would be awful enough in itself, and the thought that I would be on my own without any support was even worse! I knew that I wanted a Doula so that this worst case scenario could be made better, and even if my husband was able to be present, I thought that having a Doula would provide some much needed support to us both.
I met a couple of Doulas at various events but felt like they were not a good fit for me personally. I was looking for someone who believed in me and didn’t try to force the fact that I “needed” a Doula, as if I was completely incapable on my own, both during and after birth. It was then that a friend recommended Louise Atkinson, so I got in touch with her hoping that she would be the perfect fit.
From the moment I met Louise over coffee, I immediately felt at ease. She was friendly, positive, and, most of all, reinforced my sense of self-belief. Her passion for helping women was evident, and I knew from our conversation that for her it wasn’t just a case of ticking births off her list. She genuinely cared about each and every one. It’s the only time I’ve been in a meeting with someone and not been bothered about them having their phone on, because she was on call! Moreover, Louise was very familiar with Jasmine’s hypnobirthing classes and the two ladies stay in regular contact. This really made me feel that I had a team behind me and that we all have the same thoughts about birth.
Louise met my husband and (most importantly!) my dogs, as it was my intention to labour at home for as long as possible before heading to the hospital. We had great conversations over WhatsApp and Louise has shared valuable resources and advice without telling me what to do. I changed my mind about some things so many times, and yet it was never an issue as she understands that this whole process can be incredibly overwhelming, especially in the UAE where we are almost spoilt for choice over things such as hospitals.
When I had a small scare shortly before Dylan’s birth when my husband was away, I felt reassured that things would be ok after speaking with Louise, and I know she would have been by my side if anything was to happen. Thankfully, I was allowed to go home and was even able to chat through the experience after, which helped me to relax and process everything.
I had no doubts that with my husband and Louise by my side, that I would be in the best of hands when the big day finally arrived, and ...

“Going into my first pregnancy I kind of felt that I needed some extra support in addition to having my husband there but I wasn’t entirely sure if a doula was the best choice for me. From the first minute I met Louise, I knew I found what I was looking for – beautiful and caring human being who’s at the same time very professional, patient, kind, experienced and knowledgable and who will be with me from start to finish.
She is someone who will help you to understand what is going on and to feel empowered to make good decisions about the birth process but who would not push a particular type of birth or philosophy; Louise’s style was an excellent fit for what I wanted in my birth experience.
My husband and I felt very comfortable with her in every step of the way and she was very supportive during the pregnancy, labor, and postpartum times. Given that this was our first pregnancy we had very little knowledge of what to expect both physically and emotionally. She was also very helpful in helping us make decisions during labor and letting us know what the doctors were doing. This definitely helped us feel a whole lot better and more confident during some important decisions. I highly recommend Louise because she’s very knowledgeable in what she does and is a great support to have during the most important thing a women has to go through.
We cannot say thank you enough to Louise for being such a great support through our baby’s birth.”
Once again, THANK YOU!
Ivana & Dino

Just wanted to say thanks for a great 5 week programme. Joseph and I both got a lot out of the massages and the weekly discussions. We will miss your classes. You are a brilliant instructor and you really put me at ease. It is clear that you love what you do, and you put a lot of thought into the classes to ensure that you meet the needs of the mums and babies. Thanks so much, Clare and Joseph xx

Hi Louise, thank you so much. We loved baby massage. It was the highlight of our week. My mum loved watching our session today. Please count my husband in for a Dads massage session, I want to gift it to him for Christmas. It has been so nice for Alex and I’ve just massaged him before bed! It was great to chat to the other mummies too and get some insight into sleeping and feeding. Thank you!

I’ve just finished the baby massage course and both my son and I really enjoyed it. It was so much more than just a massage class too; it was a lovely morning out meeting great people, chatting about different baby related issues and learning simple massage techniques. Great venue too! I’d highly recommend I!