Lou is an NCT doula in Ealing, Chiswick and Acton.
Would you like Lou Toosey to be your Doula?
Email: loumumbojumbo@gmail.com
Mobile: 0777 9657 888
About Lou
Lou is an NCT antenatal teacher and Baby Massage instructor working in Ealing, Chiswick and Acton where she lives with her husband and 2 teenage sons. She has nearly 10 years experience supporting parents and parents-to-be with their new babies and young children, and her aim is to help women and birth partners navigate the often-challenging pregnancy and childbirth journey, and find their own unique ways to birth and parent their children.
Lou supports parents with evidence-based information and practical support, including practicing relaxation through breathing, massage and visualisation techniques and comfortable positions for late pregnancy and birth. For Lou, as part of the birthing woman's 'team', her role also includes supporting partners to feel calm and confident, and also working with midwives and health professionals to create a positive, empowering environment.
She also has an exciting kit bag and is always happy to loan books, birth and peanut balls, tens machines, massage and aromatherapy tools, and anything else you might need.
Lou has a wonderful sense of humour, and is practical, resourceful and creative. She is also gentle and tactful, a great listener and extremely caring.
Lou has been a member of the West Middlesex and Chelsea & Westminster Maternity Voices Partnership for 5 years and has useful knowledge about what to expect at these units, as well as good relationships with the maternity staff.
In her spare time Lou likes drawing, restoring things and baking.
Qualifications
- NCT Doula Pathway, University of Worcester (Feb 2019)
- OCN Sleep Training Skills, Babyem (July 2019)
- Rebozo/Scarf Workshop, Royal College of Midwives accreditation (Feb 2019)
- Acupressure for pregnancy and birth, Udemy (August 2018)
- Brazelton Newborn Observation Course (May 2017)
- IAIMS Baby Massage Training course (Feb 2012)
- NCT Diploma of Antenatal Education, University of Bedfordshire (2011)
- Fluent French & Spanish speaker (BA Joint Hons), University of Manchester (1994)
Practicalities
Lou will provide support by:
- Meeting you on your own, or with your partner / friend / family member three times before birth, at your home or another convenient venue. This is to get to know you, discuss your preferences and concerns, explore your options, make plans for the birth and practice birth skills such as breathing and massage
- Being on call for you 24/7 for up to 4 weeks around your estimated due date.
- Staying with you throughout your labour and for a few hours after birth to ensure you and your family are comfortable and settled.
- Visiting you early on after birth, to chat about how you and your baby are doing, discuss your birth and any further support you may need - and bring you a delicious home-made cake of your choice!
- Being available for you with unlimited contact by phone, text and email from time of booking until 6 weeks after the birth of your babies.
Testimonials
"As my wife’s birth partner, I feel so privileged to have had Lou alongside me as the warm, knowledgeable and dedicated doula we needed at the birth of our first child.
Births can be daunting and birth plans can so easily change and so when my wife’s waters broke early and we were unable to go to the birth centre as we had hoped, having someone of Lou’s experience and calming demeanour to reassure you, comfort you, and encourage you at the right times meant we remain totally indebted to her for the positive birth experience that so easily could’ve run away from us had she not been there as our doula.
From the run up to the birth with all the sage like advice, plus all the practical items Lou will lend, to the fantastic support at home and at the hospital that we received throughout labour, and all the way to the post birth visits and baby massage, Lou has always been there for us when we needed. My wife was particularly grateful for all help with suggesting positions, when to walk around plus all the back and leg massages that totally helped. We feel very lucky to have had Lou as our doula and we couldn’t recommend her highly enough".
"Lou was our doula at our second birth. She was pivotal in creating a positive birth experience this time around after a traumatic first birth. She was able to empower us to make the right decisions for our birth. She was balanced in her approach whereby she did not enforce her own views upon us but also at the same time was appropriately and passionately involved to provide us with alternatives and options to make informed decisions. She not only focussed on Mum but also Dad ensuring he was well rested and positively embraced in the birth experience. She helped us find ways to manage pain and use breathing techniques.
In addition to the above, she helped us with the below:
- providing aromatherapy and lighting to create an atmospheric environment
- positioning for labour
- breathing exercises and relaxation
- preparation for antenatal conversations with doctors and midwives
- being available on the phone whenever required
- lending birthing instruments such as birthing balls etc
- creating a positive and happy environment with a good sense of humour.All in all we would highly recommend Lou as a doula."
“Lou is a wonderfully caring and knowledgeable person and present with me for my caesarean, reassuring and keeping me calm throughout, as well as asking all the questions in the operating room that my brain was too foggy to deal with! She took genuine delight supporting me as my daughter entered the world, and I greatly valued her calmness and nurturing approach to my daughter and I in those early hours, which also continued once we were discharged from hospital. Lou has become a friend, helping us with various things along the way, like advice on sleeping and baby massage for trapped wind! I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending her skills as a doula”.
“Lou Toosey is exactly the person you want with you when giving birth. Brilliantly knowledgeable, warm, funny and so reassuring. Fundamentally though, she empowers - finding ways to inspire you to trust yourself and find the best birth in the situation you're given. I found myself giving birth just four weeks after my Mum died - I felt raw and insecure but Lou helped me, with her real kindness and great advice, to focus and still have the birth I wanted. I will always be hugely grateful”.
