I hadn't heard of a doula until a few weeks before I called Rachel / (MNDs), and although I knew my husband and I wanted some sort of support and help both antenatal, during labour and postnatally I was uncertain how they could help as we didn't know ourselves what we needed.

Thankfully Rachel intuitively seemed to know what we needed, and provided the perfect level of support. She neither interfered, nor left us to flounder. She taught us so much, but never lectured us or tried to persuade us to make a particular choice. Armed with her knowledge and support we made choices we might never have made before, and wouldn't change any of them for the world.

Rachel was there when we needed her. She supported us all throughout the birth, enabling us to concentrate and achieve the perfect birth that we had wanted, yet disappeared quietly afterwards to give our newly extended family time to be together. She lifted me when I was in tears and believed I'd never breastfeed, and arrived day after day to support me in everyday chores which had suddenly become impossible with a new baby.

It was the little things too, I will always remember her coming round the day after I arrived home with my baby. I saw her walk down the hall carrying a cake. Great, I thought, this is what Doulas do then, bake cakes... how does that help me? Over the next few days that small gesture became huge as more and more visitors came round and instead of facing an empty cupboard I could tell them to help themselves to a slice of cake. And it went down well!

The phrase "couldn't have done it without you" is rather overused, but with regard to our baby's birth and using a Doula I mean it in it's true sense.