I’m Ione. I’m a certified birth and postpartum doula based in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia.
I am passionate about empowering birthing people to have the most positive birth they can, whether it is in hospital, a birth centre, or at home. I believe being informed about all aspects of birth, both physiological and medical, is the best starting point to achieving your dream birth.
My journey to becoming a birth and postpartum doula started in 2020, during my first pregnancy. I attended a physiological birth workshop with my partner, and it cemented for us the desire to have the most “natural” birth possible.
COVID-19 lockdowns began shortly after, and hospital birth classes were cancelled, to the utter detriment of birthing people. Support partners were not allowed into hospitals, women were giving birth alone and afraid.
As the daughter of a midwife, I already had a head start when it came to understanding my birth options. In many ways, my mum was my doula. She encouraged us to get informed, she guided us through early labour at home, she advocated for us when we went into hospital, and she gave us invaluable support in those early weeks after we brought our baby home.
When I joined a New Parent’s Group, I began to understand how rare it is to have a fully spontaneous birth without augmentation or intervention. Most of the mothers I spoke to had birth stories involving some kind of trauma, whether emotional or physical.
This sparked a fire in my belly, and I knew change needed to happen in the birth space. I simply wanted to help women and birthing people have better birth experiences. I thought about becoming a midwife, but it didn’t feel like the right step. I’d heard of doulas, so I looked into what a doula does, and decided this was for me. I completed my Birth and Postpartum Doula Training with the Australian Doula College in 2023, during which time I supported 3 beautiful families through, pregnancy, birth, and early postpartum, and I cannot wait to support countless more.
My ultimate goal is to educate birthing people about all their options, to re-frame birth as a rite of passage, and demonstrate how our obstetric model of care is damaging women’s experiences. YOU are the person in control of your birth, no matter the circumstances. Having all the information can enable you to make decisions about your birth, while taking into consideration the risks and benefits of any course of action your care provider is recommending.
I love birth, but more than that, I love mothers. I love enabling parents to feel confident, supported, and empowered in their role, maximizing their capacity to bond with their children, and encouraging them to tune into their intuition.
I can’t wait to walk with your on your journey to motherhood.
My service area covers West Gippsland and surrounds including, Baw Baw Shire, Latrobe Shire, South Gippsland Shire, Cardinia Shire and Yarra Ranges.