Carol Peat knows the strength of a woman. She has witnessed it many times during the past 20 years. With Carol’s gentle guidance and support, hundreds of women have discovered the strength within themselves to become mothers, giving birth unmedicated and listening to their own bodies and babies.
As a labour support provider and lactation counsellor based inLondon , Ontario
“It is an honour to witness a mom’s strength, because most of my clients go completely unmedicated. To see the strength of the mom and her continuous connection with her baby is an absolute honour that never gets old,” says Carol.
Carol herself is a mother of three, ages 16, 18 and 21. When her first daughter was born, the birth experience was not what Carol hoped for, so she decided that she wanted to provide support to other women so they would have a wonderful and rewarding birth experience. Carol wishes to restore old traditions to empower families and allow them to have the best birth possible. To that end, Carol directs Babies Naturally with a team of practitioners specializing in childbirth education, labour support, lactation support and parenting classes.
One family paid tribute to Carol on the Babies Naturally website:
By having a positive birth experience, women and their partners can focus their energy on caring for and bonding with their baby, rather than on healing from the trauma of their birth. To have the best birth possible, Carol advises women to know their bodies, their birthing options and to advocate for their baby. “One woman at a time, one family at a time” is her motto.
Of the hundreds of births Carol has attended, just a small fraction of them have resulted in a c-section, and most of the women have opted for a natural birth, without medication. “Education is the key, since most women do not have a sense of how their bodies work, starting as girls through to womanhood,” says Carol, who often speaks to high school girls about the importance of knowing their bodies so, amongst other things, they may have a positive birth experience in the future.
For thousands of years, women have given birth outside of a hospital with the support of other women, and women around the world still birth this way. Carol encourages women to move beyond the fear of childbirth and realize that it is a natural process. “Our bodies were designed to give birth,” Carol points out. “We’ve fallen into an obstetrical belief system where everything needs to be managed. There is no vitality to being hooked up to a machine. The vitality comes from a hand on your shoulder or a hug. Or being able to feed off of someone else’s energy when you need it, rather than sitting and staring at a monitor.”
Carol and her team have lobbied the government to setup stand alone midwifery-led birth centres. Birth centres would allow women to have safe, normal deliveries within their communities and outside of hospitals, away from infectious diseases with a decreased need for interventions, such as c-sections.
According to the Ontario Midwives website, the c-section rate is at an all-time high, with nearly 1 in 3 women inOntario Ontario
With Carol and her team lending their support to mothers through pregnancy, childbirth and into parenthood, it is clear the babies within their care are getting the best start in life. “To welcome these new souls into the world, and to be one of the first people to meet them and witness a miracle is such an honour,” says Carol.
As a labour support provider and lactation counsellor based in
“It is an honour to witness a mom’s strength, because most of my clients go completely unmedicated. To see the strength of the mom and her continuous connection with her baby is an absolute honour that never gets old,” says Carol.
Carol herself is a mother of three, ages 16, 18 and 21. When her first daughter was born, the birth experience was not what Carol hoped for, so she decided that she wanted to provide support to other women so they would have a wonderful and rewarding birth experience. Carol wishes to restore old traditions to empower families and allow them to have the best birth possible. To that end, Carol directs Babies Naturally with a team of practitioners specializing in childbirth education, labour support, lactation support and parenting classes.
One family paid tribute to Carol on the Babies Naturally website:
Carol helped me welcome all three of my children into the world. I cannot imagine how different (and probably not as pleasant) my birth stories would be without her. She has cried with me, laughed with me, and jumped for joy with me. I have leaned on her, stared at her, yelled at her, chatted endlessly on the phone with her. She has given me a foot massage, helped me handle castor oil, introduced me to babywearing (my best parenting decision by far), kept me in shape, and helped me figure out nursing, bundling, diapering, bathing and endless other baby details. She is a birth and baby goddess.
My husband is one of her biggest advocates as well and tells every co-worker or friend to head her way. He believes that hiring Carol was the best decision we made concerning any birth/baby purchase or choice.
Even though they are now 11, 8 and 6 years old, I still call Carol a friend, and I am grateful to her husband and her children for sharing her with my family. I am forever indebted to her for her time, her energy, her enthusiasm and the sharing of her soul.
Of the hundreds of births Carol has attended, just a small fraction of them have resulted in a c-section, and most of the women have opted for a natural birth, without medication. “Education is the key, since most women do not have a sense of how their bodies work, starting as girls through to womanhood,” says Carol, who often speaks to high school girls about the importance of knowing their bodies so, amongst other things, they may have a positive birth experience in the future.
For thousands of years, women have given birth outside of a hospital with the support of other women, and women around the world still birth this way. Carol encourages women to move beyond the fear of childbirth and realize that it is a natural process. “Our bodies were designed to give birth,” Carol points out. “We’ve fallen into an obstetrical belief system where everything needs to be managed. There is no vitality to being hooked up to a machine. The vitality comes from a hand on your shoulder or a hug. Or being able to feed off of someone else’s energy when you need it, rather than sitting and staring at a monitor.”
Carol and her team have lobbied the government to setup stand alone midwifery-led birth centres. Birth centres would allow women to have safe, normal deliveries within their communities and outside of hospitals, away from infectious diseases with a decreased need for interventions, such as c-sections.
According to the Ontario Midwives website, the c-section rate is at an all-time high, with nearly 1 in 3 women in
With Carol and her team lending their support to mothers through pregnancy, childbirth and into parenthood, it is clear the babies within their care are getting the best start in life. “To welcome these new souls into the world, and to be one of the first people to meet them and witness a miracle is such an honour,” says Carol.
Babies Naturally can be found at http://www.babiesnaturally.ca/ or you can “like” them on Facebook.
To find out about the “Ontario Needs Birth Centres” campaign, please visit the Ontario Midwives website at http://www.ontariomidwives.ca/support/centres.
Written by Elayne Linn
Edited by Kristine Scarrow
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