As of November 09, I am trading in my bike for a campervan, and London for South America. So unfortunately I can't take on any more birth clients at the moment. We hope to return in summer 2010. In the meantime, thank you for visiting my site.

I usually go everywhere on my bike, and the hope is that when it comes to supporting women and their partners through pregnancy, birth and new parenthood, my speedy bike riding means that I can be with you in a set time, regardless of what the tubes or traffic are doing.

I live in Hammersmith, West London, with my husband and two little girls. By trade I am a business journalist and I used to write about the media industries, but after I had my first daughter, things changed career-wise - as they so often do.

I had my first daughter at UCH, central London, and it was an extremely positive first birth (normal physiological birth assisted by gas and air). My second daughter was born was at Queen Charlotte’s in Hammersmith and this was also very positive (again normal birth, this time in a birthing pool) and that bit quicker!

But although I had positive experiences, in retrospect I realised that had I not been able to be so assertive in labour - a miracle, in retrospect! - things could have been very different. And that got me thinking: why should women have to worry about being assertive when they want to concentrate on what their babies and their bodies are doing?

As well as being a doula, I also co-run Babyplanners, which now provides advice and support for parents within the workplace. Because I have been helping support new and expectant parents through Babyplanners, I already had a lot of experience looking after couples during pregnancy and after birth before training as a doula.

And it was these parents who inspired me to take the first steps to becoming a doula. "Why am I recommending doulas rather than doing it myself?" I thought. "I'm missing out on the best bit!"

I am also co-chair of the Maternity Services Liaison Committee for Imperial College NHS Trust, which encompasses Queen Charlotte's and St Mary's maternity units. This allows me to feed back my clients' experiences of these maternity units and make the services offered better as a result. In addition I am a member of the Federation of Antenatal Educators.

Please have a look around this site and if you'd like to give me a call feel free to phone either my home number - 020 8563 9451 - or my mobile - 07899 981681. Or if you prefer you can email me through keely@babyplanners.co.uk.

Thank you for visiting.

Keely