Childbirth; the joy, the pain, the power

Mama Doula (<mama-doula.com> is the website name)

Hi. I've just finished my training as a Doula in order to assist women & couples in their aim for a beautiful, respectful, empowering birth & post-natal experience. I have travelled extensively, worked with women in Indonesia, gave birth in New Zealand & currently in UK - I am a global thinker & citizen! I am a committed environmentalist but certainly not wishy-washy; I am pragmatic, organised & ambitious with a real zest for life...

For my new venture I want to convey ideas of respect, companionship, support, partnership, the reality of childbirth (without glorifying horror or blood).

Many people have never heard of a Doula. Doulas are additional to a midwife or obstetrician; they're not medically trained but are there to give personal emotional & practical birthing support to an individual (the client). They attend home, birth centre or hospital births & their presence has been shown to significantly reduce the pain & length of labour & improve "bonding". There are three types of women/couple who employ a Doula:

1) first-timers (perhaps fearful, certainly nervous, maybe even anxious because of the stories & experiences they have heard of through friends or family of less than pleasant "birth journeys")
2) Women who have had caesarean births but who want to give birth vaginally (but medical professionals are being less than supportive so the women wants additional support in the birthroom)
3) Women who are giving birth or adapting to parenthood following traumatic personal experiences e.g. abuse.

I will be working in the UK rural district of Shropshire; based in Shrewsbury town. There are other doulas in the area; more business generally coming from the town dwellers than the other more rural folk. Doulas are hired by a family or woman on an individual basis; there's no religious or ethnic affinity, no economic or social boundaries. A woman can still birth with her partner or family in attendance; but often feels more comfortable with a doula there.

I want a striking logo; nothing too abstract. In addition to a website & literature, I intend to use this logo on my car's rear window, so I want something that people will instantly understand.

I like the idea of two hands cupping the scene of a woman giving birth. Something like the logo of Bumi Sehat <http://www.bumisehatbali.org> perhaps more contemporary. I also like the primitive or global art of women giving birth. The anthropoligst Sheila Kitzinger's book "Rediscovering Birth" has some great images <http://www.sheilakitzinger.com/BOOK…vering.htm>. I am comfortable with powerful birth images but I'm not sure whether most families employing a doula would be! If you are a parent &/or have witnessed or supported a birth, or just have children, what images are generated..? So, what portrayal would encourage you to contact me to care for your pregnant friend in her most dramatic, vulnerable, primal time of her life?

I need a 1-colour linear logo; nothing childlike, not sure whether to have mama-doula.com incorporated (or mama doula), probably beneath the logo image. Circular shaped designs are good, as are spirals. Common birthing visioning includes waves (for the contractions), opening flowers (to convey thoughts of the softening, contracting layers of a woman's cervix), the cycle of life. There needs to be space between any image of a doula, the woman & her baby. Njoy!