the shift from being productive to being needed is jarring, here’s why.
I, like many women, built my identity around achievement, competence and visible output before I had kids - and that shift to motherhood felt less like a smooth glide and more like a knee-jerk gear-grind.
When I was going through that, I wished someone had given the words to, or even handed me the language to be able to understand what was happening. Being a mother is my greatest and most rewarding gift, but it’s got layers, right?
Before Birth Work, There Was This
The stage might have changed – boardrooms to birth rooms – but the purpose is the same. To stand with women as they step into their own power. To challenge the systems that tell them to be smaller, quieter, more compliant. To remind them that their voice matters – in the workplace, in the world, and especially in birth.
Powerful women need powerful guides
I’ve realised over the years that to do that kind of work - the kind that doesn’t just support a birth, but transforms a whole becoming - I can’t just read a book and rock up on the day.
I have to embody the investment that people make in me.
The patriarchy wants you to feel bad about this (don’t let it win)
Suddenly, anything that felt nourishing, expansive, or supportive for me… became harder to justify.
My needs started slipping beneath the surface. And the message was loud and clear. You come second now.
Is Hustle Mode Ruining Your Parenting Experience?
I learned early on that being independent and needing less from others made life easier – for everyone else. And it got praised. I was a good girl. So grown up. So helpful.
And to be honest, I wore that badge with pride. But then I became a mother. And then I started my own business. And that same drive – the one that made me unstoppable before – began to feel like an anchor.