Meet the ParentLink Team

Mairead Furlong

Mairead travelled the world before her path led her to working with pregnant women and their families. She starting working as a doula with ParentLink in 2006 and is completing her training with Childbirth International.

I traded the green fields and country lanes of Ireland for the big lights of London at the tender age of 19. After seven years spent working in marketing and graphic design I was easily persuaded to forsake the drudgery of holding down a nine-to-five (or should I say eight-to-eight!) for a life of sun, surf, and sand in Australia. I packed my suitcase and set off with Steve, my tall, dark, handsome West Australian boyfriend. Following a lengthy courtship, spent indulging our love of travel, food and the great outdoors, we bid a sad farewell to my beloved Bondi Beach and returned to Ireland to marry in 2001. After a wonderfully adventurous six-month honeymoon spent backpacking through the Near East and Africa, we ended up back in London, where Steve secured another nine-to-five and I spent a year dedicating myself to finally completing my degree in Literary Studies and History of Art.

In a feat of fantastic timing, I gave birth to our first son within a couple of weeks of completing my final exams. Tiarnan was born at home, into the still of a hot London night. He was caught by his beaming father, who cut his cord, and after a quick cuddle passed him to me. After six months spent traversing the incredibly joys and occasional challenges of babyhood we relocated to Singapore. Shortly after arriving, I fell pregnant again. Our second son, Ruairi, was born at home in our condo in Siglap. He too was birthed into the big, calm hands of his father, and bellowed with a gusto that belied the gentle manner and intimate environment into which he had been born.

For both of my labours and births I had fantastic support. Along with the constant loving care of my husband, I had two midwives present at Tiarnan's birth and at Ruairi's, two doulas as well as my doctor. The respect, privacy, support, and ownership I felt during pregnancy, birth, and the post-partum period has had a profound effect on how I feel about myself as a woman, a human being, and a mother. For Steve, being listened to, respected, and empowered to give his wife the best possible support and encouragement, along with the incredible experience of delivering both of his own sons, has also been a life-changing experience. (I can tell you that the memory of the look on his face after both births never fails to move me to tears!). His bond with both his sons was instant and his transition into fatherhood seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

Having experienced first-hand the powerful benefits of midwife/doula support during my own journeys through pregnancy, labour, and birth, I could think of nothing I would rather do more than extend the same sense of trust, love, care, and safety to other women and their families. The miracle of pregnancy and birth is breathtakingly beautiful and pure, and the work of all who enable it to unfold is sacred.

See also:

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