Nice to meet you! I´m the woman behind Doula Nagomi. Doula support is very personal therefore it´s important to feel at ease with each other. I´d like to introduce myself for you to get a first impression.
Why did I become a doula?
Being a doula brings together my passion, skills and experience. I’m interested in pregnancies, birth experiences, developmental psychology, cultural influences and preventing mental health issues. I’m a devoted, loving, reliable and passionate woman. I feel happy when I can make a difference. Caring for people, supporting families and teaching. I work best in an informal, respectful setting and like to have fun.
My life
I’m a mother of two children (2013 and 2015) and had two totally diffferent birth experiences. I have a Master’s degree in Psychology. I’m also a certified massage therapist for relaxation, pregnancy, postpartum and baby massage. I completed my Master’s degree by studying in USA, Australia, Japan and The Netherlands. Because of my interest for other cultures I especially like working with international families. After analyzing everything that I can I realized: I’m a doula!
What kind of doula am I?
In my role as a doula I’m a calm and loving presence for everyone. I support you in the choices that you make. Whether you pursue a birth experience without pain medication or you are set on getting an epidural. Whether you have a loving birth partner or have your baby on your own. Whether you trust that everything will be ok or if you feel anxious about giving birth. Whether this is your first birth experience or your 10th. Whether you are birthing your own baby or become a parent in another way. Whether you prefer statistical facts or care more about hands-on exercises; or a combination! I’m happy to share everything that I know and will use my network of birth workers to give you everything that you need.
Why is my business called Nagomi?
During a visualization exercise I thought about words that belong to ‘doula’. Many water related words came to mind such as wave, stream and cascade. Thinking about waves I pictured the wavy contour of a female body, her pregnant belly, the ups and downs of (getting) pregnant, pregnancy and taking care of your baby. It’s my dream to become fluent in Japanese and to be a doula for Japanese expats in The Netherlands, therefore I thought it was suitable to choose a Japanese name for my doula business.
The Japanese word for ‘wave’ is ‘nami’. That’s my daughter’s syllables ‘Mina’ backwards. Bringing my doula passion and my kids together seemed perfect. But the name didn’t feel complete yet without my son’s name ‘Hugo’. The ‘hu’ sound doesn’t exist in the Japanese language but ‘go’ does. My Japanese friends told me that I could make the word ‘Nagomi’ with these syllables. A beautiful word in Japanese and exactly what I want to be as a doula. It means ‘bringing peace’, ‘making situations less intense’, ‘relaxed vibes’. A word often used for wellness resorts or to describe the feeling of friends getting together. The perfect name for my business!
One of my Japanese friends is an illustrator and designed the logo for Nagomi. We talked about what I want my logo to say about me as a doula: softness, connection, warmth, cooperation as a team. Which colours fit my vision of what I want to bring as a doula. Only a couple of sketches later she drew the logo that I fell in love with. The connection between mother and baby, who is growing inside her womb surrounded my amniotic fluid. They are working together and deserve support from their birth team.
