I am Catherine Bell
The Birth Cartographer, author of The Birth Map and inventor of The Game of Birth.
I was a mother-in-waiting for three years, but it was not until I was in ‘the club’ that I became privy to specific knowledge – after I needed it. There have been so many ‘if I knew then’ moments!
By the time my third was born, I had completed my Master in Science Communication, which I had begun before having children and trained as a birth doula and as a breastfeeding educator and counsellor (with the Australian Breastfeeding Association). The training revealed the lost information that all mothers need and drove me to improve the woeful communication in maternity services.
My website was born out of my drive to share this knowledge. I was frustrated at the need-to-know nature of the maternity system and the limited information provided when facing decisions.
My Mission
To provide all women with the means to make confident decisions regarding their pregnancy care, labour, birth and parenting
The doula training had provided me with a ‘birth plan’ template, which was to guide preparations and decision making for childbearing women. However, I found this template inadequate and restrictive, so I expanded it and accidently wrote a book, called The Birth Map. This book evolved out of the questions I wish I had asked, and the questions my mother-friends shared: if I had known X, I would have made a different decision. I developed a process around the book called Birth Cartography, which gave some structure, in a way that the birth plan did not. Women needed to understand that they could (and were expected to) make decisions during pregnancy, labour and birth, and beyond. They needed to know what they didn’t know!
The Birth Map is the bridge to facilitating communication and confident decision making in maternity services, as validated in my PhD study.
I can be summed up in three words: birth, death and community.
In addition to my work with the birth map, I am an active maternity consumer advocate with Maternity Choices Australia. This role provides the opportunity to represent ‘consumers’ of maternity services. Ensuring that the spectrum of voices is heard and considered in maternity service policy, guidelines and protocols.
In 2015, after seeing the parallels with birth care, I completed Death Walker training with Zenith Virago. I now chair the board for Tender Funerals Canberra Region, where I see an alignment with birth cartography in the importance of the experience of dying and death is embraced, and the options are explained and supported. Tender Funerals is a not-for-profit, community-led initiative, with three operating sites and many more under development. It ensures that families know all their options and supports meaningful and affordable funerals.
With the Braidwood Community Association, I helped secure a fabulous new intergenerational playground, a result of combining community spirit, diplomacy, and grant success. The Braidwood community repeated this success with the Braidwood ‘Respect’ Skatepark, where I undertook the treasurer role in my capacity with Braidwood Youth Performing Arts Association (BYPAA). BYPAA has since evolved into the Braidwood Creative Arts Academy (BACA), a not-for-profit charity that fosters community connections through creative pursuits, and I have assumed the chair role.
Life Before Children
Becoming a Mother changes us. Significantly. In my Life Before Children, I was becoming a Marine Biologist – a marine mammal researcher. I was on the cusp of a PhD chasing killer whales around the Aleutian Islands (Alaska) when my biological clock started booming – months after the trip of a lifetime to the Antarctic. It was like I had ticked off my childhood dreams and was ready for adulthood. I replaced all thoughts of whales and PhDs (previously an intense passion) with visions of babies. It was a long-awaited pregnancy when it finally came, and in becoming a Mother, I transformed. I re-evaluated what mattered and found my scientific brain turning to breastfeeding knowledge and birth physiology. I channelled all my previous experience in new ways toward my current journey as The Birth Cartographer and the PhD about facilitating communication and maternal decision making in birth preparation.
I am still that Catherine from before. She is a part of me, but sometimes it is like she was a completely different person, someone I knew once, an old friend fondly remembered but not a part of my life any more. I still have her collection of Bryan Adams tapes and CDs.