It has been a while since I have written a blog! This past year was crazy and consisted of virtual learning, working full time as a nanny, doing sleep consults and moving twice! We had a house built and are now in our forever home. It has been a long and stressful process but we couldn't be more happy to finally be settled in! As if I didn't have enough going on, I am now in the process of becoming a birth and postpartum doula. I am very excited to start this journey and feel like this is going to be a great lifelong career for me. Today I wanted to talk about what lead me to become a doula and what exactly a doula does.
For as long as I can remember I have always, always, always wanted to work with babies. Specifically newborns! I have been babysitting since I was young and went on to go to school for early childhood development. Since then I have had many nanny jobs, worked in daycare and ran an at home daycare when my daughter was a baby. I then went on to get my sleep consultant certification and love helping parents establish a great sleep routine. I have always felt like I wanted to do more to support parents and somehow specialize in newborns. This lead me to take the path to become a doula. I have connected with some great doula's in our community and I can already feel what a special and life changing job this will be. I am looking forward to supporting and empowering women through this amazing time in their lives.
So what is a doula exactly?!
There are birth doulas and postpartum doulas. Many people are both! I am taking trainings to come both a birth and a postpartum doula.
Birth doulas are there to support you and your partner during your pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum. Their main role is to support you and make sure you have a birth experience that is positive and based on your personal choices. They provide evidence based information and can help you create a birth plan. They are not there to judge or make decisions for you. During labor they can provide encouragement, comfort, support, physical and emotional techniques to manage pain and also help support your partner through the process. Studies have shown that having a birth doula increases the chance of having a better birth outcome. Women are less likely to use pain medications and are less likely to have a cesarean. Many women are also having more positive, empowering births that they remember as a happy experience with a doula present. Partner's of the birthing parent also benefit from having another support person there to help walk them through everything and it relieves some of the pressure for them to remember everything they learned in the childbirth class.
A postpartum doula is there to support you and your family as you adjust to life at home with a newborn. They are there to support you emotionally, physically and to provide evidence based information. They can help take care of the newborn so you can get some rest, provide guidance on newborn care, help with breastfeeding, help with sibling(s), help with cooking, help with light cleaning, help with running errands and often provide overnight care of the newborn. They are there to be a friend and check in with how you are adjusting mentally to your new life. They can refer you to resources if necessary. They can come as soon as the baby is born and stay for up to 12 weeks if you chose or they can just come for a few days as you adjust. It's really up to you in what way you need supported!
I will be available to start taking postpartum clients at the end of March and birth clients starting in the Fall. Please reach out with any question you may have! My email is doulasandbeyond@gmail.com. I look forward to helping you and your family thrive during this very special time in your lives.
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