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As a doula, one of the very first questions I ask my clients is what is their belief system around birth? What are their birth experiences? What do they know about their own birth? I want to understand their perception of birth in their birth culture. What the majority of families describe is a hands-off, family-centered, low intervention, natural feeling of care. They talk about wanting to be seen as a normal person who’s having a baby and not a medical condition. ​ When I’ve asked childbearing women to describe the midwifery model of care, I hear words such as: Mom-focused Low

How many times have you heard — or even said yourself —  “just switch providers,” after someone has a difficult prenatal appointment? This response makes a lot of sense on the surface when your client is clearly mismatched with their provider, their goals and choices are not being supported, or they are not being treated respectfully. You know that if a pregnant person is meeting resistance around their preferences in their prenatal appointments, it is likely going to continue into the birthing space. You want to protect them and do everything possible to help your clients have empowering, beautiful, and

You’ve seen the evidence and know you want doula support for your pregnancy and birth. So you hop online and do a quick search for doulas in your area – should be simple right? The short answer is no, depending on your local birth community. You might be facing a long list of doulas with stark differences in support style, beliefs, and skills.  How do you narrow down your search and find a doula that aligns with your birthing goals? The key starts with you. Taking the time to understand your beliefs about birth, explore what your ideal birth would

What would you do if you found out that your own biases and beliefs about birth were disempowering the clients you are serving? Chances are you started your important work as a doula after your own birthing experiences. And maybe that experience was a powerful, amazing birth that you believe all pregnant people deserve. More likely though, it was a birth that didn’t go as planned and you might even feel you need to protect your clients from their providers and the birthing system as a whole.  What if I told you that – positive or negative – your birth

2017 has been a fantastic year, but I couldn’t have done it without my amazing parents.  Here are some of the highlights of my year! 25 Natural childbirth Classes 5 Evidence Based Birth (R)  Workshops 2 Breastfeeding Classes  I’ve had to honor of serving 18 birthing families… 9 boys 8 girls 2 who are still cooking 1 set of twins!!  One birth in particular stands out, a twin birth that was simply amazing! Here are a bit of what Melissa had to say: “I swear all of our chats leading up to birth made me so mentally strong to voice

by Traci Weafer I’ve been active in doula work for 20 years and presently doing more mentoring. I find it very important to pass down the knowledge to keep this work alive.  Two very interesting topics have continuously come up in talking with Doulas. Speaking on behalf of clients A doula cannot/should not speak to medical staff  I hear on almost a weekly basis how confused a doula might be because it’s a rocky line when supporting a mom’s wishes or communicating goals. Let’s look at some of the top Doula certifying agencies on what their codes of conduct/ethics look