Tag: 2019

15 Doula Lessons from 2019

As an experienced birth doula learning is important to me, and I grow with each birth I attend!

Every single birth I attend is an opportunity to serve a family. I am always honored to be invited into that space. With more than 5 years under my belt as a birth doula, I still feel like I learn things each time. Even as I inch closer to 150 births attended, I am always in awe of the process and my amazing clients. I will never feel like I have seen it all, and this year definitely brought some surprises. Instead of posting statistics about how many births I have attended, I prefer to post about doula lessons that I have learned this past year. Some of these have reinforced things I learned previously, and others have challenged me in new ways. This year has been interesting in so many ways, and I love that I keep growing and learning along the way.

Here is my list of 15 doula lessons in no particular order:

1. In childbirth, faster is not always easier.

2. I don’t have to agree with all of your decisions to support you.

3. A little determination goes a very long way for labor and delivery.

4. Communication and trauma informed care are not taught to all medical providers.

5. Rice socks smell like burnt popcorn if you microwave them for too long.

6. Home birth can be beautiful beautiful beautiful! Make sure to remind people to PRACTICE with their birthing tub at home!

7. Things I may view as traumatic, may not be viewed the same as my client. Don’t project my views onto other people’s memories. Recovering from a challenging birth is really important for me, physically AND emotionally.

8. Sometimes I burst into tears at the magnificence of it all, and that is ok.

9. Repeat clients are seriously, just the best! VBACs are pretty amazing too.

10. Watch the partner’s face; those glimpses of true joy and love are amazing!

11. LISTEN to the birthing person; their opinion matters.

12. Sometimes clients still surprise me with their ferocity, and I LOVE that!

13. Amazing providers who give individualized care and continue to consider experience and preference over standard operating procedure give me hope! All the preparation in the world cannot make up for an unsupportive provider.

14. Trusting my doula gut when it says GO is still the right thing to do.

15. Patience is undervalued and wholly necessary.

2019’s doula lessons were not easy, and this is certainly not going to be a year that I will soon forget. As I grow in my doula knowledge and skills I am also constantly reminded of how much I really don’t know. These doula lessons all help to increase my confidence and capacity to deal with new situations, hopefully with grace and humility.

2019: Connection & Growth

A year for transition has been excellent for growing and connecting with so many new people.

Every year I pick a focus word, and for 2019 I chose: connection. It has felt like a year for transition for my business for many reasons, and I am looking forward to some exciting new connections and growth in the new year. Before we get there though, I think it is important to look back and recognize what was accomplished in 2019.

I started the connections of 2019 by orchestrating an entire blog series connecting with other great local businesses! This even included 2 giveaways to local businesses, and I am looking forward to hopefully coordinating more in 2020. I taught a new class this year on natural coping techniques for labor and delivery, and it seemed to go over really well with the students. I did not teach any group childbirth classes, but I did teach some private childbirth education courses. I had a few speaking engagements as well at Common Grounds connecting and growing with fellow entrepreneurs and at Central High School with students too!

Making connections and growing with fellow doulas and childbirth professionals was also an important priority for me in 2019. I hosted a certified lactation educator training, a birth doula training, and a TENS training for doulas in 2019. I helped plan a meet the doulas evening where we hosted potential clients who came to ask us all kinds of questions. Some of my favorite conversations happened around my kitchen table at our doula gatherings too, and those connections are always extra special. Additionally, I became a member of the Southwest Indiana Breastfeeding Coalition, and that has been really great way to learn, connect, and grow with all kinds of local lactation professionals too.

I made connections and grew through learning and the wider profession a priority in 2019. I continued serving on the data collection subcommittee of the advocacy committee of DONA International, my certifying organization. I attended and received continuing education at 5 online conferences through GOLD Learning. I presented and attended the Evidence Based Birth Conference in Lexington, KY. I reviewed three books for the Lamaze International blog this year too. I also cultivated connections with the whole wide world through the launch of The Birth Geeks Podcast with my friend and doula mentor Robin Elise Weiss.

All of these connections and growth, local to international, doula to client, brain to information, face to face, they have all been so very special to me. I am proud of the work I have done this year, and I haven’t even started talking about my connections with my amazing clients. (That’s for my next blog post.) 2019 has been a special year as I have stepped whole-heartedly forward and grown with each new connection that I have made. These connections have sometimes been hard won, but I would not trade them for the world. Thank you to every single person whose connections have been invaluable to my amazing year.