#doula work

[b-m-s-c]

[stepherazing]

How do you know it's time to move on?

I'm exhausted with Florida. I'm scared for my children.

I'm burnt out in my advocacy and doula work. My heart hurts and is so heavy with anxiety when I'm attending a birth. If I cannot stop my clients from being traumatized or their wants pushed aside, why am I even doing this work? Why am I crying in my car, carrying trauma for them, if I don't even feel I make a difference?

I've been doing this work for the better part of a decade and now I'm having nightmares about hospitals. I start to shake when I park in a hospital parking garage. When I'm attending a birth I can't eat normally, it causes intense nausea, which I believe is from my adrenaline level.

Mindfulness and Xanax don't help.

I've become bitter and angry at the doctors and nurses who just bend so easily to policy. I'm not against modern medicine, in fact, I'm grateful for it. There are many clients of mine who benefited tremendously from it. But it's terrifying to walk into a hospital knowing that my clients have about a 40-60% chance of an unexpected C-section from just walking in the door.

My company keeps asking me when I'm going to come back and take on clients. We're all losing money because I'm not working.

I just don't know anymore, and it's making me depressed. For months I've been hoping for a sign, but the way isn't any clearer to me.

This feels as if I've lost part of my soul to this pain and I don't comprehend how I can get it back.

[b-m-s-c]

[freedominsidethebox]

What is a Postpartum Doula

A postpartum doula is a paid professional who comes to your home after the birth of your child in order to offer support and care for your new family. The goal of a postpartum doula is to give you …

[18scrapbook]

I'm an Abortion Doula—Here's What I Do and See During a Typical Shift

People who get abortions deserve care and compassion.

It’s important to note the different kind of doulas such as abortion and death doulas. The word doula means “servant” in Greek so this can be received in various ways.

This article is related to several readings in the class (especially from week 5, week 6). While birth and especially abortion are taboo topics, support and representation for these women is very much needed. The reading talks about how this one abortion doula got into this type of work,

““During nursing school, a friend told me about DC Doulas for Choice. It’s a collective of twenty volunteers who commit a certain amount of time every month to be an abortion doula at a Northern Virginia clinic. I knew I had to join. I filled out an application, interviewed, went to an intensive in-person training, and then shadowed an experienced abortion doula before starting to volunteer on my own as the sole abortion doula during a shift. I’ve been an abortion doula for a year and a half now.“

“Talking to patients after their abortions just reinforces how important it is for women to have control over their reproductive futures.“

This work is so important and much needed. 

With the training I have now, I would consider being an abortion doula. 

I wonder what type of after care (physically and mental) would be best for not only the client but for the doula herself as well? 

[empressofeverything]

need a name

So I'm trying to decide on a name for my doula business (because I'm now a trained birth and postpartum doula and able to practice!). I'm leaning toward Bluebonnet Baby as a nod to my home state. Any other ideas?

[empressofeverything]

I love how doulas and other birth professionals are so chill about body functions. A few weeks ago, my mentor and I were in Starbucks and she was just talking away about vaginas and vaginal birth and placentas and everything that goes on in birth. This is how it should be. We shouldn’t be ashamed of birth. It’s a natural function that your body knows how to do. It shouldn’t be so shocking to talk about. 

[empressofeverything]

First birth

So I just got back from my first birth. I'm just going to put it out there; birth is freaking INTENSE and my client I was shadowing had an emergency c-section, so I didn't get to see a normal labor and delivery. This was scary and intense and frightening and a rush of adrenaline. And now I'm crashing from that adrenaline rush. I'm exhausted, emotionally wrung out, and still hungry. I'll see y'all in 38 hours after I collapse and sleep.