Why I became a Birth Doula

Throughout history, women have been birthing alongside sisters, mothers, children and girlfriends. They birthed along side other women. Traditionally, women always helped their fellow sisters with pregnancy, in the birthing process, and the postpartum. Knowledge was passed down from women to women, gaining experience through being present for the births. When it came time to your own birth, you had seen your sisters, mothers and friends give birth. Birth was natural. Women knew they possessed the body intelligence to birth. They also knew that birth came with its own challenges, and potential risks, however they didn’t let this fear take over the birth. Women knew we were powerful, to be able to create and birth life, from our cosmic wombs. Up until the 1800’s women were birthing at home, with midwives and sisters.
When birth transitioned into the hospital setting, this passed down knowledge had been lost.
During the mid 20th century, the twilight sleep was introduced as a form of pain relief. This was a protocol where women were medically unconscious, babies delivered by forceps, the women waking not remembering anything.

This disconnection, and lack of knowledge being passed down caused a crack in our lineage with our connection to birth. Medicalized pain relief was becoming a feminist movement. Women felt like they deserved to labour and birth without pain.

This idea that we deserve to attain something without the whole is normal of the society we live in. We have removed ourselves from the full process. Fear has taken over birth’s potential.

To this day, the medical system has created birth into a pathology. In this society, we don’t witness our sisters, mothers or friends give birth.

Our teachers for birth have become societies influence: the movies subconsciously convincing us that it is something to fear, to put into the hands of someone exterior from us (ie a doctor), they are the trauma filled stories from our mothers that had been subjected to unknowing abuse from the medical system.

What is a birth doula?
This is where doula’s come into the picture. The greek word for “doula’ means ‘Women Caregiver’. We provide care and support for the pregnant woman, during the pregnancy, birth and postpartum. We support them emotionally, guide them in birth education, pain management, and much more.
We become, birth ambassadors. As a doula, I am a birth ambassador.

Why did I become a birth doula?
My vision of birth, implanted in me since I was a child. My mother was a midwife, I grew up surrounded by midwives. All social gatherings always contained midwives. I would be taken to pre and post natal visits. My first birth experience happened when I was 16, and she was an indigenous 16 year old Guatemalan woman. (This will be another post).

Pregnancy is innately natural to me. Hospitals have the power to destroy this natural birth by stripping away power and confidence within women. And many people have wholehearted trusts in their doctors. I believe in real informed decisions, that I feel doctors are not providing.

Passion, since my first experience with birth had propelled me to move into the direction of perinatal work, and I applied to midwifery school in 2017, and then I got pregnant.

My birth story requires a post on its own. To keep it short and sweet, I was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia in my second trimester, was rushed to the hospital, where they thought my baby would be born at 27 weeks. Instead I stayed hospitalized for close to 5 weeks, and my baby was born at 31weeks. She was born at 890g (1.9lbs) and spent herself 2 months in the neonatal. She was released on her due date.

This to say, I used her birth as a form of growth rather than victimhood. I chose to rise above the trauma, and use it as more fuel. I am a percentage of women who needed the hospital, who needed medical attention. However I should not be the norm. I am thankful for the system, to have been supported and live to tell the story.

My birth story propelled me to become a doula because I wanted to support women going through an unplanned high risk pregnancy.

As time went on, I realized I wanted to support all women. Especially those that want to take radical self responsibility for their own birth.

I am a birth supporter. As a doula, I am there to support the woman and her decisions, as it is her body and her baby.

All birthing woman have the power to give birth in a natural way. Understanding that birth is a normal physiological process. Doulas provide education on birth, teaching the knowledge on how birth can unfold, we normalize the birth process. Knowing and believing in that the innate power resides among all birthing women, and supporting her without ever doubting her power. Having confidence in the person is gold, helping her understand that she has the tools and confidence inside of her all along. Birth comes from within and we as doulas, are there to accompany the birthing mother’s reflex.