I'm a Birth Doula....

I have neglected to blog about something that is very important to me and is part of who I am. I am a Birth Doula. A doula is a professionally trained labor and delivery support person. I help women have babies! I started working on my certification the summer of 2005 and I finally got everything finished up last fall. Since I started doula-ing in '05, I have attended 10 births and have a client in the hopsital this morning.

University Medical Center here in Lubbock actually has a hospital based doula program, so the hospital pays me to help moms! It just can't get any better than that in my opinion. I do have a private practice and my friends and co-workers have been so kind to hire me. It is truly a blessing to help a friend and then continue to see the baby as he/she grows up.

I have several people I want to thank who supported my efforts to get certified. I had to attend a 5 day training session in San Antonio. Joyce (MIL) kept the kids for me. My mother paid for more than half of my class fees and Robert (FIL) provided me with a very nice hotel in San Antonio. He travels a lot and accumulates tons of reward points at the Marriott and it was so kind of him to let me use his points. Saved us quite a bit of cash!

I especially want to thank Marc for being so supportive. Babies are born at all hours of the day and night, so we have lots of Plan A's and Plan B's in place. My two best friends have also been very helpful and are ready a moments notice to help with Taylor and Andrew.

I attended one birth that was particularly long (three days) and Joyce took the kids to Lovington for the weekend. She and my mom took care of them and mom brought them back. Having a supportive, loving family is something I do not take for granted.

So, if you know a pregnant woman or have friends or family who are expecting or who will have babies in the future, suggest they hire a doula! I have doula-ed for couples (mostly) and dads especially appreciate having someone there who can help them help their wives. The website www.dona.org is the very helpful in explaining what doulas do.