My Journey to Doula Work

I get this question all the time, “why did you become a doula?” or “how did you know you wanted to be a doula?” The question usually follows my explanation of what a doula is, and the person I am talking with realizes I work in a job they never knew existed. Other times I get these questions from other doulas or birth-workers who came into their roles after they had children of their own. I am a doula because I have experienced how empowerment can lead people to accomplish their goals. I want my effort and time to go into work that empowers expecting parents to begin their journey with confidence, love, and a healthy mind and body.

“I don’t remember a time I didn’t know what a doula was. ”

My mom had a doula support her when I was born. I heard about this doula throughout my childhood, she was a pillar of the birth story my mom told. In the stories, the doula was the smart one, the strong one, the encouraging one that helped my mom bring me into the world. My dad says the doula is the reason he made it through the long labor and hard moments. I don’t remember a time I didn’t know what a doula was.

Young me carry for one of my many babies.

Throughout my schooling I was an emotionally intelligent child, always watching out for kids who were picked on or excluded. I took care of all my dolls with the utmost tender love a six-year-old could show. I played “giving birth” with my best friend weekly, one of us was always pregnant, laboring, or breastfeeding, we were very busy seven-year-olds. That soft vulnerable empathy I had as a child didn’t harden over when I became a teenager. I was emotionally tuned into all my classroom dynamics and social happenings. Around the end of my senior year in high school, my mom and I had a conversation and we got to the topic of midwives. She offhandedly mentioned she thought I would be a good midwife, and that idea stuck.

“After that workshop I knew I wanted to be some type of birth worker. ”

In the winter of my first year at Mount Holyoke College, I took a little local doula training class just to see if I was really interested in birth work. I loved the class, I loved learning about birth, I loved talking about it, I loved thinking about it. After that workshop I knew I wanted to be some type of birth worker. 

“The combination of how people work together and solving puzzles of cultural assumptions was just so intriguing, it felt like all of my questions about life and people were answered in the classrooms of my anthropology classes. ”

In the Fall of my sophomore year I decided I wanted to major in Anthropology. I had taken an anthropology class, and I was so interested in conversations on culture, health, structures, and medicine . The combination of how people work together and solving puzzles of cultural assumptions was just so intriguing, it felt like all of my questions about life and people were answered in the classrooms of my anthropology classes. My peers in the Anthropology department were strong, thoughtful, and just as excited as I was for more information and conversations. Some of my favorite classes included Medical Anthropology, Anthropology of Death, Anthropology of Reproduction, Anthropology of Structural Violence, and my senior seminar on theory. Mount Holyoke College is part of the 5-College Consortium, so I had the chance to take classes at other schools as well. I took Anthropology of Food and Nutrition, and HIV/AIDS 35 Years Later (at Hampshire College), and Evolutionary Anthropology (at UMass Amherst). So many interesting classes and professors, I loved learning about all the ways anthropology could be used to understand the world.

During the summer between sophomore year and junior I had the opportunity to shadow and home birth midwife in Portland Oregon. I sat in on some routine check-ups she had, as well as attended some classes she taught at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OSHU). Being immersed in an environment where pregnancy, labor, and birth were widely understood to be natural processes was an incredible experience. Talking to young student midwives, and other doulas was an important step in my own journey because it showed me that being a strong young birth worker was an option for a career path.

The next summer I interned with Health Equity Alliance (HEAL) in Bangor Maine. During my time with HEAL I worked with members of the community living with/ at risk of contracting HIV. While I wasn’t directly working with expecting parents, or birth workers, I was learning about the other pieces of public health work. Anthropology teaches us how to understand structure and how personal experiences are results of structural decisions. In Bangor, I was able to directly witness these experiences and think about the influence decisions being made in the state house. This was an important moment in my journey while I reflected on the bigger picture of public health and thought about how birth and birth support fit in.

My plans for after graduation.

After that summer, I began my senior year with a plan to write a thesis, yikes! The concept of my thesis was using women’s narratives of their caesarean section births to understand the caesarean experience in the US. I interviewed my subjects, did a lot of reading, and wrote my most prized piece of writing, my senior thesis (email me if you want to read it!). After researching and writing about cesarean births, I knew that I wanted to be part of the structural change to reduce cesarean birth rates and empower people giving birth. I had done a lot of thinking and analyzing, my academic side had grown and developed. After graduation I was ready to develop the other part of me, the empathetic, compassionate, strong-willed support person I knew I could be. It was finally time to start my training to become a doula.

“After graduation I was ready to develop the other part of me, the empathetic, compassionate, strong-willed support person I knew I could be. It was finally time to start my training to become a doula.”

I attended a DONA International birth doula workshop in August 2018, and officially began my journey as a birth doula. Over the course of Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 I worked on completing my doula certification requirements. I attended births, read a lot of interesting books, and took some additional classes on breastfeeding support, childbirth education, and running a business. I have found a connection with doula work because it is a place where I can use my emotional skills. I am valued because of my ability to connect with people and give them all my compassion. Being emotional and compassionate is a huge asset as a doula. I love sharing my knowledge with people, I love problem solving and strategizing, and I love empowering my clients. Right now, doula work is a great fit for my strengths in serving my community. In June 2019 I became officially DONA certified! Since then I have been building my business and making sure I have all my bases covered before I take clients. Now I am up and going, ready to take on some clients! Check out my website for specifics about the services I offer, my region, and my fees.  

“I love sharing my knowledge with people, I love problem solving and strategizing, and I love empowering my clients.”