I believe that women's bodies are made for birthing and that each woman possesses the ability to have the birth she desires. As women, our bodies are able to birth naturally the vast majority of the time; we are not broken vessels in need of constant monitoring and assistance. Our bodies do not follow schedules; we are unique individuals and deserve to be treated as such. Every woman has the right to doula support during birthing. We have the right to be treated with respect and dignity during birthing. We have the right to thorough information and facts at every stage of pregnancy and during birthing.
I was fortunate that my journey to becoming a doula began early – before I was married or had children. I was put on hormonal birth control pills at sixteen due to absent periods and repeated episodes of spotting. Unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared for one of the worst side effects – I was only twenty when I had a stroke. My only two risk factors were chronic migraines and birth control pills.
At the time I was engaged and still in college. I knew that as I recovered, my future husband and I would have to find a reliable method of birth control that didn’t involve hormones. In my search, I stumbled across the fertility awareness method. This began my own personal birth revolution.
As I learned more about my own fertility patterns and how to read my fertility signs, I began to investigate into other aspects of women’s health. Now newly married, I read about birth practices in the United States. I came across a strange word – doula. After I found out what a doula could do, I knew I had to have one and that I wanted to be one.
I felt immediately that every woman should have a doula to assist her during birthing.
During my own pregnancy, I relied upon my knowledge to get myself through – we couldn’t afford a doula and there weren’t many in my area unfortunately. I wish I had tried a bit more to get a doula, even though I didn’t labor. In the end, my son was stubbornly breech, and we had a scheduled c-section. We had great difficulty breastfeeding – I believe partly due to the c-section and partly due to the blood thinners I continued from pregnancy.
If I had been able to have a doula, I think she would have been able to help me have the courage I didn’t have. The courage to wait until I went into labor to have a c-section. The courage to switch providers to someone who would possibly let me have a vaginal breech birth. The courage to continue to try breastfeeding even after I was so bruised and bleeding I couldn’t stand to have anything against my skin. The courage to continue to hope.
This is why I serve women. We all deserve hope.
