I have been very very busy lately! I have had my doula workshop completed and am working on getting more births scheduled along with working my normal 30 hour a week job and being a mom to an 8 month old (wow he is getting big!) as well as a wife to my patient husband.
What's new?
Well I have been working on securing a place to host my Dancing for Birth demo class as it seems to fall lower on my list of things to do daily for no other reason than there is not enough hours in the day! I am committed this week to make a breakthrough in this process so wish me luck! I have a location picked out that seems to be very promising and central in location here on the Peninsula so I hope it attracts moms and moms-to-be from all around. I need to schedule a few of these demo classes in order to get certified. I have been studying the material and making sure I am staying fluent in the training I received last month.
My first doula interview!
So before my doula training I had a friend as me to be by her side during her birth in July which led me to sign up for the training as soon as I could! Well I am still 100% committed to her and can't wait for the day! In the meantime, I hadn't even started to search for other births because the 4 day intensive training was still sinking in over the following few days. Well no sooner had I finished the last day, I was already approached by a wonderful mom-to-be who I had met in a couple encounters but never really had a chance to speak with one on one. She asked me if I would sit down for what doulas consider an interview (initial consultation). I was nervous but not to nervous and met her for tea at a local coffee shop. I respectfully put my phone on vibrate in my purse and tucked it under the table. We sat and talked for over 3 hours about birth, life, books, recent documentaries, my family, her family and the time just ticked by. We naturally carried on without a hint of how much time had passed!
Okay we learn in our training to keep these consultations to about an hour because we all have lives but it just seemed right this time that it lasted so long. I told her about my family which she knew I had a baby at home as well as my current job which fairly flexible in getting time off so I didn't think we would run into issues with me attending her birth. I told her not to give me an answer that day and to take a few days to decide whether she would want me at her birth. I left there feeling very good about everything we talked about and reflected on how I was able to gather the information I needed and give her information she needed (I thought I would forget everything I learned and not know what to say if she had a question!)
Today I received the notice that she had decided to hire me on as her doula and I am quietly excited (Well except for here and to my husband and a close friend!) as I head into a new challenge of balance it all. The birth is expected in early April and I don't have much time to prepare but I am confident I will be ready.
As I have gone through my training and met the many wonderful people in the local birthing community I have come to find many strengths among them but also many missing services that are not available in our area. One of these is prenatal and postpartum fitness! I really hope to hone on this and build something that will fill this void. Myself and a couple other birth professionals are joining together to make this happen. It really does take a village to raise a child but it also takes a village to support a mother in her own journey!
Keep following and I hope to have more to tell you soon!
