Well Rounded Doulas

The question asked of me the most often is, “what can you do to help me with pain?” Hands down, it’s what people worry about most often when they think of labor and birth.

Do I have tips and tricks up my sleeve to help manage and cope with the surges and intensities of labor? You betcha

Do I think there is a much MUCH greater underlying fear of pain that is so deeply ingrained in us in this society, especially when it comes to birthing, that really needs addressed more? Absofreakinglutely

How can I help you let go of the fear of your body so majestically and magically at work bringing new life earthside? Or how I can stand alongside you as you process and work through previous birth experiences? It’s so much deeper than hip squeezes and position changes and squeezing combs.

It’s partnering with you. Encouraging, supporting, providing you with resources. It’s talking through those fears and dismantling them step by step. It’s helping you feel confident in your right to choose your birth process and in your ability to make choices if plans change. It’s helping you feel empowered and strong-as-hell when you face labor because you feel in your bones the thrill and power that is your life-giving force.

Labor prep is a little more than learning a few techniques, but I promise it’s so worth it.

You can do this 🤍

Second labors can be sneaky quick sometimes! She went from seeing some bloody show in the morning, to spaced out contractions through the day, to under two hours of active labor before brilliantly pushing out her baby on her bedroom floor before 8pm!
All the congratulations to my brother and sister in law! All birth is special but family birth hits different. It’s good to be an Auntie again! 🤍

One of my favorite parenting guides, Dr. Becky , uses the phrase “two things can be true” and I love it so much in all areas of my life. So…

Two things can be true:
1. Birth can be uncomfortable, intimidating, and a little overwhelming

AND

2. Birth can be empowering, transformative, and even kind of fun

Learning the “why” behind what our bodies are doing during labor is the FIRST step toward squashing our cultural fear of birthing and start stepping back into the power that we contain to birth our babies. How do we do that? Books, documentaries, childbirth education classes, doulas, midwives, stories from people who have experienced it. We empower ourselves through education to make the choices that feel best for our bodies!

The way we birth and how we feel while doing it has a profound effect on the rest of our lives. It’s not about how you choose to give birth, it’s do you feel supported, safe, and empowered in those choices. And then we just go from there 🙂

(Swipe to see pics of my superhero birth supporters in 2017…we had a lot of fun!🥰 📸 )

What is the only thing truly within our grasp to control in life?

Ourselves. Our actions, reactions, and energy.

What does that look like in preparation for birth?

It looks like exploring expectations and fears, a commitment to learning, an openness to trust, a dedication to healthy choices and mindfulness, and the opportunity to build your dream birth team to support you (and your superpower: intuition) in the entire process.

If you’re looking for birth support on your journey to parenthood, I’d love to chat 💕

My hope, as your birth support, is to help you recognize and own the authority you can (and do!) have in your experience of meeting your babe.

I think that this is a hard concept to really grasp in most situations. But, I have personally felt and witnessed, an even further divide from this concept since the pandemic began. We moved through that experience (as a collective whole) feeling fear and uncertainty and most definitely not feeling in control of our bodies, choices, or outcomes. And now, that’s bleeding into how we are facing our birth experiences.

Now obviously I’m not saying our birth experiences can be completely controlled. Birth, like life, unfolds in ways we cannot imagine. But I am saying that you can approach birth with a feeling of agency and comfort. You can arm yourself with knowledge, listen intently to your intuition, and shed the fear that seems to be demanded by our society.

You get to believe that your body knows what it is doing. You get to trust yourself. You get to trust your baby. You get to make choices that feel safe and right to your body. And in realizing those things, you get to feel a sense of ownership as you move through the waves of pregnancy and birth.

My hope is to support you as you find your own path. It’s not my path, the path of your provider, or even the path of your partner or family. It’s yours. And it’s valid and beautiful and ready to unfold 💫