I Am a Doula

Shared by: Crystal Tite

I am a doula.

I speak with my voice, but also with my heart and my hands.

I massage backs and squeeze hips; stroke legs and wipe foreheads.

I whisper words of encouragement in moments of exhaustion and revel in the glow of a labouring woman’s energy.

I educate, inform, reassure and comfort with my knowledge and experience. I turn ‘informed consent’ into informed choice.

I help women have faith in their bodies, their babies and the fact that thousands of years of evolution cannot be wrong.

I assist couples and individuals in creating birth environments that they feel safe, secure and comfortable in.

I protect the space surrounding the childbearing family by acting as a filter and cushion between the outside world and the labouring.

I meet with families not only when they are in labour, but before and after as well.

I help to dispel myths and ease fears.

I include fathers and partners so that they can be as involved in the birth experience as they wish to be.

I give strength, energy and hope when a woman feels hopeless and weary.

I hold hands, cradle faces, lock eyes and facilitate breathing for hours on end.

I am a professional, a friend, and a confidant.

I provide families with clear, concise, unbiased information and access to resources so they can make choices that are best for their situations.

I give women the confidence and guts to advocate for themselves when faced with adversity.

I am calm and firm, soft and strong, patient and eager.

I believe in a woman’s body and ability to achieve anything she sets her heart on.

I walk halls, climb stairs, and do lunges and squats.

I help mothers learn how to latch and hold their new nurslings.

I am a shoulder to cry on, a sounding board to express frustration at, a body to grab when a contraction takes over.

I empathize.

I am on call for clients day and night and always show up with a smile on my face and love in my heart.

I document the birth on paper and in pictures. I can capture the essence of the moment in a single photograph.

I provide continuous emotional and physical support regardless of the outcome. I am in this for the journey as well as the final destination of birth.

I am a woman, a mother, a sister, a mentor.

I believe that birth is normal, natural and safe.

I help families fulfill their birth wishes and achieve the things that they feel are important.

I am blessed and honoured to be able to be a part of such a momentous, spiritual event in the lives of women and their families.

I am a doula.