Doula Update

Hello! So I figured I'd do some updating on the Doula adventure. I've continued with the readings, now onto the Nursing book which is actually very helpful since I'm currently nursing Keller. I've also registered as a member of the DONA International website so I've gotten a few newsletters and emails. This is part of becoming certified through them. I've also been working hard on a website. www.cvds.weebly.com I did it through the free website creator place weebly.com. It's not 100% done and there are some grammar mistakes but if you're curious you can take a look.

Next on the agenda is to make contacts! I'm struggling with getting the ball rolling on this one and I'm not sure exactly why. I'm kind of feeling it has to do with me feeling unprepared, but I've just got to keep reminding myself that a "certification" isn't going to make me a Doula. I am a Doula. My personality and knowledge thus far makes me one and my drive to want to help educate women and advocate for them and their choices makes me a Doula...

Also on the agenda is to get some business cards made up, order the certification packet, maybe meet with a potential "client", finish reading these books and finally return them to the library...and...well I think that's enough to focus on right now. Life is so busy! See the next blog post for life updates :)

Business name: CHIPPEWA VALLEY DOULA SERVICES, LLC

Ok so this is getting a little ahead of myself, but I was researching online how to make an LLC in Wisconsin yesterday and found that there are only SIX other Doula companies listed in the WHOLE STATE! Gosh I guess that goes to show you how underused doula services are in the United States. Anyways, all of the names were something....nice. I.E. Beautiful birth, TLC, Empowering...I was thinking for my business of using just Chippewa Valley Doula Services, LLC. Simple, basic, tells you where I am, and what I do. I guess when I think of a doula, for me, I don't want someone who is...well...out there. Overly motherly or overly mushy, I want someone who is educated, to the point, understanding and empathetic in a practical way. Am I alone in that idea?

So, any opinions on that title? Would you respond positively if you heard of a service like this?

Chippewa Valley Doula Services, LLC. Providing women with educational, physical and emotional support before, during, and following the birth of their children.

Thoughts?

As an update, I'm still in the works of finishing up the reading. As I keep saying, it feels as though I'm back in college since I'm constantly carrying around these big, class-like books. But slowly I'm making my way through. I'm hoping to have my seminars done by sometime late this spring...then possibly attend a birth this summer!! Ah, makes me giddy just thinking about it.

What the future might hold..

So as I've travel down this path of "stay-at-home mom-dom", I've had a lot...and I mean A LOT of time to ponder over what direction I'd like my "professional" life to take. I put that into quotations because let's be honest, I am not a person, nor do I ever see myself becoming a person, who could be any kind of serious professional.

Now, I'm not saying I'm making any life-long or life-changing decisions, I think thru the course of becoming a mom I've been able to really draw out a part of me that excites me more than anything (career-wise) has in a very long time. And not surprisingly, it's labor and delivery! haha.

While I don't have any desire at the moment to go back to school and hit the books hard enough to get certified as an RN, I do have a desire to help women achieve the birth they want and to help them and their babies have a healthier delivery with less unnecessary interventions. So I'm currently doing the reading and will subsequently be attending the seminar to become a certified Birth Doula.

To find out more about what a Doula is and what training I'll need check out the DONA International's website http://www.dona.org/

But to summarize, I will NOT be able to give any sort of medical advice or to do any medical checks such as blood pressure or how dilated a woman may be. I WILL be able to give constant emotional, physical and verbal support to both the woman laboring and her partner. After going through my own birth experiences, I realize that Broghan and I have really been able to get through it together with the help of the people who have 1) prepared us for what to expect and 2) who have actually been there during the labors and given suggestions. The biggest difference between what I have already experienced and what I hope to provide to other women is a CONSTANT support. As a doula, I would not leave the laboring woman except for absolutely necessary (bathroom/food break) and I would return a.s.a.p. My role could vary from being extremely involved (helping press on pressure points on the back, holding her hand, rubbing her back, wiping her forehead) to being not all that involved at all and just being there for a sounding board or to offer up factual information about options and/or what the doctors are talking about when they start speaking in medical jargon.

The term "doula' can be expanded beyond just a certified doula. It can be used to describe any person who supports a woman through the labor process. For me, my "doula" was my husband Broghan. He drove 8+ hours to be with me during labor and did a great job coaching me, being my sounding board and a barrier system to keep distractions at bay. He spoke encouraging and positive words to me through the labor and delivery and here we are just minutes after a natural, drug-free delivery.

Here are some statistics to ponder. A pregnant woman has more than a 1 in 3 chance of "ending up" having a cesarean delivery; a study out of Cleveland, OH showed of those who have an induced labor 63%!! require a cesarean if they weren't attended to by a doula, where only 20% with a doula ended up delivering that way; women who had a doula support are 40% less likely to require a forceps delivery; 60% less likely to even request an epidural and 40% less likely to require Pitocin to keep labor moving; having a doula may reduce the length of labor up to 25%.

Anyways, the more I read about this "profession" the more I grow passionate about the idea that YES! ALL women have this magnificent body that is able to and meant to deliver a baby and that YES! a woman should be allowed to plan for and subsequently get the opportunity to labor and deliver the way SHE WANTS and YES! she should be allowed to have an advocate available to support her in every and any way necessary to achieve the kind of birth she hopes for (pending no other medical complications arise that would cause it to be different...obviously the baby's and mother's well-being trumps all wants/desires)!!


I'll be sure to keep all updated on my progress but I'm hoping to be able to support women in their labors/deliveries by sometime towards the end of this year (2010). That's the goal anyways!