My Journey to Become a Doula

I began my journey to becoming a doula at a very low point in my life, after we had two ectopic pregnancies back to back in one year. It was extremely shocking and left me feeling stuck, sad and without clear direction. I had always wanted to do birth work, but I thought it would come later in life, after I had children of my own. But the longer our fertility journey went on, the more desire I had to go for it sooner rather than later. I was sure it would be hard sometimes, to work around mothers when I desperately wanted to join the mom club myself. I just couldn’t shake the desire to do the work, and I thought it would be good for me to put my mind to something I knew I was passionate about. What I wasn’t expecting was just how life-giving it would be for me. The community of women in birth-work, the joy of working alongside families in such an incredibly sacred time for them, to be invited into the most vulnerable of moments to offer support, the honor of watching someone become a mother. It has given me so much joy and direction to become a doula, to channel my love for mothers, families and birth somewhere where I can actually help someone as they make this incredible transition.

I found that a doula doesn’t have to have children of her own, which I had known before but now I really know it. I found that my history with loss really can actually be used to help other women. I found that being in this space with so many powerful women, many of which have also experienced loss, made me feel a whole lot less alone and also inspired me to no end. I found that putting my hands to good work made the grief a little easier to carry. It’s not gone, but it is easier. This work is very important to me, I feel unbelievably humbled that I get to do it.