Our doula

March 12, 2021

Reflection: Society has failed pregnant and postpartum women.

Today, I’m grateful for: My doula

Challenge: Be your own advocate, and find the resources you need!

Today, we had our second meeting with our doula. She’s great at what she does and is a core member of our birth team. If you know me well enough, you know my first birth experience was pretty challenging. So having a resource I can rely on not only during labor and birth, but throughout pregnancy as well has been incredibly helpful for my mental and emotional health as I work to prepare for my second birth.

I’ve come to believe that one of our society’s greatest failures in academia is the lack of eduction and awareness around maternal health and birth preparation. And one of our society’s greatest failures overall is the lack of support and care for pregnant and postpartum women. I mean, think about it. The very heart of our existence as a species lies within these experiences, and as a society, we hardly even understand the pain, suffering, and challenges that pregnant, laboring, birthing and postpartum mamas endure. Let alone offer them the care and support they need to first off recover, and second off, care for the next generation. WHY IS THIS STILL A GAP?!

To make matters worse, the typical resources that are provided to us often leave us feeling objectified, invalidated, overly medicated or flat out lost. The system has failed us.

So when society fails us, we as women must take it upon ourselves to find the care and support we need.

Doulas, birth workers, therapists, prenatal chiropractors and massage therapists, energy workers, birth educators and prenatal yoga instructors....this community of birth experts knows it all, and they are equipped to support us if we are willing to try. These are the resources we should be setting all pregnant women up with to help them build out their teams in preparation for a safe and empowering birth. Instead, most of these resources aren’t even covered by insurance, and women are left feeling stuck in a system that was not built with the best interest of pregnant and postpartum women in mind.

But at the end of the day, we hire realtors to buy and sell our houses. We hire event planners to coordinate our wedding days. We hire CPAs to do our taxes. Hell, we even hire trainers to get our bodies in shape. Would we not want to hire the proper experts to help consult, support and prepare us for one of those most important days of our lives??

Hiring our doula was a no brainer for us this time, and today, I’m feeling grateful for her expertise and the space she holds for me. Maybe I’m just a birth nerd, but I’m legitimately excited for my birth day. ✌🏼❤️👶🏼

XO

SS