A few great decisions

About a month ago, I attended a doula training workshop. I left with some good business ideas, but not much else. All of the information taught is covered within the competencies of a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator. If it weren't for my training with Lamaze, I would be an absolute wreck going into my births for certification. Thanks to Lamaze, I am confident in my ability to provide good support to laboring moms. It was nice to be reminded of what a great organization Lamaze really is.

I wrote a letter to Lamaze proposing that the organization offer a doula certification program to compliment their childbirth education program. They do such a great job at preparing educators, why not doulas too? I sent the letter via email on Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised to get a call from Lamaze's CEO/Executive Director on Thursday morning. We had a great discussion about the idea and whether or not it was feasible. (I'll share more about that later; first I've got some work to do!) I was so impressed at the prompt response. I feel wonderful to be a part of an organization that values it's members as much as Lamaze does!

I honestly feel that the process of becoming a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator and doula has changed many aspects of who I am in many positive ways. I hope that I can teach families half as much as Lamaze has taught me!

At the beginning of this year, I decided to join the Green River Doula Network (www.greenriverdoulas.org). This turned out to be another fabulous organization. It is great to be a part of the group of phenomenal women! There is a varied range of experience and knowledge base, which means there is almost always someone to answer a question about something I've never seen. They have great events, such as Meet the Doula Day (Sunday, May 15th at 2-4, Cradle, Northampton), fantastic programs for serving women and families in our community, and is just a really good support network.

It has been almost two years since I first set out on my journey and it just keeps getting better!

Worth doing

After attending my first meeting with the Green River Doula Network, I was feeling refreshed and re-energized in my passion for birth. I sat down at the computer to write this blog post. First the internet wouldn't open. Then I had to try three times to get to the login screen and once I finally got there, I entered the wrong password twice. I considered nixing the blog post and shutting down for the night, but I just needed to try one more thing.

It's funny how my logging on experience has paralleled what I've been thinking about being a birth professional. Sometimes you try things that don't work. Sometimes is frustrating. Often, it isn't easy. Sometimes you think it's not worth the trouble, but you push through just one more time and see that it's a worthy cause.

After providing labor support that resulted in a cesarean birth, I found myself questioning whether I would be able to make the difference that I wanted to make. Should I approach things from a different angle? How do I effectively promote safe and healthy birth? What could I do better? Is anyone listening? I felt so small working against such a huge and often dysfunctional system. How could I possibly make a difference?

Everyone has to start somewhere. This is where I am and it's a long road ahead, but it's a road worth traveling. After many conversations with the best friend anyone could as for, I realized that it won't be easy and wonderful all of the time, but it is worth the effort. Every living room conversation with a friend, every post shared on Facebook that just one person looks at, every question I'm able to answer, every person who asks "what the heck is a doula?" and then after the explanation says "I wish I had one of those!" Every one of these experiences is one step further down the road.