For the past three months I've been taking a weekend doula class. I've talked very very very little about it to anyone other than my husband. I'm not sure why. So now I'm going to officially speak on it, blog-style, because I need to start talking to y'all about this so that I can figure out if it's right for me.A few months ago, I was in a space where I felt the urgency to re-adjust my career path. While I value the work that I was doing developing the leadership and civic engagement skills of Oakland youth, Soluna's birth really brought to light the need to find my real life purpose. I was also hoping to have a little more employment flexibility so that I could take care of her myself. At the time, I was thinking about going back to grad school to possibly become a nurse-midwife or get an MBA (with hopes of doing work in socially-responsible businesses or to start a business). Okay, totally different choices, but that's where I was at. I felt my life could go in either direction.
After reconnecting with an old UC Davis friend (after not hearing from her for over a year, I just felt like I HAD to call her), I learned that she was studying to be a midwife. I didn't even know that she was in that line of work and apparently she was a doula for several years before beginning the midwife apprenticeship. I told her about my interest and she highly recommended the doula class I am currently taking that is specifically for women of color. I felt like I had to at least try it out, believing that things always happen for a reason and there was a reason why I needed to connect with her.
For those that don't know, doulas are experienced labor companions that provide the woman and her partner emotional and phsical support throught the entire labor, delivery and postpartum experience. Doula is a Greek word meaning "woman caregiver."
The class has been such an amazing, humbling and emotional experience. I have never been surrounded by such beautiful, strong, grounded and spiritual mamas/women. And while I am still deciding whether or not this is the direction I want to go in, I know that this class was necessary for my growth as a person. I have begun to ask myself the most important questions: Who am I as a mama? What am I doing to make the world a better place? What do I believe in in terms of religion and spirituality? How do I ground myself emotionally and spiritually? How do I heal myself as a mother and woman? What would I rather do than support women through this beautiful rite of passage? What is more important than helping mamas give their babies a right start in life?
2 comments:
WASSUP BIG BADD MAMADOULA!
ahaha.
i fully support you going into doulahood. surprisingly i stayed and got to talk to several midwives while in india, mexico and the uk (one of my classmates was doing her thesis on midwives, caregiving and women)... all of these women told us the story of how midwifery is a dying practice. in their villages, most of them who still know the skills and intuition of being a caregiver are reluctant to say but they know that the "newer, younger generations" have been persuaded by the bigger-easy-out-clinical-hospitals! because western medicine has spread so rapidly most don't trust or bother to ask midwives for advice anymore. i remember asking this lola in india- if she was still passing on the knowledge and tradition? she said, "no, nobody wants to learn.. everybody wants to go to the hospital. it's not worth teaching anymore because no one ever comes to me anymore."
it's sad.
hospitals suck.
so if you have the time and passion- i think you should really become a midwife or at least a doula... its valuable for women and i think it promotes community and the connection ... rather than the factory in and out system, that is the hospital.
Wow! I didn't realize you are doing this. Blazing hot stuff. Do you know Leilani? She was training as a midwife or doula at one point. She could probably give you some good support. She also had a home birth.
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