Are you a birth worker who is looking to expand your skill set, explore a new topic, or get new perspective? The Birth Mag team has compiled a list of upcoming classes, workshops, skillshares, and mentorship opportunities for kicking the new year off right. All courses listed are either live or have a live component, and are available virtually.
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Someone you know is LGBTQIA+, possibly even someone you love.
If you’ve been in practice for any length of time, chances are you have LGBTQIA+ clients.
Even if you don’t know which ones they are.
Even if you practice in a small rural town.
Even if you think your practice serves a “different” niche of clientele.
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Sustainability.
These days, it almost seems like a buzz word in the birth world. A free download. A hashtag. A commodity, even.
In reality, though, sustainability in birthwork, particularly in the doula-world, means getting to do the work that sets your soul on fire for longer than a few years.
Sustainability means creating a business from which you don’t need to regularly take self-care, or “burnout breaks”. It’s so much more than warm baths, massages, mantras and aromatherapy.
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What is the #1 reason people hire Doulas and Midwives? Satisfaction with the birth experience. Or, in other words: trauma prevention.
My goal here is to critically look at the role continuity and continuous support play in outcomes for the people we serve, and hopefully avoid pitfalls in the way we structure services that can negatively impact clients. How we can take care of ourselves physically, emotionally and financially, while simultaneously give our clients the care they deserve?
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Based on prior research around respiratory illnesses and pregnancy (pneumonia, sinusitis, cold, or flu), all infections can give a risk of issues to the fetus in utero, but so also can the social determinants of health combined with or in absence of. The social determinants of health encompass everything else around the birthing person that also affects their health and way of life (access to fresh food, access to healthcare, transportation, community, etc.). According to a 2017 study conducted by Samantha Parker and her colleagues, they found that 49.6% of pregnancies deal with some sort of upper respiratory infection either periconception or sometime during their pregnancy prior to delivery. Their study found that from birth to year three, cognitive function of the offspring was not affected significantly but there was an association with behavioral problems especially in birthing people who were exposed to a respiratory infection from 16-20 weeks and later.
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The degradation of our environment is deeply connected to the feelings of disconnection endemic to humanity. For centuries, humans have been growing farther away from nature, our bodies, and our own children and families. Intergenerational apathy is dangerous to our planet and our collective future. Birth is one key place that our system needs to change— our families and ecosystems depend on it.
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When I first started working in birth work I never understood why bereavement did not have as much emphasis and groups where people talk as pregnancy, birth, and postpartum groups. Death happened early in my life due to me being raised by my grandmother and so as I got older I learned to cope with it better. My maternal side of the family has obstetric complications and so miscarriages and stillborn were also a tragic, but normal event. There is a thin veil between life and death and so also it is a troubling subject there is no way to talk about life with death and loss.
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For most of human history, people have parented and raised their families collaboratively. It wasn’t until recently – the mid-19th century – that families started to be recognizable as what most westerners now think of as “normal.” That is to say, centered around a monogamous marriage, typically between a “mom” and a “dad,” who will usually raise children with little-to-no community support. This model works for some, mostly works for many, and doesn’t work at all for many more. Divorce rates are high, especially in the first few years after having a child. Many parents feel exhausted, depleted, and spread too thin. The demands of parenting – heck, the demands of being human – are unrealistic for most people to take on alone or with just one supporting partner.
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Sex does not end with pregnancy. Although pregnancy and the postpartum period can complicate or add challenges to how a person approaches their sexuality, it is the responsibility of the birth worker to make sure they incorporate (into their practice) a discussion about what a person or couple needs during their pregnancy experience. This is where Tynan Rhea can help.
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by Sinéad Morgan On February 19th, 2020 the birth community lost a powerful leader in Claudia Booker, a woman who worked to tear down the racial disparities for birthing women of color. She was a Grand Midwife, fierce advocate, a mother, an educator, a philanthropist. Miss Booker’s lifetime is rich with history and wisdom, a legacy that will not be forgotten particularly among the birth community. Miss Booker transitioned from being a lawyer and judge to a doula, childbirth educator, and breastfeeding counselor before assuming her role as a Certified Professional Midwife. Miss Booker’s mother, a black woman in the 1940s, gave birth to her during a time where pain medication was not allowed for black women and neither was supporting a black woman during childbirth. Her mother, barely out of her teens, gave birth to Miss Booker isolated on a ward with just sheets used as walls between her and other mothers moaning in agony. This was an incredibly lonely, frightening experience for her mother, having had no childbirth education, no support and no pain management. When her mother shared this traumatic story with her she felt compelled to pursue birth work, not only in an attempt to rectify the traumatic experience her mother went through, but to ensure no other birthing person experienced birth in this capacity, unsupported and without their basic needs fulfilled. After years of being a lawyer, Miss Booker yearned to have a more positive role in the lives of families, rather than one of representing the government and public issues in court. Miss Booker started her journey with the intention to create paths for birth workers, from doulas, to lactation consultants, midwives and childbirth educators. Miss Booker wanted to make sure that birthing people had better outcomes and a nurturing start to parenthood. Her own mothers birth story as well as her own gynecologist suggesting she become a doula, after witnessing her support her own goddaughter through a c-section, is what led her to birth work as a doula. Miss Booker recalls in an interview with Everyday Birth her gynecologist stating, “I saw you that day in the OR and I’ve never seen you so happy in the 15 years I’ve known you. And whatever made you that happy that day, is something you should figure out how to do all the time.” This in addition to her desire for more personal interactions with her…
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