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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by Raichal Reed A midwife, a patera, a “granny”, and sage-femme are all names for the same person. The name midwife means “with mother” in basic translation. Since before time was recorded there have been people or a person who had the very important job of caring for the pregnant person and their baby. Depending on what country and sometimes what area you research, there are different stories concerning their roles, abilities, and relationships with the community. Coming into current day in the US, these individuals now have roles that extend beyond pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. Before schools and universities, the midwife directly taught and trained their apprentices/assistants/etc. in order for them to work with them and hopefully in their place once they were no longer able. Skills were passed from family to family and generation to generation orally and through practice along with the more skilled midwives. The first registered midwife in the US was in NY in 1716 and now we have more than 11,000 according to the American Midwifery Certification Board in 2017. This only counts for how many are registered with NARM in regulated states, but some states still do not have regulation or approval and so those midwives work independently and sometimes illegally to make sure that healthy parents and babies survive. “A midwife does not have off days, and a midwife is always on call” was one of the first things I heard when I became a student midwife. I didn’t understand the heaviness of this statement until months later. During the time of being a student midwife, I am at the beck and call of not only the pregnant individuals but also my preceptor. We have clinic all throughout the week and if we have a birth that interferes then we must schedule them on days that we normally aren’t there for. I learned to keep my phone, my watch, my tablet, and any other device that could always make a noise on loud. Babies come when you are in the shower, they come when you are in church, and even when you are asleep. If you plan to be somewhere then they especially come those days because for some reason, when you are busy, they like to start trouble. Labor and delivery are a wonderful, magical process but it is also one that you have no control over, neither you nor the…
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Looking for some new listening material? Check out a few of these birth, birthwork, and midwifery themed podcasts. The Full-Spectrum Doula Circle Podcast This podcast is an extension of the Full-Spectrum Doula Circle. The podcast started out in the fall of 2018 as a means of improving access to interviews that had previously been done for webinars by the same creator. Since starting, new content has been added also. past interviews include activists, authors, care providers, and more, including Melinda Morales, Indra Lusero, Mishka Terplan, and Renee Bracey Sherman talking about subjects like nonjudgmental support for pregnant teens, abortion doulas, and drug use in pregnancy. Find it on Apple Podcasts and Spreaker. Birth Kweens A doula and midwife teamed up to create this San Diego, CA based birth podcast. While their primary audience seems to be birthing people more than birthworkers, topics like the history of how menstruation has been managed, weight stigma in pregnancy, and nuances of practicing informed consent will likely appeal to both. Episodes include interviews with birth attendants, other birthworkers, and gestational parents sharing their knowledge and experiences. Find this podcast on Stitcher and Apple Podcasts. Masculine Birth Ritual Created by a self identified transmasculine birth parent, this podcast offers exceptional insight into the experiences of queer families, nonbinary folx having babies, and masculine leaning gestational parents. Episodes include topics like trying to conceive as a trans man, buffering the impacts of discrimination, and meeting people where they are. This is one of the few birth podcasts that uses language that acknowledges the broad range of people that become pregnant. This one also has written transcripts available if podcasts aren’t your thing! Dr. Stu’s Podcast Co-hosted by Dr. Stuart Fischbein, MD OB/GYN and Blyss Young, LM CPM, this podcast where the two interview various birthworkers about topics including coercion versus consent, community based birth, breech birth, and more. Find this one on iHeartRadio and Apple Podcasts. Birth Stories in Color Birth Stories in Color is, much like its name suggests, a collection of birth stories from people of color. The concept is based on a combination of the power of storytelling and the need for a space where birth stories that aren’t being heard elsewhere to be shared. Co-hosts Laurel Gourrier and Danielle Jackson are both doulas and reproductive justice advocates who share stories ranging from cesareans to unassisted births, and triumphant, empowering experiences to heartbreaking…
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by Aliena “Ali” Davis, DC She was born in 1941 and died in 2013. Into those 71 years, she packed more life experiences than most could fit into three lifetimes. In all honesty, she is still influencing the world in a way that makes her unforgettable, mischievous grin surface readily in my mind. In fact, it’s her influence in large part that brought about the reason for this article. She proudly bore the title of my “Gramma” – although we had no blood relation, she was more a part of my family and my life than most who did share a blood relation, and continues to be even in her absence more present than some who are still physically present. As a child, I would marvel at her fascinating, and at times erratic, speech. Later I would learn that she had lived with mental illness in a time that was even less kind to people with mental illnesses than our own time currently is. In my battles with my own mind, I reflect on her experiences with awe and gratitude, drawing inspiration to tackle the next project, protest, and sometimes just the next day, as the reality often is for those of us who share this strange life companion. My teen and early adult years were filled with late night calls with my nocturnal Gramma, listening to her stories of resistance during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and her impassioned hopes and visions for racial equity. When I began to struggle academically, she was there, with the smile, encouragement, and advice that eventually leads us to the topic of this article. One day, in a moment of frustration, I expressed to her how difficult it was to quiet my anxiety and ask questions during class when I needed to. With a knowing look in her eyes, she said “Oh, honey. Look, if you have a question in class, just ask. Chances are that if you have that question, someone else has the same question and is just hoping someone else will ask!” While this conversation took place with the high school version of me, it is the exact perspective that led to the creation of an inclusive birth workers group in one of the largest conservative counties in Texas. In late 2016, I was a new business owner and I had brought my passion for racial equity, LGBTQIA+ equality, reproductive justice,…
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The Birth Mag connected with Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN of Evidence Based Birth regarding her new book, Babies Are Not Pizzas, in which she shares her own birth experiences. We got the chance to ask her a bit about her journey in writing the book, experiences with birth before having children of her own, and thoughts about how the birth community can do better. Babies Are Not Pizzas is available now here! After years of sharing research through Evidence Based Birth, what inspired you to write about your own story? Rebecca Dekker: So, I’ve shared little snippets here and there. Most people know that I had a first traumatic birth where I was separated from my baby for hours, followed by an empowering birth several years later with a midwife who provided evidence based care. But for the most part, I kept my personal experiences to myself. For example, I did not talk publicly about how my traumatic birth occurred at the academic medical center associated with my own university, where I worked as an assistant professor. I didn’t talk about how I hired an underground midwife, how I had two home births, how I was afraid to go to the hospital for an induction at “42+4” weeks because I knew some of the nurses didn’t like me or my blog, how so many women were experiencing racism and obstetric violence in my home town. The nightmarish stories from doulas and parents in my town just seemed never ending. I poured out all my frustration into the Evidence Based Birth® blog—spending all my spare time reading research, analyzing research, and writing about it for the public. Then there came a tipping point, about 4 years into my blogging journey, when I had to decide—was I going to leave the security of a paycheck and do EBB full-time? Or was I going to continue working for an institution that had indicated they would censor me if I tried to speak up, and that was using pressure, coercion, and force to make women give birth on their backs, in stirrups? I ended up leaving my faculty job, and it was one of the hardest decisions of my life. It was also one of the best decisions of my life. Two years later, after leaving my job, I had begun writing a book. It was meant to be a “Guide to Childbirth,” all…
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1.) Long Beach Birthworkers of Color Collective The Long Beach Birthworkers of Color Collective is based is Long Beach, CA, and offers people of color (POC) only doula training. They teach full spectrum support, and are unapologetically trans, queer, and POC centered. According to their website, in training they “discuss birthwork as activism, trauma informed care, birth disparities, how to support pregnant people through all pregnancy outcomes, inclusive language, and so much more.” A limited number of scholarships are available, and donations from allies to help provide said scholarships are welcome. Their next training is being held in October, so hurry and sign up by emailing them at POCDoulaTraining@gmail.com if you’re interested! 2.) Birth Advocacy Doula Trainings Birth Advocacy Doula Trainings offers online courses teaching doula skills including supporting trans and queer birth and lactation, trauma informed care, supporting loss, and the realities of racial disparities in health outcomes relating to birth. The online courses include ongoing support as you work through the course with the rest of your cohort, and business training in addition to labor support skills. The course description states a goal of creating “a supportive, close-knit and radical community of doulas that are advocates, activist and change makers.” The next scheduled course can be enrolled in here. 3.) Cornerstone Doula Trainings Cornerstone Doula Trainings teaches courses for aspiring birth and postpartum doulas, as well as teaching business skills for birthworkers and a course specifically about support trans and gender nonconforming people who are giving birth. They offer courses that are open to the general public, as well as trainings specifically for birthworkers of color. Courses are offered in both Oakland, CA and Portland, OR. Topics covered in their trainings include trauma informed care, and the effects of systematic racism on birth outcomes. You can sign up for one of their courses here. 4.) Ancient Song Doula Services Ancient Song Doula Services teaches full spectrum doula support for both birth and the postpartum period. According to their website, the trainings they offer are “focused on the ‘whole’ and not just its parts and seeing birth as a human right incorporating an intersectional lens that encompasses reproductive and birth justice framework into our trainings centered on communities of color and pregnant and parenting individuals.” The associated doula service offers standard doula support, as well as bereavement doula support, and prison doula services. Ancient Song puts a focus on…
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by Emily Souder, MA, MSW, LCSW-C The birthing people are calling, and you must go. Yes, you must. And while you’re there, and after you go, where are you? In those moments of sheer exhaustion, and of utter joy at having witnessed a new life entering the world, and after the deep, cutting grief of something heartbreaking. Where are you? You are the keeper of the birth stories. You are the out-of-the-spotlight witness. And here’s what’s easy to forget: you have a story too. Everything you bring with you, and everything you leave with counts. There is a story of what you’ve seen, both on this day and all the days before. It weaves together to create who you are, capable and knowing, standing before a family that relies on you to guide them through a transition that will leave them forever changed. Your story is both about you and not about you, but ultimately it all folds up together in a package that you carry. Something I’ve noticed from hanging out inside the birth community as a therapist and as a coach is that midwives and doulas, and most birth workers in general hesitate to take up space for themselves. They are so unbelievably skilled at holding space for others and creating a container in which their clients can make powerful transitions, and yet when it comes to giving themselves the same treatment, there is often an imbalance. On one hand, this makes complete sense. Taking care of others is why people choose to enter the field of birth work, in part. There is a drive to make things different, maybe even magical, but ultimately to allow the experience to flow as the birthing person and family wishes. This is deep, purposeful work. On the other hand, for people so knowledgeable about nurturing to not take time for self-care is a bit puzzling. But as we know, knowing what to do or how to do it doesn’t create a behavior! Somehow, it’s hard for us to set self-love boundaries and claim that space as necessary and vital. It’s okay, and so essential, to give yourself permission to love yourself deeply. Ultimately, it gives permission for your client families to do the same. Loving yourself consistently and with compassion takes practice. We’re not always going to get it right, but we’re going to have opportunities to try again and again.…
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