Today begins the celebratory week of Doulas, World Doula Week~ March 22nd through March 28th. This week has become a time for reflection on how I came to know this work and how it has changed me as a caregiver and a person.
If you don’t know what a doula is, well, I’ll just start by telling you what they don’t do: deliver babies! 'If you know, you know.' If you’re a doula, you’ve likely been asked this.
What we do is support the mother from the time of conception to delivery, through postpartum, and often through the baby’s first year of life. In the Greek language, doula means a woman who serves.
We serve the mother during a time when talk of the baby might feel like it silences her inner voice, telling her to reach out for extra love and tenderness. We serve her because often we’ve felt times in our own womanhood/motherhood journey when we’ve desired this level of support, a listening ear, and a calming essence. Someone to validate our feelings and not pass judgment.
It's worth noting that there are different types of doulas, including birth doulas, postpartum doulas, bereavement doulas, and my intent for this post is to celebrate the role of doulas in supporting mothers through birth, postpartum experiences, identity shifts, and times of loss.
If you’re a doula and you’ve loved and cried tears of joy and empathy throughout your journey, I see you, because I’m doula’ing right along with you. Happy World Doula Week!!
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