I love it when I think about someone and they call, text or email me around the same time. Has that ever happened to you?

I especially love it when I'm thinking about my birth and postpartum clients, remembering their birth experiences and their sweet little babies and lo and behold I will receive a text, a picture, or an unexpected "thinking of you" note.

What we do is so bittersweet. In order to fully support a couple we have to open our hearts and become vulnerable so that our clients can feel safe to be vulnerable as well. Childbirth is such an intimate time. We are witnesses of the good, the bad, and the raw. I've seen the meek be strong, the quiet find their voice, the tears, laughter, the fears and love so present in a room that you can't help to be swept away. Being gatekeepers of their space, their wishes and silent witnesses of their stories.

Part of us wants to continue to stay a part of their lives but we can't. There are the hugs, kisses the "You've got this", as we pull away- giving them the room and space to trust their instincts, learn their babies and discover themselves anew as individuals and parents. 

Yes, it is bittersweet indeed and that is why I want my families to know that they always leave an imprint on my heart. It blesses this doula's heart to know that not only am I thinking about them, but they are thinking about me too.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made, 

Natalia

On a Birth Professionals page, someone asked us to name one thing we loved most about being a birth doula. "Just one? Just one???!!!", was the sudden outcry from the birth community.  I offered one for the sake of the original poster's request but continued to consider in my heart all the of the reasons I love supporting women and families during this time in their lives. 

I spent a few hours today working on a birth story from a previous birth I attended and all of the reasons began to pour out as i recapped our time spent together and all of the wonderful moments I was blessed to share with them.

I thought I'd share a few with you:
The "dance" that a couple shares when they are working together to bring forth their new life.

The moment a laboring woman finds "her voice".

The moment when a laboring mother is peacefully riding the waves of contractions. 

The moment when a partner looks at his woman with pride as she is being transformed right before his eyes. 

The look on a woman's face when she realizes what she is capable of doing...she knows her own strength and will never be the same. 

An expectant grandmother quietly sitting in the corner watching her little girl become a mother. 

The cry of a newborn who is away from his/her mother who is clearly calling out for her, wanting to know that she is still close by.


The moment a father takes his new baby and nuzzles, sniffs and talks to him/her as if it were just the two of them in the room. 


The moment when a mother and her baby lock eyes for the first time.  

The look on a mother's face when her baby latches on for the first time.

The moment I quietly bow out as the new family are becoming one.