Tuesday, September 14, 2010

doula.

I like these one-named posts.

Okay so I didn't want to jinx myself & write about this last week. But I'm ECSTATIC to say I can write about it now! This is ALMOST as cool as getting accepted into a RN program.

The hospital here in town has a top-notch Birthing Center. After Will was born, I have not gone a day I don't think about my birth story. & of course the hospital plays a HUGE role it that. I started volunteering there once a week: pretty simple stuff - filing, making charts, tearing down charts, delivering food trays, running specimens to the lab, etc. I loved it, but my heart was behind those closed doors where you can hear the vague screams of laboring moms. My sympathy for their pain, my joy for what their lives' were about to come. The unit secretary had told me I should look into the volunteer doula program if I wanted to be behind those doors. Coincidentally enough, American River was offering a 4 day intensive workshop through DONA (Doulas of N. America). So back in June I went to the workshop & loved every minute of it. I loved hearing that your birth can have a profound impact on your life forever & that I really wasn't crazy because I thought about November 2 every day since. A doula is a person who recognizes & respects everything about birth and recognize that this is going to be a key experience in a mother's life.

So the hospital here has a volunteer program like I said. I e-mailed the coordinators thinking, "shoot who wants to be a doula, it can't be that popular." Well apparently close to 100 people were interested in 20 spots. So when the application came this is a tiny bit of what I wrote:

I want to be a doula because I believe that every women should have a strong support system behind her during labor. Whether I am the key labor support person for a laboring mom or I am a warm body in the room to provide encouragement & reassurance to Dad, as a doula, I can make a women's labor a positive experience. I feel as though I was extrememly mis-informed on what a doula was when I was pregnant. I envisioned a 60 -something Jewish women chanting to me while I screamed for an epidural. I'm often told I have an old soul, but being 23, I feel as though there is a younger group of women who need to be informed about the support a doula can provide. I know I cannot pick & choose the moms I work with, but I think I bring a breath of fresh air & can provide excellent physical, mental, & informational support for the parents-to-be.

Well apparently they liked my shout-out to the 60 year old Jewish women because I just learned today that I was one of the 20 picked!!!!!

More to come...I have a sleepy head waking up = )

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