Getting Back into Doula Practice

[hipmummy]

Before ds was born I was working as a Nanny and a Doula. I was DONA trained but never certified (not sure if I will ever get certified) too many of my births did not qualify. Anway I really want to start taking on clients this summer. I am talking 1-2 max. I had received many phone calls over the past 19 months and had to reject everyone of them. How do know when to get back into it? Ds does not eat much he is practically still EBF and he has never had a bottle or pacifier, I know this will change in teh coming months. He is my #1 priority, but I would love to do some more births before we TTc for #2. Is this way out there or is there a way I could make this work? Birth is one of my passions and I feel a void with out it. I would love to become a midwife when my dc's are school age. Just need some practical advice from those that have been down this road or may be going down it as well.

[MidwifeErika]

I think it is reasonable that you could start doing a low volume of births starting this summer. You could always take just one client and see how it all goes with your family. If it is too much, well, you were only gone for that one day and he will forgive you for it.

I started attending births when my youngest was about 8 months old, which sounds really young, but I only did about 1 birth a month for those first few months and I was lucky that most of them ended up being short and that she adjusted really well to me being gone.

Every family is so different though, so I would maybe try one birth and see how that goes. Just ease into it nice and slow.

[hipmummy]

Thanks hotwings640. I will probably take that approach. Maybe I will just take on Multi para's and skip the dreaded forst time labor. A doula friend of mine just told me a horror story about a home birth she did over a fifty miles away that lasted two days. Her dd was one and she is nursing. I gues you have to set clear guidelines from the get go. No travel etc.

[BrooklynDoula]

My son is 11 months. I take more local births. I let people know that I may need a break to nurse depending on the lenght of labor. I have my dh with the kids and he will bring them if needed but he never has needed it since he is great with them (and I am usually only done about 6 hours).

I have taken first timers and second time moms with no difference in labor lenght. We talk about them laboring at home without me and them me joining when they feel they really need me. I talk them through early labor usually with suggestions like go for a walk, take a shower, eat something, etc. So far, everyone has called to to actually come then labor is really active and the baby comes within about 4 hours or less.

Good luck!

[DoomaYula]

I'm just getting back into birth work as well after having a baby, and moving x-country. Now my babe is 6m and I'm just trying to figure out childcare logistics. I have a potential client when my babe is 9m, we'll see. I also plan to start slowly and see how it goes. My oldest 2 will be in school in the fall, and my next one will be in preschool a few days a week, so the fall is probably when I'll start pursuing things more actively.

[nancynance]

I also had this dilemma - loving birth but feeling I couldn't help at births while my children were young. My solution was to certify as a childbirth educator so I could keep my head in the birth world while kids were young. I did help at maybe one birth a year until my kids were in their teens. Then I did my doula training, and am very close to being certified. I still have had problems being at long births, so am not taking on very many births during the school year. I too want to be a midwife eventually. It's looking like it'll be a few more years! Good luck to you in your decision making.