I'm a certified birth doula now!

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post #1 of 8

9/28/08 at 10:04am

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2,045 Posts. Joined 11/2006
Location: Living in a van down by the river
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Just wanted to brag a bit...I got the call from my reviewer earlier in the week, and I'm now certified by DONA! I figured I'd tell you ladies about it, since you probably really "get it" how tough it is to accomplish anything while pregnant (and caring for a toddler). I attended my third birth while in the second trimester, which was challenging but worked out very well as it was a relatively short labor. And then there was a mountain of paperwork to fill out and send in.

Anyway, I'm so psyched! It's been almost two years since I was trained, and I started up this whole new career while also transitioning to becoming a full-time SAHM. I'm SO glad I managed to get certified before the new baby comes...if they had disqualified one of my births for whatever reason, it would have been around a year before I could attend another one, and then I would have had this huge unfinished project hanging over my head the whole time. Now, when I'm ready to start attending births again, I'm all bonafide and official and can put CD(DONA) after my name. Woo!

: - maybe the Nov DDC is into nesting time now and drawing things to a positive close. I also finished my b'feeding counsellor training in the last few weeks too.......after 4 years.
Blush and ROFLOL!!!

Had really hoped to start and finish my doula uk registration too, but that one is going to have to wait a little long while now.

WOO HOO - you did it Katielady

post #5 of 8

9/28/08 at 1:37pm

604 Posts. Joined 5/2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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Congrats! I'm hoping to start the process in a year or so and it's encouraging to hear another mama with little kids who's done it!

post #6 of 8

9/28/08 at 5:27pm

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Yay! Thanks y'all! Snowgirl, congrats on becoming a LLL leader- that is so great! And a big congrats to shukr too- that must have been a lot of hard work.

bucky, it is definitely doable! It's very much a "slow and steady wins the race" kind of thing. One piece of advice I have is to choose your clients carefully. Since you probably won't take on that many, it's that much more important that each one work as well as possible with you. My second client was someone who hired me at 38 weeks pregnant, had done almost no preparation for her birth, and was extremely high risk. It was a nightmare birth and almost made me want to quit. After that I went out of my way to find someone who was more likely to have a gentler birth, and who was more commited to that as a goal. I know that in the grand scheme of things, I will need to (and want to) help all kinds of clients, but when you're only attending a birth every few months and it's extremely stressful to do so due to childcare concerns, I think it's better to be a bit choosy at first and try to make your first experiences as gentle as possible for you.

post #7 of 8

9/28/08 at 6:23pm