I love to see the responses from my students for this assignment. They are usually very personal and beautiful, in my opinion. So, I wanted to share some here. (I did get permission first:)).
From Helen:
“The first time I gave birth, I thought I was prepared. I had hired a midwife, taken natural birthing classes and had read a lot of birth stories and books. In the throws of a very long two-day labor, I felt alone and like I was dying. My midwife was off delivering other babies, my nurse was charting the whole time and my husband was doing the best he could. Not only did I fear something was wrong and that I was dying, but I was robbed of the joy of letting my body birth and not being afraid.
“My number one goal as a doula is to constantly affirm my birthing mothers that what they are going through is normal, that there isn’t something wrong. I also want to help partners feel included and harness their nervous energy into positive affirmation and helpfulness towards the mother. I want the mother to feel like they are fully surrounded by people who believe in her and who care for her. In the end, I want my mothers to come away from whatever birth they had feeling empowered and that they were able to make informed decisions regarding their birth.”
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