January 17, 2010
It seems like an eternity since attending the Doula training info night. I have never been so excited about something so new and different since I was expecting my own two children.
I have been a bundle of nerves in anticipation. Would this be the career and life change I’ve been looking for? I’m reading everything I can before classes begin, have attended a Childbirth Prep class and now am enthusiastically awaiting Day 1 of DM training.
Day One | January 19, 2010
Introduction and Childbirth Education
Finally the first day of class has arrived. I return from class late at night after a long day of playing mother, business professional at my day job and then eager Doula in training. My husband waits up for me as he’s as excited as I am at all there is to learn and what we both expect to be life changing expreriences ahead of me. I share with him the story of that I learned of the Russian Black Sea births and dolphins that protect them; hence the Dolphin name. I also tell him about the “client” I will be assigned as a case study – that I will research and follow her as I would a real client, and warn him of the very real call to expect late at night in the coming week from this client as I practice being on call. I’m not too concerned about late night calls as I still am periodically awoken in the wee small hours of the morning by one or more of my two children (my boy of 16 months and girl of 4 years), not to mention our menagerie of cats and dogs.
January 20, 2010
I awoke this morning to heavy rain, a sleepy child looking for her mommy to cuddle with and too many thoughts floating in my head. I’m feeling a bit stressed over the lack of time I have between our next class and my work plus spending time with my little ones. I wish I would have been able to have called in sick to work today, and just spend all day on my required reading and researching my faux client. Instead, I resigned myself to the fact that I’ll sneek in a bit of research while at the office, and do my homework reading once the kids go to bed (after all I am skipping work on Friday for class). I am now up again working on this blog after having a “nap” from falling asleep finishing my reading for the evening. Curious if my sometimes strange sleeping habits will benefit me when it’s time to be spending hours in the hospital with my real clients?
Day Two | January 21, 2010
Intro to Hypnosis 101
We each got to share our client stories and the research each of us had done on our clients. I was very impressed with everyone in the information they were able to uncover on gestational diabetes, preterm labor, preeclampsia, and VBAC. We also got a taste of what’s to come in our next class as we begin to learn about hypno therapy. I somewhat feel that a reset button has been pressed in my brain and look forward to reeducating myself on everything I’ve ever understood about pain and pain management.
Day Three | January 22, 2010
Hypnosis for Childbirth
Today was truely groundbreaking. We learned techniques on how to assess our clients on how they process. Hilarity at home attempting ice test on my husband. We also had some good discussions on how he had processed pain in the past. Found he’s Auditory and Kinesthetic. Not much time to type, gotta run to the next class.
Day Four | January 23, 2010
Doula Training Pt. 1
This evening my husband asked me what we covered in class today, and I drew a blank. Seems all the classes are starting to meld into one. As I thought a bit more, I remembered we did a lot of “hands on” work today. Learning to find our voice to help our clients relax, practicing how to use touch, and how to look someone straight in the eye to get their attention in a state of panic (such as when the client is going through transition). We discussed the responsibilites of a doula, and what expectations to set for our clients. All and all a lot of information to absorb. Not surprising that I drew a blank at first when reflecting on my day.
Day Five | January 24, 2010
Doula Training Pt. 2
Went home tonight feeling quite emotional after having watched a video of one of the births that Jennifer assisted with. Many thoughts were running through my head such as, “Can I do this? How could I ever be as effective as Jennifer was in that video?” I also had thoughts run through my head about my own births…specifically my daughter who was born 6 weeks early. At first I was upset that I didn’t have some of the options that the woman I watched on the video had. I wasn’t allowed to walk, and was completely bed ridden throughout the whole birth (excepting to use the bathroom). Thankfully they didn’t tell me this until much later…so I didn’t realize how confined I really was. Frusteration, diappointment and anger were all in my head as I drove home. However, once I arrived home to my two smiling children, everything was put into better perspective. Why should I beat myself up about my birth experience? I have two beautiful children, and really a positive outcome with both births. Although I would have loved to have had more options for myself, I realize that I may have a client someday in a similar predicament. I hope I would be able to be there for her, and help her through a tough emotional time and fight the small battles with her for whatever would help make the experience as positive as possible.
January 25, 2010
Back to the usual routine getting kids ready for school/daycare and going into work feels a lot like coming back to earth from another planet after the last 3 days of DM training. Definately the professional working world is a universe apart from the world of a doula. It feels like I’m living a double life…software sales by day, doula in training at night. Thoughts come to mind like, how will I do this? What will my schedule be like? How will I take care of the kids after a long (potentially 24 hour) day at a hospital? Only time will tell, but I sure hope to make it happen. I really believe being doula is important, life changing work, not only for myself but for my (someday soon) client.
Tags: Birth Doula, Childbirth Professional, Doula, Doula Certification, Doula Training, Labor Doula
