motherhood — Blog — Bright Birthing

For the first several years I was a practicing doula in San Francsico, I lived across the country from my mom. As I attended a couple dozen births, my own intention to become a parent solidified, but my partner and I knew we wanted to be closer to family before having our own children.

We moved to Virginia at the end of 2012, about an hour and a half from where my mom lived at the time. I re-established my doula practice here and became part of the sweetest community - including the other doulas of Bright Birthing. We welcomed Baby Bright in 2016 and as her first birthday approached, my mom found a home even nearer to us.

Our home is a cozy apartment, so it's especially pleasant to have Yaya's farm within an easy driving distance. She has dogs, chickens, quail, doves, a vegetable garden and plans for an orchard. There's a playhouse and a sandbox, a wrap-around porch for shade and fields for romping.

Wednesday October 18 we're excited to share the love of having a nearby grandparent with folks who are able to join us at the Farm Picnic!

I am so excited to be working with the amazing women of Bright Birthing! We have supported one another through so many of life’s sweetest moments from belly blessing ceremonies to attending one another’s births to helping to care for one another’s children. We have laughed together and cried together and drunk a few margaritas together. We have created a beautiful village for ourselves and our precious families. We work hard to share our village and shine our love on the community around us. We accomplish this through our work with expectant parents during prenatal education classes, belly blessings, abdominal massage and prenatal care; through our limitless love and energy during the birthing process; and through the tenderness we feel for and show to new parents during postpartum visits, birth story sharing and village circles.

With all this love and support we already give one another and the community, it only makes sense that we would add another layer of support by providing care to our families with doula teams. Working as a doula team will allow us to provide the best possible care to expectant families while allowing us to do the very important work of caring for ourselves and our own families.

You know we've got your back because we have each other's all the time!

What does having a Doula Team look like? Well, families will have TWO doulas and will benefit from the wide variety of skills each doula possesses. Families will have ample opportunity to get to know both of their doulas during prenatal visits and, together, we will develop a unique plan for each family. During labor and birth one or both doulas will be present depending on the length of the labor and needs of each family. Also, as we become more and more aware of the importance of and need for postpartum care, we are excited to include two postpartum visits as part of our Doula Team package.

I am thrilled to continue to work with Gwen, Hannah and Sara integrating the concept of doula teams into our options for care. These doula teams will allow us to provide even more love, support and exceptional care to our community, our clients, each other and ourselves. Could it get any better?! I don’t know but we continue to look for ways to enhance the services provided by Bright Birthing. We look forward to sharing these services with our entire birthing community.