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My Story
My road to becoming a doula has had quite a few stop and starts. I first found out about doulas and what they do back
in 2002, when I was in a corporate America job and feeling unfulfilled. Before that, for my entire life people have been
telling me I should be a nurse or teacher- I guess you could say I'm simply wired to serve others. I thought about nursing,
but attending school to end up with the possibility of being stuck in triage or an ER for my career really didn't appeal to
me. I entered college with intention of declaring education as my major, but got lazy with classes and decided to quit.
So after only a year under my belt, I started what would a long string of office and corporate jobs. I decided that
I wanted to work for myself, and through ivillage.com came across the Doula occupation. It sounded like it fit me- here I
was, someone who had a calling to take care of people, and a Doula could do that. However, to start my certification would
take time, and my young life was getting in the way.
Fast forward to July 2005. I had a true surprise when I gave birth to our daughter. It's a long, quite interesting story.
Her birth rekindled my interest in being a doula, because I really feel if I had one present, the overall experience would
have been all the more enriched. I really came from my own birth story believing in a woman's body doing what it was designed
to do.
Very quickly thereafter we were pregnant again. I had a really healthy pregnancy, and had every intention of "going
natural", however circumstances didn't allow, and I had an induction with an epidural and still had (and needed) a doula
present. I can truly say I've had both sides of the fence as far as birth experiences and absolutely view medicated and natural
childbirths with equality.
We relocated from our hometown to Pinellas county with my husband's job. I immediately started looking for ways to work
from home, and revisited again the idea of being a doula. The Tampa area has a very positive and active birth community,
and neither my husband or I intend on relocating ever again, so I "set up shop" and look forward to serving mamas-to-be
and their families!
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