My Journey As A Radical Birth Keeper

This is my journey as a radical birth keeper.

There are many things I have always wanted to do but I never knew where to begin. I was just in my early 20’s when my gynecologist told me that I should become a fertility specialist. That I could help so many young women who have no clue about their own bodies. I laughed and said, I do know about as much as you. He giggled and said, you should hold classes. Many years go by and I pursued other careers. I'm in my 30’s now and I never followed that path. Let me just be real here, public speaking isn't my thing. I am terrified about speaking to people. Especially face to face or large crowds.

"Doctor Hand" by Truthout.org is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

 

I know a shit ton more now than I did then and I have healed my body temporarily to conceive 4 babies after being told by 4 different doctors that there was nothing they could do. They explained that I have unexplained infertility. All of my bloodwork was fine. I had a normal cervix and all of that but nobody could figure out what was going on. Now I said I healed my body temporarily because I haven’t stuck with the regimen I used to get pregnant. I kind of take my body being out of whack as a contraceptive in a sort of way. I later found out with my last son that that was not the case. Which also led me to dig deeper into the study of the reproductive system.

Okay so that was enough about my background as to why I started my doula journey.

I really want to buck up and fight my anxiety on public speaking because not sharing my knowledge is a disservice to all young people male and female. I have so much information to share so today I start with a written blog and eventually I will create a vlog on YouTube and then maybe I can speak at conventions or even at the local health departments. We need to understand our fertility and what makes our bodies tick. If we can just understand our bodies and take control of our own health then we will no longer have to suffer through these conditions. We can realize when something is off with our bodies and then talk to a proper professional about it. That is my goal. To help more people become educated about their own bodies. The doula life sort of chose me. I have been giving birth support to friends and family long before I knew what a doula was. Long before I hired one myself. Long before I decided it was time to find resources to learn more. 

Serving the public.

Now I have served a handful of births as a non certified doula prior to the education I found. I do not plan to become certified officially. Certification would hinder me from being able to support a homebirth that a mother may want unassisted. It isn’t in my best interest to certifiably be the most educated one there to place blame if a situation were to arise and a transfer would be needed.

I am a radical birth keeper.

I am not there to be anything more than you want me to be during birth but I also will have limits. Just because I don’t hold a certified paper does not mean I am inexperienced. I have taken courses and classes and read more books than I can count on my fingers and toes. I have assisted births and I have birthed 4 children.

One was at home at 36 weeks unassisted. I don’t recommend this for just anyone. Research led me to that decision along with paying attention to my body and what the baby was doing through pregnancy and a short labor.

I have taken a brief break prior to the sickness in the world and then the sickness hit and kept everyone from being supported in one way or another. Hospital, birth center, or home. I am here to support you physically or digitally. It is up to you. It will also be up to hospital regulations as well but I will support you however I can.

 So share this blog post with friends who want to know more about me and need a birth keeper in their life.