A Swift Doula Blog, Chicago

Benefits of A Placenta University Graduate

4/29/2015

Working in Chicago helping women through labor, birth, and their postpartum transition has allowed me a great view of one other industry close to doulas: Placenta Encapsulation. Until now, I have not offered this service myself, and have instead tried to find placenta specialists in Chicago that were both safe, and reliable in their methods of processing and business.

Just like doulas do not need a license or training to practice as a profession, placenta specialists are not required to have a license or training either.

There HAVE been sporadic trainings available, and many placenta specialists have been taught by someone they view as reliable.

However, it has not been until this week that an organization has taken a stand on how, where, and in what manner a placenta should be handled, transported, and processed for human consumption.

This week, Placenta Prep* has had its inaugural training, and the placenta industry now has a new standard of excellence. I am proud and honored to say that I was invited to attend this training and am moving forward to help raise the standard and safety of placenta consumption.

Not all women will choose to use this aid for their postpartum recovery, however, those that do should be offered a method and option to do so in such a way that reduces possible risks.

As a graduate of Placenta Prep* I agree to the following standards of practice for my business:

I will never transport a placenta for another person
This has nothing to do with convenience, and everything to do with doubt, uncertainty, and trust.

I want there to be absolutely zero doubt in a client's mind that the placenta I process is the placenta that came out of her body. To ensure that everyone involved agrees that the placenta is indeed the property of my client, I will never transport her placenta, even if it is directly from the hospital to her home.

I am not licensed to transport a human organ, and to protect my business and your trust, I will supply you with the necessary materials and information to safely transport your placenta to your home after the birth.

I will service a placenta in the home of the person who will consume it
We live in a world full of bacteria. Good bacteria and bad bacteria are everywhere. When a woman gives birth, she and (especially) her baby are in a delicate healing period where her immune system may be compromised or fragile.

To reduce any negative side effects of bad bacteria consumption, I will only process a woman's placenta in an environment her body is used to.

By processing a placenta in the client's space, I am able to ensure that the placenta is hers, that the space is free of debris from other processed placentas, and is free from any potentially harmful bacteria that may reside in my home. As safe as my bacteria is to me, it may be harmful to the delicate system of a newly delivered mother and her infant.

The only way to ensure that there is as few harmful bacteria present, the client's home is the safest location for this service to take place.

I will stay current on my Blood Borne Pathogens certification
This industry does not require a license, and does not require Blood Borne Pathogens Certification.

However, to reduce the risk to clients and to myself, I will follow guidelines outlined in this training to ensure every placenta, regardless of origin, will be treated with the respect and care that it deserves. To do this, I will always have a current Blood Borne Pathogens certificate while processing placentas.

Benefits of a Postpartum Placenta Specialist
As a Postpartum Placenta Specialist, a great concern is that I am able to be present and available to my clients while they are transitioning from pregnancy to postpartum.

By offering my services in this way, and by abiding by these guidelines, I also make myself available to my clients to offer support IN PERSON! I am trained and certified as a Postpartum Doula, and if you engage in my placenta services, you are able to reap the full benefit of my knowledge, care, and attention during my time in your home.

You can benefit from having your placenta processed in the safest possible way, with as many risks reduced along the way, AND benefit from time with a professional postpartum doula.

I look forward to elevating the profession of placenta specialists in the Chicago area!

Authored by: A Swift Doula
*Edited to update name

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#doulaRevolution

3/29/2015

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meme made by Denise Forman for #worlddoulaweek

World Doula Week is over. It was incredible to see the word #doula trending on Facebook, in part because of a blog challenge hosted by September Phillips of Not Just Nine Birth Services. And even more incredible to see how many women were engaged in their communities to get the word out. The word doula. Doula. #Doula.

There is another tag that has been going around. It's #doularevolution. And it's been building. Women from across the globe have been making changes so that they can pursue doula work.

Doula work as their profession, not as a hobby. Women are learning what it means to be business women. They are learning what it means to follow a dream and build something with passion. And they are learning to "turn their passion into a paycheck."

I got to see this revolution begin in a Facebook group called The Business of Being a Doula. There Randy Patterson braved the water of "how it's always been done" and pushed women to think beyond what they were told, to see how they could be better, and to choose what was best for themselves.

It is a bold move for a woman to put herself first. But it shouldn't be. (Lessons in life, motherhood, and business come crashing together in this business group.)

From Randy and her partner Debbie came ProDoula. From ProDoula came the tools women needed to make the changes.

And as Heidi Shulista of Kansas City Doulas states when she talks about the #doularevolution, "A revolution happens because lots of like-minded people all have the same thoughts, at the same time, and they all move simultaneously in the same direction to make the change they believe is necessary to happen."

ProDoula isn't a brainwashing. ProDoula isn't telling women about what they are doing wrong. What makes them unique is they actually practice the values they teach. They support women - pregnant women, laboring women, business women. They give tools so women can make choices that are best for them - tools for labor, tools for business, and really, tools for life.

And the #doularevolution is picking up steam because of one simple thing: it makes sense. It makes sense that woman should be paid for their work. It makes sense that businesses can't survive on offering services for free. It makes sense that for our profession to be taken seriously, new doulas need to start smart business practices from their first birth on.

It doesn't make sense that women and families should suffer financially so other women and their families can be supported through birth.

Our culture has changed but our hearts are still here. The #doularevolution isn't just about a paycheck. The #doularevolution is, in part, about taking the choke collars that the "sisterhood of free birth" offer women as a tool to gain experience, and instead offer guidance, tried and true models, and wisdom. Actual tools for longevity and sustainable careers. Actual help from actual mentors.

It has been an incredible week. It has been an incredible year. the #doularevolution is just picking up steam.

Authored by A Swift Doula
Photo credit to Denise Foreman, The Issaquah Doula

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World Doula Week - The invaluable side Of Doula Care

3/23/2015

4 Comments

Yesterday, I shared that before becoming a doula, I had a wonderful, stable job working for Barnes & Noble. I had insurance! I had vacation days! I had access to interesting people with interesting things to say and I was helping my community through literacy! It was (how many more exclamation points do you need.....) ah-mazing!!!

And I made the choice to leave it.

I then made the choice to become a doula. A year and a half after starting my career as a doula, I became a ProDoula.

When I was introduced to ProDoula through a woman named Randy Patterson, a few things happened:

I stopped feeling guilty for needing to make a living
I realized my attraction to this work was not just as a woman doing women's work, but it was a deep seeded need in me to be WITH women.

For me, finding ProDoula was the key to a very large pad lock that opened feelings and memories that I had pushed away. Why? Because they didn't make me feel good! Because of judgement, disappointment, or guilt. And women are criticized for our feelings, aren't we? So I put them away.

And Randy Patterson and the other women I have been doing this work WITH, crawled in that deep dark space with me while sitting on Debbie Aglietti's basement floor. And they showed me what it was like to really be with Women's Women. Women who love other women. Women who want big, inspiring things. Women who understand that we will all do those big inspiring things in our own creative ways.

I was a good doula before I became a ProDoula. I knew all the right questions, I pushed on all the rights spots, I had the right information. But after ProDoula, I finally really understood the need, and power of women showing empathy.

Real support. Non-judgmental support. Being in the dark cave, together.

And as I unlocked all of the pain, guilt, and disappointment, I started to let other things go too. I started to let my "character flaws" out and stretch their sore limbs.

Turns out, what I thought was flippancy was the ability to adapt. Turns out what I thought was being bossy, was in fact my ability to be a decisive doer.

I came back from an amazing experience and I started to try out this new self, with all my feelings and memories and baggage out for any who took a minute to see it. And I started believing that my voice was powerful.

And I now with this found voice, I learned to be much better listener. I see and hear women trying to navigate through a world where pregnancy has made their own emotions a little closer to the top - those emotions are a little easier to access.

Those emotions and fears are valuable. They are valid. They are good.

I walk into a woman's living room, and her emotions get all over her face, and she feels bad. She feels wrong. And I get so sit with her, and look at her emotions on her face, and nose and hands and tissues, and be with her. And say that those emotions sound really hard and I am so glad she shared those really hard emotions with me.

It isn't a space many people are willing to go. My work lets me go there. I get to go there! I get to be a real women with other real women.

And this is only a small part of the work that I do.

But this is the invaluable part. This is the part that gets hard to explain in a fee.

I talk about my on-call schedule. I talk about being available on the phone. I talk about specific hours of time and things like how many times we will meet, because in our society, these are the things that can be measured and checked off a list. (And they are important too!)

But today, during World Doula Week, I wanted to talk a bit about what else the fee covers. Non-judgmental support. Being WITH you in labor. Having a person in the room who is comfortable with all the ugly baggage and still looks you in the face and says, hey I see you over there. Don't worry, I see you.

Authored by A Swift Doula

Other amazing writers are getting the word out about World Doula Week. Visit the World Doula Week Blog Challenge Blog Hop.

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Legacy

1/20/2015

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Some people have children because they need to see themselves in the next generation. They need to know that part of them will live on after their own short life is over. They need a family legacy to share in the history of those who have worked so hard before them. They need someone to remember. They need to add something to this life.

Recently we suffered a great loss in our family. My husband's father passed away on December 31st and this last weekend we laid his ashes to rest. I really can't stop myself from thinking about how birth and death are such incredible things.

Being a birth doula, I am surrounded by unlimited potential. So many wonderful humans are being born everyday and they are already remarkable. And as soon as those bundles of joy are here, parents are born too, and they have choices to make and (POOF!) just like that, the pressure is on to be good, and right, and correct. (Although, as a parent, I have found there is great power and importance in allowing space for "wrong.")

And this is where we get down to the point: our legacy is something we have power over. How we are remembered is something we can influence through our actions, goals, and conversations. What we leave isn't just stuff, but feelings, ideas, memories.

As a parent, what do I want my child to remember about me and her time with me? As a doula, how am I adding value to my profession and my community? Why am I here?

These thoughts are helping me see through some of this groggy fog of grief. Hearing the wonderful stories about my father-in-law are refreshing and uplifting. The small part of life I witnessed was only a slice of his - he had 67 years of relationships that left their mark.

Just yesterday, the information that is in the image above was shared on social media. It struck such a chord with me that I had to stop and evaluate how I was conducting myself. I agree with the statement above and I needed to check myself against what it is encouraging.

I felt stronger/better in her presence. Yes. I want women to feel stronger in my presence. I want to lift up and not tear down.

She always did what she said. I want to be a mom of my word. I want to be a doula of my word. I want to be a business owner of my word. I want my statements to be meaningful.

She increased acceptance and compassion in others. Yes, I want to increase acceptance and compassion. I want to help bridge sides. I want to help grow understanding and tolerance.

She instilled strength in our daughters. YES. I want to instill strength in my daughter, and your daughter. I want the daughters of this world to be brave and fearless. I believe my last post speaks directly to this.

She educated the masses. I am not a trained teacher, but I will share my knowledge with any that will listen (or read, dear Reader). Knowledge is what started me on the path to this profession, and helping other mothers have knowledge to make decisions that are best for their families will be a steady driving force in my work. Women with information are unstoppable.

She encouraged open-mindedness. There is a saying, that the world is a book, and if you don't travel, you are only reading the first page. I want to encourage women to read past the first page of their autobiography. I want women to dive into themselves, their feelings, their histories and their prejudices. Ask questions - of yourself, of your care provider, of your surroundings, of your understanding of normal. I want to help open doors to the millions of possible answers.

She left her family a financial success. Yes. I don't think there is anyone that doesn't want this. But I want it so badly and share why it is so important to my daughter. I want to share with her that relationships should be shared because you want to share them, you want to be in them, not because you have to be in them. And I know this looks different for every family, but I know what this looks like for me.

Although these traits are labeled The Legacy of a Doula, they ring true outside of business. And perhaps that is a greater legacy: genuine, knowledgeable, available, and steadfast.

As Heidi Shulista from Kansas City Doulas asks, "For what will you be remembered? For whom are you living?"

So do you know, for what will YOU be remembered? For whom are YOU living?

Authored by A Swift Doula

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11/30/2014

5 Comments

Something is in the air. Thanksgiving is over and instead of comfy pants, a whole slew of people have put on their judgy pants.

Let me digress a moment...

I have had the pleasure of serving as a Postpartum Doula for a lovely family this past week. I put my daughter to bed, I drive to their house, I spend the next 10 hours there, and I come home to my daughter eating breakfast. She rushes toward me when I come in the door and gives me a huge hug. "Mommy's home!"

This week, I was even able to witness my best friend become a mother and have her whole life change by that love. Birth doula and Postpartum doula. That's me.

Both of the mothers I've been with are strong and capable women, and they have already had to make decisions that impacted their babies. Induction? Epidural? Supplement with formula? Pacifiers? Feed every 2 hours? Every 3? Every 4?

Parents make decisions. Most try to make the best ones they can. And it's their right to do so.

This year, I have been growing a new baby - my business in a new city. It is a slow process. Every day comes with decisions on how to best encourage its growth and how to best serve my clients. See, just like I try to instill self-esteem in my daughter, one of my jobs is to ensure that I'm instilling good self esteem in my business.

But just like my decisions as a parent have sometimes come under ridicule, recently, I've received comments questioning some of my business decisions. Not because they are bad, but because they are different and not in line with what has come in the past.

So let me take some time to tell you about me.

I am a business woman. I am a mother that is providing for her family. I am a mother that talks about birth, work, responsibility, and loving yourself, and walks that talk.

The work I do happens to be in a field where there is a tremendous amount of emotion, close bonds and instant connection, and a level of intimacy that is uncommon between non-medical persons.

I am extremely dedicated to my clients and my business. I am committed to providing superb service. One of the reasons I am able to do this is that I have learned and understand that I cannot be emotionally attached to an outcome in birth, and I cannot impart my opinion on your parenting style.

I've written before about offering non-judgmental support. I cannot be both supportive and opinionated. For the service I provide and the support you receive, I in turn receive payment. Just like the care provider receives payment for catching your baby.

The *BONUS* is that this is incredibly rewarding work. I get to be present for women becoming mothers. There is nothing like it! But I know you understand that I can't pay my bills with warm, fuzzy feelings.

I have come to understand this and I make no apologies for being upfront about how unemotional I am with a mother's decisions at her birth.

I am emotional, don't get me wrong. I am right there with you in contractions, with the pain, and with the joy. My heart lifts when your eyes light up with your first view of your baby. My eyes tear up when something that has been wanted for so long is really happening. I am attuned to your experience.

But being unemotional about your choices allows me to provide the quality, non-judmental, support that doulas are hired to provide.

Because after I leave a birth or leave a family after hard over-night feedings with twins, I have to go home. My little girl is waiting for me and wants to give me a big hug. I want to play blocks, and ballerina, and bookstore with her and not be emotionally attached to a birth that was not my birth. I had my birth.

You deserve to have yours with no strings attached.

I reserve the right to have good self esteem, both personally and for my business, and so does every woman in Chicago.

Authored by A Swift Doula

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don't worry, I'm a Professional

10/22/2014

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I wrote last week that I was away from my family. What was I doing? Trying to serve you, my client, in the best possible way.

I am continuing my education and study through Pro Doula!

Feel free to visit my Pro Doula Page and learn even more about me and how I can help you.

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Benefits of A Placenta University Graduate

#doulaRevolution

World Doula Week - The invaluable side Of Doula Care

Legacy

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don't worry, I'm a Professional

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