My Vulnerable Doula Journey
I immigrated to the USA from Toronto, Canada in 2021 to start a family with my amazing husband and I had a lot of adjusting to do. Before I could start a family, I wanted to ask my friends and family about their birth experiences. Obviously many, if not all of my friends and family were in Canada and experienced different medical care. Their stories provided me with some insight about what giving birth would look like but as per the location and health coverage was concerned, the information provided wasn't much help. I had to do some research on what maternal health care looked like in the USA compared to Canada. If you aren't aware, health care in Canada for citizens is subsidized which means, if I had a medical emergency or having a baby and needed to go to a hospital or walk in clinic, I can without paying out of pocket.
I begun my research by asking my new friends and family in the USA about their birth experiences. Unfortunately and to my surprise, there were not that many positive birth stories and I started to question if it was a good idea to have a child in the USA. I wanted a family of my own for as long as I can remember, so I was determined to not give up and continue to search for more answers. Eventually, I began watching other birth stories and videos of moms all over the USA; everything from home births, birth center births, hospital births and even free births to see if there were happy, joyful birth experiences and stories. To my relief, there were a bunch of happy stories from all types of births; the one thing many of them had in common, most of them had a birth doula present or had a support team in addition to their partner. Many of their stories highlighted the gratitude of their support team and how they created a safe and calm birth space. When I discovered that is was indeed possible to have the birth experience you want, to have the autonomy and be encouraged to birth YOUR way, that's when I made the decision to become a doula and help other's achieve the birth experience they've always wanted.
I now had to research the best organization to train under to become the best doula I can be. I dove deep into several (larger well known and smaller) doula organizations and companies to see what their training included and how extensive it was. I looked into reviews from all sources becoming extremely overwhelmed with the amount of options available until I stumbled upon BEST Doula Training. I looked into their philosophy on birth especially birth in the USA and one thing that stood out to me the most was their awareness and their efforts to mitigate racial disparities in America. My intuition spoke and I knew that BEST Doula Training is where I'm meant to be.
Growing up in such a multi cultural area like Toronto, race was never really an issue. All my classes growing up looked like mini versions of the UN in every grade even college. I only ever saw issues of racism on TV and heard of colourism within the black community. My first personal experience with racism was when I was in my early 20's in the work place and that's when all ignorance went out the window. My eyes opened up to many more microaggressions and blatant acts of racism. It was a bit of a culture shock when coming to America because it seemed like the topic of race is a big factor for the quality of life one would have in the US.
During my studies with BEST Doula Training, I learned that America has one of the highest maternal mortality rates compared to other developed countries; the rate also increases for black women (1 in 4) compared to their white counterparts due to institutionalize racism and medical bias. My heart sank and I thought to myself, "I came to America to start a family. I didn't come here to potentially become a statistic. If this is a possible outcome for me, who's ensuring the well being of all the other women looking to start families who didn't take this career path?" From that moment I knew this is my purpose to serve; I was determined to help support and encourage families to advocate for themselves and the birth how they desire with evidence based information and holistic care.
Upon completion of my Birth Certification I founded Loops & Kisses LLC Doula Services in efforts to encourage a personalized, calm and joyful transition to motherhood. My goal is to support you with holistic, relational, and informational support throughout your pregnancy, birth and postpartum periods.