On My Way...!

I am on my way towards becoming a certified Doula! I signed up today for a Doula course in Burlington, VT at the end of this month. The course is through Birthing Gently and my instructor will be Tara Poulin. Tara Poulin is a DONA International certified Birth Doula, and has trained with DONA co-founder, Penny Simkin, to become a Doula International Birth Doula trainer. This is that start to becoming a Certified Doula through DONA.

"DONA is the oldest, largest and most respected doula association in the world. Our founders are among the foremost experts on doula care, and DONA International certification is a widely respected measure of quality and professionalism. We are an international, non-profit organization of doulas that strives to have every doula trained and educated to provide the highest quality and standards for birth and/or postpartum support to birthing women and their families" (From DONA website)

I have wanted to take this course for a long time and its just the start of the certification process. After I take the course I will need to finish all the required reading, some I have already done, write at least one essay and Doula for three births where the practitioners will sign off on my skills and experience.  Then I will submit all of this information to DONA to become a Certified Doula. I will become Shannon Bradley B.A. CD(DONA)

Starting to Doula

Here is my  My Doula Profile! I have decided to embark into the world of helping women have babies. While I may not become a Midwife for years I want to be a doula first and gain as much experience as I can before moving on into the Midwife role. I have recently met and made an amazing contact here in Vermont. A CPM (Certified Professional Midwife) she works with women and parents whose goal is to have home births. I have talked with her in depth on the phone and this past Friday I had the privilege of meeting her and getting to watch her during an appointment. 

Not only was it amazing to get to talk to her about my life, goals, dreams and her life and midwifery practice her opinions and idea, but I also got to see her at work! It wasn't a birth granted but it was a very informative experience. As I sat listening to her and the expecting parents, questions kept coming up into my head and if I waited just a few minutes I found that these questions were answered in more detail than any book I could have read.

After a lot of thinking I am pretty sure that I would like to start my family before I jump all the way into Midwifery. This is because I really want to be able to spend the time with my little ones that they deserve. I want to be there for them when they need me. As a midwife I will be there for all the mothers who need me. While being a Midwife and a parent of little ones is certainly something that can be done I don't want to have two very important callings of mine dueling for the right amount of time from me. I do intend on being a practicing Doula starting with my first experience hopefully this fall.