On the very last day of #worlddoulaweek 2015 I wanted to chat about something that I just learned about in the last year. It’s called the #DoulaRevolution.
The Doula Revolution is all about revolutionizing the Doula community. Doulas have been around just as long as babies have been born. Back in the day, when we all lived in small villages, Doulas were typically your sisters, mothers and friends. They gathered around a birthing woman during her labor, encouraged her and made her feel safe in their combined knowledge of birth. They stayed with her and helped take care of her other children. They kept the house and took care of her in her recovery. They didn’t necessarily go by the name Doula, but that is the job they were doing.
Today we live far apart, often times not even in the same city with our friends and families. Even when friends and families do live close by, they no longer posses this intimate knowledge of birth. Some have had their own babies, sure, but having your own baby and fully understanding the intimate details of what is normal and what is not is something that comes from experience. It use to come from seeing your mother birth your siblings, from seeing your siblings birth your nieces and nephews and from caring for these people after the births of their babies. It is a lost art, a lost community and that is where the modern day Doula comes in.
The modern day Doula does not live in small villages. She lives in big cities and small towns all across the world. She believes in birth and the human ability to overcome any obstacle put in front of her. She knows birth. She has spent countless time and money getting educated in modern birth. She is a parent, she is a home maker, she is an entrepreneur. She is whatever she wants to be and she provides a much needed service in this world of disconnect and lost village.
The Doula Revolution is about the modern woman. It’s about not only supporting birthing families through the most important transitions of their life, but also about Doulas (mostly women) contributing to their families in a meaningful way.
Being a doula is a profession, not a philosophy. It is my profession. I have continuously earned an income that I am proud of. I am in a relationship because I want to be and not because I have to be and that empowers me. I am self sufficient. My daughters watch me be successful and it sets the tone for their expectations of themselves. I am successful, I do something I love and I am passionate about it. It is honorable and I am proud of it.-Randy Patterson
Randy Patterson, The RocknRoll Doula, is the owner of ProDoula, as well as co-owner of several Doula Agencies around the country.
She is the face of the #DoulaRevolution (a hashtag created back in August 2014 by my mentor Heidi Shulista)…..and all of us Doulas are the heart, beating as one towards a common goal of empowerment.
We empower ourselves by creating a living wage for ourselves, by creating living wages for others who work for us in our agencies and by no longer accepting the martyrdom that has all too often been placed upon us by society. We are women. Hear us Roar and watch us support ourselves in yet another service industry where we have been undervalued for far too long.
Jenn is a certified Labor Doula, beginning her studies with CAPPA, taking many additional trainings along the way and is recertifying with ProDoula in 2015. She is also a trained childbirth educator and Postpartum Doula teaching childbirth preparation classes, and also creating her own curriculum for a pre and early pregnancy workshop focused on families who are just beginning to plan for a family, into the 2nd trimester.
Today Jenn is the Co-owner of Colorado Mountain Doulas LLC, providing the community with much needed education, local resources, sibling, postpartum, and labor Doula services.
When she is not guiding families through their birthing year, Jenn is living in Black Forest, CO with her husband and two children on their hobby farm.
A wonderful reminder that doulas have always been around!