A baby’s first breath
by Jess Helle-Morrissey, MA, MSW, LGSW, LCCE, CLEC
Doulas serve a multi-faceted role in a birthing family’s life: supporter, encourager, normalizer, educator, guide. We rub backs, we squeeze hands, we stroke hair, we breathe, we hold space. We press cool cloths to a birthing woman’s head as she brings her baby (or babies) forth from the warm, wet womb to the bright spinning world.
One role that is often overlooked, but is perhaps most sacred to my own doula heart, is that of witness. As doulas, we witness over and over again that unique and unparalleled moment in a woman’s life when she becomes a mother. Whether it’s a first birth, or a seventh, a mother is born each time she births a baby.
When a woman has a transformative birth experience (and really, what birth isn’t transformative?), she deserves to be fully seen. And that role is often uniquely the doula’s. Partners are witnessing, but they are most often deservedly caught up in their own personal experience of the moment. Midwives, doctors, and nurses are present, but they have medical tasks to attend to. Doulas are able to attend wholeheartedly to that moment.
We witness the joy of birth. We witness mamas finding their true selves for the first time in their lives as they birth their babies. We see the look on a mama’s face when her baby is five minutes old as she tells us, “Everyone said I couldn’t do it, but I knew I could.” We witness the hilarity of birth – I’ll never forget one mama who turned to me after birthing her twins and exclaimed, “That was f*cking AWESOME!” We get to see the way a partner looks at the birthing woman in complete awe as she makes her way through contraction after contraction. We get to see him or her wipe a tear away as this new little person makes that first yawling cry.
We witness the disappointments, too. And when things don’t go as planned, we can remind her that she is strong because we have seen it with our own two eyes, and we have felt it in our own doula souls. And we remember in a way that she might not.
So as witnesses to those moments, we begin to help her reframe: Last summer, one of my doula mamas had a surgical birth after a long and difficult labor. In a case like this, it is easy to go to a place of dwelling in what went wrong. I go to my postpartum visit. We talk about all that happened, and I validate the disappointment. I sit with the pain. But I also tell her, because I need her to hear, “I have never seen anyone work so hard for so long. I have never seen anyone fight so hard for what she wanted. You. Are. Amazing.” And she begins to feel it is true because I have seen it and I know it to be true. She knows I was there. She knows I saw her fully. And as I write this, I remember her fierce birthing spirit as if her baby was born yesterday, and I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up a bit. Because I will never forget her strength, and the gift she gave me by allowing me in.
Above all, it is that sheer strength of birthing women – no matter how they give birth – that we doulas are witness to. The strength to carry on when it feels like all the reserves have been depleted. The strength to make a choice to go a different direction than we’d dreamed. The strength to joyfully claim a place in the history and lineage of birthing women.
And the repercussions of that witnessing can last a lifetime. I spent a good part of my own life feeling like I was not a very strong person. When I gave birth to my twin boys, I found strength I never even dared to imagine I had in me. Today, more than two years later, each time I see one of my two wonderful doulas, I still stand a little taller and feel that swell in my heart – “SHE has seen my strength! She knows the amazing things I am capable of!” A bit dramatic? Perhaps. But life-changingly, soul-stirringly profound for this mama? Most definitely.
So when you invite a doula into your life for some portion of the nine months of your pregnancy (and a couple months after), know that the benefits don’t end there. We not only witness, but we also remember. I tell my mamas, “If you ever need to be reminded of how incredible you are, call me and I will tell you as many times as you need to hear it to believe it.” So on behalf of all doulas, thank you to birthing families everywhere who invite us to witness your incredible journey. Thank you for giving us the best job in the world.
Jess Helle-Morrissey is a birth and postpartum doula, a Lamaze-Certified Childbirth Educator, a Lactation Educator Counselor, and a clinical social worker in private psychotherapy practice. She teaches classes for families planning VBAC and for families expecting twins and more at Blooma, and lives in St. Paul, MN with her husband and her identical twin boys, born in January 2011.
McGlaun Massage Therapy May 17, 2013
Reblogged this on McGlaun Massage Therapy, LLC and commented:
This amazing article gave me chills. This is what it is all about, the soul of the Doula as witness.
Mishka May 17, 2013
This is awesome and so beautifully written. Thank you for what you give to women and families!
http://www.myrubygirl.com May 22, 2013
What a beautiful confirmation of the power of that witness! Even though I have three children, I did not know of doulas or their role until my sister-in-law delivered her second child and asked me to be there as a photographer. It was powerful and beautiful and I had never considered birthing children to be an experience of that sort. Thank you for what you do!
Lana Petersen June 7, 2013
Yu have written what was in my heart. Please may I have your permission to post this on my blog. Lovingly, Lana Petersen. doula/ student midwife. Cape Town South Africa
Collective Thoughts June 11, 2013
Yes, Lana – please feel free to share!
Lana Petersen June 11, 2013
wonderful ,thank you. Lana
Erika Davise July 12, 2013
I reblogged this on http://kavanahdoula.blogspot.com/ (with your permission)
Really wonderful! Thank so much!
MoxieMinx August 2, 2013
AMEN! That was so well-written, and memorable. You could not have described it better, or at least as I imagine it to be. You’re awesome!
Eve Topaloglu March 27, 2015
Jesse, Thank you for capturing the essence of what it is to be a birth doula. A beautifully written piece that represents us all. If you need someone to remind you of how amazing you are, call me :-)