During this quarantine, I have been able to sit and contemplate many things – and one of those things is why I chose birth work as a career. It is one of the most asked questions for someone who is involved in this work. To be honest it is not the easiest profession – especially when you are doing it solo as an entrepreneur (which is a whole other ball game).
So I will explain my interest in both areas because they are so very interconnected and you can’t have one without the other.
As far as working for myself and having 50 different hats on – that is just part of my personality. Ever since I was young I was involved in more than one thing and had many different interests. As I grew up I found that while I enjoyed working with people, I wasn’t interested in working for someone else. I am a very independent person and have strong ideas and plans. It isn’t that I am terrible with collaboration in fact, I thrive off of teamwork and bouncing ideas off of others. That is when my creativity really soars. I just craved the freedom of creating my own schedule and setting my own rules on how things should go. Plus, I have a very distinct plan for where I want my business to go.
Ok, so you understand why I want to work for myself – but why birth work?
Toward the end of my college career, I became very interested in human sexuality and women’s and gender studies. I even thought about getting a Master’s in one of those or both at the time. Of course, as they say, we make plans and God laughs.
He might do that a lot with me…
2 years after college I got a job as an assistant in the Toddler House of a Montessori school. It changed my life. After 2 years of assisting, I decided to go for my Montessori teacher credential and became a teacher. It was actually during that training that I unexpectedly found my true passion: Parents. My teacher at the time, Susan Tracy McDaniel is such a powerful woman. She was in charge of teaching us all about pregnancy, birth, and parenthood. She was also in charge of teaching us how to put together our album about said subject. That became my favorite album. Anyway, she started talking about midwives and doulas and parents and I just felt my head swirling. During class I found myself looking up “what is a doula?” and that slowly morphed into “how do I become a doula?”
I finally found it. My calling.
Since then it has grown into so much more. I am now a certified doula, childbirth educator, and Montessori teacher.
Ok, ok I hear you – that is the HOW – what about the WHY?
I love parents. Specifically parents of toddlers. While I was teaching, my favorite interactions were always with the parents. I enjoyed forming relationships with them – real and genuine. They were looking for guidance on how to raise this mini teenager in their home when they didn’t seem to be speaking the same language. All of this guidance starts in pregnancy – through birth – and finally on the other side where they have this new life. Each stage and month in an infant’s life is different and once they start walking all bets are off. They are beautiful, ever-changing, and honestly in the most magical time of their lives (and they don’t even realize it!). Parenting does not come with the manual and I believe that it takes a village to raise a child and grow a family. We rely on each other. So there you have it….
YOU are my why.
You are the reason I am excited to get up in the morning. You are the reason that I work hard every day. I want to show content that makes sense for you – to help you discover the magic of parenthood from the very beginning.
Caitlin