Day in the Life of a Doula

Saturday Morning 5:30am

My 19 months old daughter wakes up. I hear her on the baby monitor and wait just a moment to see if she will go back to sleep on her own. Sleep regression is hitting hard these days and she is unable to settle. I get out of the bed, where my son and other daughter are cuddled up next to their dad, and go upstairs to get the baby. She greets me with a relieved sigh and clings onto my neck. We go back downstairs and settle in our comfortable recliner where she snuggles with me and falls back asleep for a bit. I reach over to check my phone to see what time it is and notice my notifications blinking. 5 private messages and some tags as well. I answer all of them. The questions are all pregnancy and birth related.

6:30am

I manage to put my daughter in the bed with the other little ones and get ready for the day, quietly so I do not wake anyone else. I sneak into the kitchen and start making the lactation cookies I did not make the night before. I regret that decision right now.

7:30am

Maybe I can answer a few more follow up messages while the cookies are in the oven? I try to reply to as many as I can before I get my stuff together to leave the house. My middle daughter is awake and hungry. Nutellabrot with Sprinkles. Yup, you heard it right,…give the child all the sugar before I head out for the day. I hastily grab the pump I am dropping off later and frantically search for a matching set of flanges in the pile of supplies that are stacked in the back of my office. Do I really have everything? Can’t forget those cookies!

8:00am

I make my way out the door and leave behind my sleeping children, as well as those that are awake and complaining that I am gone yet again. Saturdays are my time to catch up on doula work while my husband is home and can care for the little ones. After a quick stop at the local coffee shop I am on my way to my Doula Sisters house to teach our virtual baby massage class to some of my previous clients. While I am driving I receive a call from a mom that had an emergency and is headed to the hospital. I comfort her, tell her that I will check back in with her after the class. The call leaves me emotional and distraught. My love for the women in our community is deep-rooted, regardless of how well I may know them. I appreciate their trust and a little piece of me stays with them when I hang up the phone.

9:00am

Finally made it to my destination, just in time to go over the slides and take care of some last minute preparations for the class. I don’t see my doula sisters as often as I would like, and we always have a ton to catch up on. Teaching classes together is lots of fun and a great way for us to develop and sharpen our skills.

10am

Class starts after some initial technical difficulties. Yeeeaaayyy!!! It is always so good to see all these great families with their sweet babies. We immediately know that all the hard work that went into putting this class together was worth it and the tension falls off as we are moving through our curriculum for the day.

12pm

We are wrapping up our Baby Massage Class and exchange a few ideas on how we want to change and improve the slide-show. It is always best to jot down these ideas right away before they get lost. Then my phone goes off and I receive the sweetest picture of one of the dads who just attended the baby massage class giving his little daughter a massage. Another picture follows - the little girl is sound asleep in mom’s arms after a good feeding. Our hearts are full - this is why we love our work so much.

I grab a few breastfeeding supplies on my way out of the door and head down the road to a local hospital where I am delivering the loaner pump to a mom with twins in the NICU.

1pm

Time to check in on my post partum client who had her baby a couple weeks ago. I bring her the cookies I made in the morning and a nipple shield to help her little one latch. Her baby sleeps peacefully when I arrive and I get to catch up with her, see how she is feeling, how her incision from the surgery is healing. I have a couple of tips on pumping for her and promise to send her information on a fitness group for breastfeeding mommies before I give her a hug and leave her with instructions to rest while her baby sleeps.

2:30pm

Finally back home! I walk into the door where my children are waiting for me, overjoyed and ready to share everything that happened since I left this morning. I check my email and realize that I really need to get everything ready for their virtual instructions that start on Monday. Homeschooling three children in elementary school was not exactly part of my plan for the New Year. We will make it work.

2:45pm

Another email. An expecting mom who missed our consult yesterday wants to connect, right now if I am available.

3pm

I jump on Zoom for an hour consultation. We talk about her fears surrounding her birth, her previous labor and connect well so we get carried away and when I look up it is well past 4pm. I still have not been to the store, and I have no idea what we will eat for dinner.

5pm

I am too tired to cook so we order Thai food. I sit down and cuddle up with my kids and my baby falls asleep in my arms. Mom was not around for nap time so she did not want to go down, now she is exhausted and I know it will be a long night. My mind is spinning, so much I want to do and I don’t even know where to start.

5:15pm

I look at my phone...I forgot to answer an email. Yes, of course I can help you select a pump. Zoom tomorrow, that will work. I know I have two more unanswered messages but I put them off until later. Right now it is time to eat. Weekends are for family meals, and we try to sit down together without the phone going off.

6pm

More tags and messages that need answering along with 3 breast pump requests and 2 more requests for meal preparation. The kids need to shower and get ready for bed.

7pm

I finally placed the order for the breastfeeding accessories and try to make a mental list of the things I need to get done once the kids are in bed. I know I will forget something.

7:30pm

Wooohooooooo!!!!! Great news!!! Legislation was approved that mandates Tricare to run a pilot program that covers doula services along with CLCs. This needs to be shared on social media. What a great way to start the New Year, my heart is overjoyed and in my mind I am thinking of 100 things I should do now that it looks like Tricare will soon cover our services.

8pm

I am putting the finishing touches on a blog posts and connect with my Doula sisters about our upcoming events and some more admin work. The kids really need to go to bed. I usher them in the bathroom and lay down with them to read their good-night story. I stay with them until they sleep peacefully and count my blessings as I look at their innocent faces.

9pm: Last time answering messages… at least until I check my phone again… I am on call for a birth, maybe tonight is the night! I make sure to turn the phone volume up so I don’t miss the call if it does come. Oh, I forgot to send out the Zoom details for tomorrow - got to do that before I go to sleep. My husband is annoyed. He says I always work. He may not be wrong, but this is not work to me. It is a calling, it is what I love to do.