On The Path

I left my client’s house in the warm, late afternoon sun and headed down the path back to my car (some postpartum gigs are like this). While walking in this gorgeous light, I was thinking about the hours spent today helping a new mama make sense of the mysterious and tiny baby who has taken over her life. She is in the springtime in her motherhood, so perfectly expressed in the season around us here in Vancouver.

I often get folks asking me what exactly it is that I do as a doula? This photo captures it perfectly! Let me explain… Whether it is in preparing for a birth, attending a birth, or in postpartum visits after baby has arrived, I’m there to walk the path I know so well, while celebrating and welcoming new families on the journey. There is laughter, heart-felt conversations, practical discussions, and sometimes tears. Together we observe buds of new growth, affirm changes as they happen, encourage rest when the body is weary, and more than anything is to help new parents navigate the path, developing their own confidence. Spring is in the air!

This is sacred work, to be invited into the raw and vulnerable world of the newborn family. I am always learning so much about the resilience and tenacity of the human heart and body! And as it goes, laughter helps so very much.

So this is my gig: Path-walker. Lucky me.

Happy World Doula Week from your path-walking doula!

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