Birth, Baby & Beyond Blog
Work Your Birth Plan, Don’t Let it Work You
I love working with our doula clients. They’re smart. They’re inspiring. They’re determined. And they are focused on being loving, dedicated parents. Many of them have spent much of their lives getting what they want: setting goals, making plans, and succeeding....
8 Tips for Diaper Changes
When they first get here, babies don’t really do much besides eating, sleeping, crying and pooping. As a result, many new parents spend much more of their postpartum period than they imagined changing diapers. Not all of us care for babies before we have our...
Dear Doula, I Gave My Newborn Formula
Dear Doula, My baby spent a little while in the NICU when she was first born. I was induced for gestational diabetes, and eventually needed a cesarean (long story). When they checked our daughter’s blood sugar after birth, it was low, so she couldn’t stay in the room...
20 Things NOT to Say to a Pregnant Woman
Pregnant women have the privilege of creating life. It’s amazing. They also have the burden of having to listen to everyone’s opinions about it, all while the baby moves their organs around and eats all of their food. Pregnancy is a miracle. But it’s...
Afraid of Maternal Mortality? Get to Know Your Healthcare Provider
When clients call us afraid of childbirth and worried especially about how race may make their pregnancy harder, we do what doulas do- we listen, we affirm, we support. Doulas also educate though, and I want families to know that even though black maternal mortality...
Doulas Don’t Forget Dads
Sometimes when women call us looking for a labor doula, they aren’t worried about themselves. They’re worried about their partners. To be blunt, they’re worried the dads to be- husbands, boyfriends, and children’s fathers. (Women having babies together often have a...
Why Are Black Mothers Dying?
For better or worse, many of our black doula clients first find out about doulas when they’re trying to feel safer while giving birth, after hearing about maternal and infant mortality rates for black mothers. And the most important thing I want to say (beyond the...
Dear Doula, I’m a Black Woman, and I’m Scared of Dying in Childbirth
Dear Doula, I’ve always wanted to be a mother, and my fiance and I have been trying for a couple of years now. It’s been a long road, and after a miscarriage, I thought it may not happen for me. But we’re pregnant! I’m in my second trimester, and I’m ready to get...
Doula Confession: I’m a Doula Without Kids
Hi, my name is Sam. I love birth and babies, without kids of my own and I’ve never been pregnant. More than anything, what led me to be a doula was that I love women. (We’re doulas for everyone at DCMM, regardless of your gender, but I like to be honest about why I...
Self Care Tip: Let Go of the To-Do List. Make a DONE List!
Becoming a doula and entrepreneur has taught me a lot about myself. Mostly it's that being responsible to and for myself (and having other people depend on me!) has forced me level up on my adulting skills, post-haste. I have to get my to-do list done. Generally...
In giving birth to our babies, we may find that we give birth to new possibilities within oursleves.
– Jon Kabat-Zinn