by Samantha Olivia | Mar 9, 2019 | Birth & Labor Doula Tips, Healthy Pregnancy
When most people think of strep, they’re imagining a sore throat and staying home until you’re no longer contagious. But being a doula can give you a different context for a lot of things. And when I talk about strep, I’m usually referring to Group B Strep (GBS) that...
by Samantha Olivia | Nov 30, 2018 | Healthy Pregnancy, Motherhood & Life
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...
by Samantha Olivia | Nov 14, 2018 | Birth & Labor Doula Tips, Fourth Trimester and Postpartum Doula Tips, Healthy Pregnancy
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...
by Samantha Olivia | Nov 6, 2018 | Birth & Labor Doula Tips, Fourth Trimester and Postpartum Doula Tips, Healthy Pregnancy, Motherhood & Life
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...
by Samantha Olivia | Oct 28, 2018 | Healthy Pregnancy
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...
by Samantha Olivia | Jul 28, 2018 | Healthy Pregnancy
“Why does the end of pregnancy take forever? Is the third trimester longer?” I can’t tell you the number of times clients, friends and pregnant internet folks who have pondered this with me. For months, they’ve been focused on their due date. And sometimes it seems...
