How Caroline became a Doula …
Hi, I am Caroline, mom, friend, sister, Certified Childbirth Educator and Doula, among several other things.
Starting 8 years ago, these little girls loving on my pregnant belly came into this world in a way that blew my mind and opened up my awareness to the wonderful world of Natural birth and HOME BIRTH. I have had 3 babies at home (all girls ;)
Their births led me to becoming a Doula and Certified Childbirth Educator.
<< Quick rewind: I had been working in healthcare as a Licensed Nurse when I got pregnant with my first. As expected, I booked an appointment with the OBGYN many friends and colleagues recommended and went in for my first prenatal. I had been lucky to be in good health to this point. However, right away, fellow women started making well-meaning comments to me like, “You’re so small, they’re gonna have to c-section you…” and “They’re not gonna let you try to push, they’re gonna have to cut you…” or “Don’t let them let you go all the way, ask for an induction…”
Yep. All these things were said to me in my first trimester with my first baby.
… Anyway,
I went for 2 prenatal meetings with the OBGYN, whom I liked well enough as do many other mothers.
But the truth is, personally, I left those visits feeling more anxious about my pregnancy health and less confident over how much control I would have over my own body process during labor and delivery. It’s hard to put it in words… I felt like I was getting ready to be treated for a ‘medical condition’ than preparing for what I instinctively knew as a ‘natural life event’. There was a ‘personal touch’ missing for me. The sacredness I felt about being pregnant was getting overwhelmed by the medical part of it.
I was not looking forward to birth…
At the nurses station that week…
… a fellow nurse mentioned in passing that a Midwife that attended Home Birth had just opened a Birthing Center near me. A gut feeling told me to go check it out. What a night and day difference I felt at that first prenatal visit with her!
The way she described prenatal care for Home Birth felt so centered on me as an individual and not so much as a medical statistic. I knew right away that was the way I wanted to feel throughout my whole pregnancy and about my provider after every visit.
“I felt seen and heard as an individual woman with my own unique journey and voice.
I felt informed without fear.”
So that is how I started my Natural ChildBirth love affair.
>> Fast forward: by my second baby, I had learned so much new information about pregnancy and birth, that I realized I would have learned differently in a hospital setting that I decided I had to become a Doula and Childbirth Educator. I just had to share the wonderful woman-centered way of looking at pregnancy, birth and postpartum that I had experienced. So I put my Nursing hat on hold and jumped right into maternity care!
Since then, I have attended births in Hospital birth, Birthing Center, Home birth of all kinds of adventure, many of them with major positive outcomes.
I absolutely adore birth in all shapes and forms!
On this career path, I started having more access to information and statistics on birth in varying settings. That ‘rabbit hole’ is what has led me to start this ‘Mind and Body Childbirth Education’ project.
My focus for this site is providing the latest evidence based information about Natural Birth, using my experiences as an example and discussing what I have seen and learned and continue to learn daily as a professional birth attendant, educator and companion.
Hi! I'm Caroline Johnson.
I am a DONA trained Doula and ProDoula certified Childbirth Educator. I have a 10+ year background in healthcare as a Licensed Nurse. I am also a daughter, sister, friend, wife, mother and lover of slicing into the perfectly ripe avocado. Yum. Speaking of snacks, here are some recipes to fix pregnancy cravings and more … Enjoy!
