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Doulas attend ALL kinds of birth. You don't have to be a certain kind of woman planning a certain kind of birth to get the support you deserve!
http://thestir.cafemom.com/pregnancy/115924/doulas_arent_just_for_hippie
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Ah, my first blog post. The one that’s supposed to introduce me to people. What to cover first? Some things you may have already guessed, if we’ve ever met in person...middle child (obvious), Taurus (also obvious). I live just outside of Athens, GA with my supportive, fun-loving husband, our two awesome kiddos, a dog, a couple of cats, and an assortment of chickens who are mostly named after characters from my favorite podcasts (don't worry, I'm planning a completely separate, in-depth blog post about that). I love to read, I’m a bit of a science nerd, and I have what sometimes feels like an undeserved excess of totally hilarious, amazing friends and family members to share this life with. But, probably a question more pertinent to this particular blog would be, how did I become interested in doula work? My path to becoming a doula was a winding one, but once I arrived and understood what the work really meant, I can’t say that I was surprised to find myself here. Before I moved to Athens, my heart belonged to parks and recreation. Yes, that's a real job. It was my first love, and I spent over 11 years completely smitten with my career and my colleagues. I was particularly drawn to working with teens and young adults, from middle school up through college. At first, I couldn’t have identified what it was that I loved about working with this age group, I just knew it was pure awesome and I was hooked. After years of experience and self-reflection, the things that meant the most to me became more obvious. I love the beauty of a human being moving through a life transition. The bravery, the vulnerability, the resilience, the sadness, the discovery...and, ultimately the joy and triumph of coming out the other side a stronger, more confident version of oneself. What’s not to love about that? So...not really a shocker that I’m drawn to birth and postpartum work. Some people may have trouble seeing the parallels between my former career and my present one, but I don’t. I’m still allowed the privilege of giving support and bearing witness to someone’s very personal journey. I still work in a community of providers who support one another at every turn, who feel called to serve others, and who sometimes make me laugh so hard my sides hurt. And, I still have a job that makes me feel like I’m a part of something bigger than myself. You often hear doulas say that doing this job is an honor. That’s not hyperbole and they’re not just handing you the company line. We are invited to share in some of our clients’ most intimate moments and at the end of it all...there is a brand new person in the room WHO WASN’T THERE BEFORE. It never gets old. It’s completely amazing. Every. Single. Time. So hire a doula, have a better birth, and when she heads out the door afterward and says “Thank you. It was an honor to be here.”...know that she means it. Best wishes, Kate  Photo credit: EarlyGirl Photography
Hi! I’m Becca. I love birth. I love birth stories, I love thinking and reading about it, I love pregnant people. It’s a beautiful obsession. But I wasn’t always this way. I like to think of my life as “before witnessing birth” and “after witnessing birth.” Most of my life I was not only disinterested in pregnancy and birth, but--get this!--kind of grossed out by the whole concept. Then my twin sister got pregnant and I was there when she gave birth to my perfect nephew. Y’all, I had never seen power and beauty like that before. Now, I know every birth is different, but since then, I’ve attended quite a few births (including two of my own) and I can conclude that power and beauty are pretty much best friends with labor and birth. I know that many laboring people probably don’t feel beautiful when they’re peeing on the floor and moaning. When they’re gasping for breath and praying for each contraction to be over, they often don’t feel powerful. But, I consider it part of my job to help each laboring person realize that they are beautiful and powerful. Everyone deserves that. This is a big part of why I decided to pursue birth work. When it comes to the non-birthy side of me, I live in Statham with my 2 independent, smart, funny kids. In my free time I like to read the Twilight novels (don’t hate me), use swear words in creative ways, go hiking, paint, and stay up way too late Netflixing. I’m into power tools, I like cutting the grass, but I hate when my hands get dirty. I find it relaxing to clean my kitchen but doing laundry makes my skin crawl. I came out as a lesbian in my mid-30's, which led to all kinds of massive transition in my life: divorce, single parenting, navigating a newly-discovered identity, re-creating my life and community. The whole shebang. Life really surprises you sometimes. If you ever considered hiring a doula, please contact one. Find a way to pay for it. Whether it’s Kate and me here at AthensBorn or someone else in town, you deserve to have someone by your side while you’re giving birth who will make sure you feel beautiful and powerful as you do your work. Best of luck to you on your journey. Much love, Becca  Hello, world!
Gather round your computers and mobile devices, kids, because today we’re going to share the story of how AthensBorn came to be. One cold winter morning, the two of us met at a labor doula training and chatted each other up over our mutual tendency toward sarcastic humor and our love of making lists and crossing things off them. Shortly after, we took it to the next level...we became Facebook friends. Which, as you all know, is a very big step in any relationship. Via Facebook, we quickly discovered that we have something VERY important in common: a love of Empire Records. We took it as a sign, and that quotable movie masterpiece of the 90’s has taken our friendship quite far. We partnered together as apprentices under the guidance of the talented women at Two Bee Birth Services and quickly came to realize that our personalities and views of birth were a great match. So when our apprenticeship ended, we decided to strike out on our own and start a practice together. A few hundred emails, countless text messages, and many hours of meetings later, we’re excited to introduce our new baby: AthensBorn Birth Services. We’re already loving this business of ours and having so much fun working together. We’re looking forward to lots more time spent serving the families of Athens from pregnancy to birth and beyond. We’re incredibly thankful to our friends and family who’ve supported us along the way - we wouldn’t be here without all of you! Love, Kate and Becca |
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