My “Why”
My Reason for Becoming a Birth Worker
Trigger warning: mentions of loss, miscarriage, adoption, cesareans.
I always wanted to be a mom. But you couldn’t go to college for being a mom so I quickly turned the answer to, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” into “A teacher”. So I got my Bachelor’s of Science in Elementary Education with a Deaf studies minor and a Language Arts concentration (and I graduated with honors too). Then I became a teacher. I loved kids, I loved teaching kids, but teaching is wildly different than when I was a kid. And I STILL wanted to be a mom, but that wasn’t happening. After an early miscarriage, it became evident we would have trouble conceiving and staying pregnant. Teachers don’t have a lot of flexibility in their schedules, and I wasn’t able to do fertility treatments and teach. So I took a hiatus and fell in love with birth work after our journey with domestic adoption (we matched, but the mother chose to parent her child prior to leaving the hospital). Seeing birth and the emotions that come with it awakened something in me. I started reading every birth book and watched countless documentaries about birth practices.
So I became a doula and had a flexible schedule while I continued to chase motherhood and pregnancy for myself. The rest of my path to parenthood needs it’s own blog post, but in summary: it’s a wild ride.
Why continue after motherhood?
Being a mother to my daughter is my dream. I was so happy to stay home the first six months of her life, AND I knew that I wanted to continue with doula work, ESPECIALLY after giving birth and going through what I went through.
My emergency cesarean, Norah’s NICU time, breastfeeding through lip and tongue ties and allergies, it has all made me a more informed, more compassionate doula.
I love what I do, and having a profession where I get to watch other people meet their children on their parenthood journey will always be something I am passionate about.
So that’s my very quick, Cliff Notes version of my “why”!
-Kayla
