As you well know by now, I have quite the obsession with pregnancy, birth, and babies. While I was pregnant, I gained a lot of knowledge about pregnancy and birth, tried to prepare for my birth as well as I could, and I was well supported for the big day. I felt that I had an excellent birth experience, partly because I had so many people helping me out to prepare for it.
I know that any birth can have unexpected twists and turns, but I think that being prepared for various possibilities helped me feel more confident when it came to birthing day. Also, I cannot emphasize enough how feeling loved and supported through the whole experience helped me to relax and enabled me to feel free to do my own thing. It is because I had this knowledge, preparation, and support, that I very much want to give this same gift to other women too.
That being said, I have decided to pursue doula training. I looked into several organizations: DONA International, CAPPA, and Childbirth International, to name some of my first choices. The distance/online programs work best for me right now because of having my young son, so that put DONA off the list for the time being. Childbirth International seemed thorough, but I was worried about having only online interaction. CAPPA still seems like a great choice. However, I really wanted local networking to supplement my training.
I found a great compromise option. A local certified doula/midwifery student is offering labor doula training. She is doing the classes with live streaming video online, including powerpoints and live interaction with other class members. Her requirements for study are very similar to the big name organizations.
I plan to use these training sessions as a stepping stone into the doula world. This will help me to gain knowledge and build experience in such a way that meets my need to study online and also have live interaction and local support. I am eventually planning to add CAPPA or DONA certification to my resume, but I may have to wait until my son is a little older to pursue that.
I know that I plan on continuing my doula education, research, and networking both during and after these classes occur. I do think that for now, this training will be a good start in gaining information and experience!
What are your thoughts? Does anyone have any recommendations for more training that I should pursue? Any words of wisdom from experienced doulas? Thanks for your thoughts!
the birth bug 