Let's face it, no one really understands what it is like to be a doula unless you are a doula. Right? If you haven't lived through a marathon birth existing on caffeine, protein bars and a banana then you just don't really get it. If you couldn't imagine why someone would choose to sleep in a hospital bathtub, then you just don't get it. When you try to explain to other friends why you were up with a client for 36 hours straight without more than 5 minutes of sleep they just don't get it.
A doula gets it.
I need doula friends. I need to have someone to talk to that has been there. I need someone who knows what a birth hangover feels like. I need someone who understands how you can feel a whole range of emotions after a birth. Having a doula to help process a birth is an incredible blessing. Having a doula to call on the ride home after a birth so that they can help 'keep you awake' is crucial. Cynthya Dzialo (The Happiest Doula) is one of those friends for me. We should get together more often because there is always too much to discuss!
I hope you have a doula friend or many that really 'gets' you.
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Wendy Robertson
November 06, 2013
I have a doula/MW friend that has been there for me like this! For a while I missed her terribly when she moved far away, but it also was helpful as she was in a completely different time zone, so when all my local doula friends were sleeping, I could call my dear friend across the ocean to chat on my way home from a long birth in the middle of the night, and she occasionally would call me to do the same. She’s back locally now, and I don’t see her nearly often enough! But I have been grateful that we have been on this birth journey together over the years!