Discovering My Career Path
What developed my passion for birth work?
When I was younger, I watched this show called One Born Every Minute, with 40 cameras rolling for 24 hours, seven days a week, from the front desk and nurse's station to the delivery and operating rooms. It's a team of doctors, nurses, and specialists that capture the high drama, unexpected humor, and overwhelming emotion of childbirth as new lives start and others change forever at the hospital. After watching the show, I knew I wanted to work with babies, but I wasn’t sure what positions to work in. I was still young and didn’t know the education path I would take.
During my sophomore year of high school, I attended Medical Academy (shout to Ms. Kim Goins for pushing me to do my best). The Medical Academy program taught us about standard precautions, bloodborne pathogens, needlestick preventions, epidemic simulation, latex allergies, transmission-based precautions, electrical safety, side rail safety, fire safety in a hospital, and personal protective equipment. We would be tested on various scenarios, and I received my bloodborne pathogen and CPR certifications.
I couldn’t finish the program because of classes I wanted to take to graduate early, but it gave me time to figure out the next step in education and the career path I wanted to take. It was between becoming a neonatal nurse or working in labor & delivery. When choosing a college, I wanted to attend a school with a high ranking in nursing. It was between the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Birmingham, but I didn’t want to stay too close to home. I wanted to be somewhere I could be independent and get out of my comfort zone.
My College Experience
I decided to attend the University of Kentucky, majoring in pre-nursing. In the list of the top nursing schools, the University of Kentucky is placed No. 20. My first semester was a bit hectic and overwhelming. I was taking 18 credits (let that sink in, that’s a lot for it to be my first semester of college). I would be up late at night or early in the morning at the library (which was open 24 hours during the weekdays) or in my dorm studying and trying to pertain the information as fast as possible. I passed anatomy but failed psychology, which dropped my GPA tremendously. The fall semester was a hand full, and juggling many things like; adjusting to the environment, my emotions, managing my time, and balancing out my physical and spiritual health. I was nervous about not getting into the nursing program and would have to figure out a new career path. I still wanted to work with babies, but there were so many requirements that I was concerned about not meeting. It was time to register for classes for the spring semester, and I still had to take chemistry, and I couldn’t. I felt I couldn’t complete these requirements and fell behind everybody else. I decided to push through the year and registered for the spring semester with 13 credits. My Christmas break opened a new door for me and brought enlightenment.
My First Birth
During my Christmas break, I traveled to Kailua, Hawai’i, to support my aunt in giving birth to her first baby. I have been dreaming of going to Hawai’i; the last time I went, I was about 6 or 7, to visit my grandmother. This was my first time being present at birth and seeing the baby enter the world. My aunt had a midwife and two doulas who were also student midwives. This was a different experience from hospital births.
She went into labor around 7:08 pm after being up all night the day before. Her contractions were coming through, and she called her midwife, but she was in latent (early) labor. You could be in early labor for 12 hours or more. Her doula also came by and stayed to do comfort measures during her contractions. She showed me how to do them and the pressure points so that I could help her. She went into active labor around 12:40 am. The birth support team was already there assisting her and allowing her to move around to get the baby to come down. They made different stations for my aunt to try; they had a bath, a squatting station, a shower, a birth ball, and a birth stool. They had meditative music playing, flower-blooming videos in the background, affirmations on the wall, her late family members' pictures, and massaging her to ease the pain. They never left her side once she was in active labor.
At some point around 2:55 am, we thought her water had broken while she was in the bath, but it ended up just being fluid. Since she didn’t get any rest the day before, she was exhausted but strong each second during the transition. Her midwife gave her the option either let the water break on its own or take a tool to break it. My aunt chose to let her midwife break her amniotic sac. After that, she went into the birth stage and started pushing. I took a nap, and there were times when I woke up, and she was on the birth stool, in the shower, or using a scarf as resistance while pushing. I woke up, and she was on the birth stool, and the baby was about +1 in the fetal station. I quickly woke up, called my mom, and set the phone up so she could see her little sister give birth. After a few seconds of pushing, a beautiful baby girl was brought into the world around 4:05 am and is the healthiest baby.
My aunt did a delayed cord clamping, which is when you wait to cut the umbilical cord till it stops pulsating. I was able to cut the cord, which was emotional for me. This whole moment felt surreal, and I couldn’t believe how peaceful and empowering it was from beginning to end. The room was just full of support and love. Ina May Gaskin, the mother of authentic midwifery, said, “If a woman doesn’t feel like a goddess during laboring, then someone isn’t treating her right.”
A few days after the birth, my aunt’s doula, Giyanni, who I would love to admire because she provided me with advice to start my journey of becoming a birth worker. She invited me into her home to show me how to encapsulate the placenta and shared her story of becoming a birth worker. She became a certified doula and enrolled in a midwifery school. While she is in midwife school, she is attending births as a doula, so not only is she getting her clinical in to complete her midwife certification, but she is still getting hands-on birth experiences. She allowed me to analyze my aunt’s placenta before dehydrating it and went step by step and told me things to look for before dehydrating a placenta.
Once I left Hawai’i, I knew I wanted to become a midwife and allow women to regain control over their bodies during childbirth. I debated whether I wanted to stay in school and still get a degree in nursing or change my major. It took a lot of thinking and reconsideration.
The Transition
Once I got back to school, I was still majoring in pre-nursing. I took the second anatomy class, which was more accessible than the first one. This class covered topics that gave me a head start in maternal health, like the male/female reproductive system, pregnancy & early human development, pregnancy complications, and contraception. I felt I had all the information I needed to start birth work. I didn’t want to continue nursing and spend so much money on books and classes that I won’t even use as a midwife.
A little history moment, When the public health nurses and white male doctors worked together to create this marketing campaign alleging that black midwives are inexperienced, unskilled, and dirty. The midwives were then forced to appear at the health department and give up their licenses after the public health nurses tracked them down and discovered where they were. If they were found assisting a birth, they would report them and throw them in jail. Later on, midwifery became a profession requiring book knowledge. You train to be a nurse after that. You enroll in this additional training to collaborate with the doctor.
I went to my pre-nursing academic advisor about my career path, and she recommended I change my major and provided some resources to attend clinics at a birth center. I decided to change my major to Gender & Women Studies, which conducts international research on gender, race, class, and sexuality. To support a more equitable society and global democracy, it teaches students how to evaluate and discuss social injustices. Gender and Women's Studies teaches students how to solve modern societal problems using quantitative and qualitative reasoning. I wanted to take these classes to present the issues in maternal and present ways to enhance maternal health, so I’m typing these blogs to put myself out there and promote awareness of these issues that could be fixed in women’s health. I want women to be able to make decisions that are in their best interests during pregnancy and childbirth.
6 Months Later
Now that I have my plan, It was time to put effort into it and build up to my goal. In June 2023, I attended The Doula Academy and did a 3-day doula training. I had the best time the entire time. We learned about the role of a doula, various comfort measures, and performed different scenarios so we would know how to take action. On the last day, my mentor Alysia Leyva helped us build our business and how to build our clientele.
I’m now a certified doula that will continue to progress. Even though doulas are not healthcare professionals and cannot give medical advice or care, doulas primarily serve as coaches and companions. While a woman is giving birth, a doula offers ongoing support. Expectant moms can frequently boost their self-efficacy and have more positive labor, delivery, and postpartum experiences because of this concentrated attention.
