Why I Became a Doula

I didn't set out to become a doula.

For a long time, I was a teacher - which was exactly what I had dreamed of being when I grew up. It was not just my job, but an integral part of my identity. I loved my students and I loved my school and I loved being part of a special community. I was the kind of teacher who showed up for my students' soccer games and ballet recitals. I hosted a class bagel breakfast in my home.

And then I had my son.

At the end of my pregnancy, I knew something didn't feel right. I was exhausted in a way that went beyond what I expected, and I felt unwell. When I brought it up, I was told it was probably anxiety and pointed toward therapy.

It turned out that I had unrecognized medical complications.

Things moved very quickly when I went into labor, and while I received the care I needed, the experience itself felt overwhelming and hard to process. I did not understand what was happening in real time, and I had no voice in my own care.

The hospital class I had taken had done an excellent job preparing me to be a compliant and cooperative patient, but it had not prepared me to understand my options, to ask questions, or to feel like an active participant - which turns out to be a pretty significant omission.

As I processed the experience, I kept coming back to the thought that there had to be a way for people to feel more supported, more informed, and more confident, even when birth doesn't go according to plan. Because the medical outcome is only one part of the story, and the experience itself matters too.

So I became a childbirth educator.

At the time, I fully expected that this would be a meaningful but temporary chapter; I was on leave from teaching, and I imagined returning part-time after my daughter was born.

And then - literally while I was in labor with my daughter - my school announced it was closing.

It was one of those moments where the path you thought you were on simply disappears, and you're left standing there, mid-transition, trying to figure out what comes next. I remember feeling very clearly that I didn't want to start over somewhere new, and also knowing myself well enough to understand that I wouldn't be able to divide my energy in the way that would be required to do both that job and show up fully for my own small children.

So I pivoted.

What started as something I had assumed would be temporary began to take up more space. Baby To Go grew alongside my children, and I found myself attending births and supporting families in a much more direct, hands-on way. Somewhere in that shift, I fell in love with the work.

It is not always calm or easy, and it is never predictable, but being in those rooms, watching families move through these milestone moments, is transformative and deeply meaningful. Supporting them in that space is an honor.

Birth is not just a medical event; it is an experience that people carry with them. The way they are spoken to, the way information is shared, whether they feel respected, included, and supported in the process - it all matters more than we tend to acknowledge.

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This is exactly why this work matters, and why World Doula Week feels like a natural moment to say it out loud: Birth is political.

I think about it in terms of the kinds of moments that stay with people afterward.

Whether you felt comfortable asking questions or held back. Whether things were explained to you or simply happened around you. Whether you felt included in your own experience or like you were trying to catch up to it.

Those differences matter more than people realize, and they aren't evenly distributed. While I can't change everything about the system, I can be very intentional about how I show up for the people in front of me. I can help the families I serve understand what is happening and why, I can help them ask questions and feel more grounded in moments that might otherwise feel overwhelming, and I can help create a space where they feel seen, respected, and supported, regardless of how their birth unfolds.

This work feels like what I am meant to be doing.

It wasn't the path I planned, and it came together through a combination of love, redirection, and a deeply personal experience that shifted my understanding of what support can and should look like, but it is the right road. Every family deserves more than the current system commonly provides. They deserve to feel informed, included, and respected in one of the most significant moments of their lives.

That is why I became a doula.