I planned on publishing this on the first, but instead I rang in the new year and supported a family in welcoming their beautiful child earthside. I think my New Years Day was the best yet and wins out over posting my statistics.
2017 has been a year of much personal growth. I have learned so much from each family I have had the privilege and honor of serving this year! Thank you for trusting me to support you and join you in your sacred birthing space! I have walked alongside several long, hard labors this year. There have also been a couple of very quick labors, the fastest yet! I have held moms as they cried because it is so hard or because plan A or B wasn't working and we were looking at plan C. I have walked alongside inductions of every variety as my strong clients adapt and roll with changes so beautifully. I have cried with families as birth is unpredictable and sometimes emergency techniques are essential. I have held space and been in awe of such unimaginable strength over and over. This year brought more than just happy births and I have grieved as families have experienced immense grief at babies lost too soon. I have stood witness to beautiful redeeming births after hard past experiences with birth and pregnancy.
Outside of learning directly from the births I attended, I have also taken on new trainings and education in the classroom. My advanced training has included TENS for labor and birth, acupressure for labor, advanced rebozo training and bereavement doula training.
Last year (you can see my 2016 in review here) I said I expected 2017 to be slower, but I was wrong!
This year I attended 50 births! What a nice round number!
28 girls, 21 boys and I worked with 13 different providers.
Families I have served are all over the DFW area! It will be easier to just list the towns the hospitals and birth centers have been in. Denton, Fort Worth, Keller, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Gainesville, Flower Mound, Decatur, and Grapevine.
I can't wait to see what 2018 has in store! I am working on training to add placenta encapsulation services for clients who would like this option and will be certified in February! I will also finish my bereavement training that I started in 2017. April will be a busy month with a doula training reboot and a retreat I have looked forward to since certifying in 2016!