Movers and Shakers

There are two hospitals in my city, and the larger one has a birth unit called the Women's Pavilion. This weekend, that hospital put on a baby and family fair. When we doulas initially found out about it, we discussed it at our monthly meeting and were all like, How do we get in on this action!?

We had a few challenges to overcome... Not only were we trying to figure out how to pony-up $250 for a table at the last minutes, but also, in the past, this hospital has denied a table to the local ICAN group (the leader of which is a doula), and we were concerned that we'd be barred, too.

Then, a light bulb went off over the heads of one of the doulas at the table. She works with a government program and managed to secure a table (on the last day of registration - we got lucky, and got one of the last two tables available). So while the major theme of our booth was the services offered by that program, we were also able to slip-in information about other local resources (such as the doulas!) and stuff about informed consent, avoiding a c-section, nutrition, breastfeeding, and more. A whole booth-ful of doulas, dispensing lots of great info, laughing and talking with moms - it was awesome!

We doulas got together at the end of last year and applied for a Lamaze mini-grant to start a birth network - and they awarded one to us. Again, a last minute effort, but it paid off. At this point, I'm thinking, the sky's the limit - imagine what we could do if we weren't operating on the last-minute protocol...

It'll get better, as we figure things out and get a structure going. It's always a little bumpy in the beginning of any endeavor, but with so much talent and skill among us, we're slated for success. It's very exciting.