Birth in Coronavirus times
As Doulas, we are living and practicing our craft differently in our new coronavirus world. I want to thank my Birthing from Within mentor colleagues for sharing their individual and collective wisdom with me, you have sustained and inspired me through these transitional times. As I voice my thoughts, a lot of what I say incorporates and integrates what I have learned from you.
We are finding new ways to support our new parent clients, to bring our skills to a pandemic world that doesn’t allow us to practice in our comfort zone, i.e. to just show up for prenatal meetings and for births. There is the element of constant change as we learn more about Covid 19 and how it is contagious. In many parts of the country with the rising rates, we are not be able to be there with our loving touch, i.e. our hands and massage, but we have continued to support our clients virtually, i.e. be there via Zoom and Google Meet with our reassuring voices, but most importantly with our hearts with new moms and dads. We are also finding that many families are finding strength through increased prenatal as well as postnatal meetings and support.
Instead of feeling that your choices have been taken from you, you discover that you still have options. When the birth of your dreams that you envisioned needs to be modified due to new hospital precautions and protocols, what is in your power to change? How can you navigate the barriers? Building resilience and resourcefulness can help us deal with uncertainty.
With the advent of new emerging evidence based information, these protocols are changing rapidly. Some hospitals are allowing doulas to accompany moms, but with precautionary measures in place.
If hospitals only allow one support person to accompany new moms, we can prepare partners to be more proactive in their support role, and teach them the skills they need to fill those shoes. However, not all new fathers feel ready to take on this task, and he may feel overwhelmed at the added responsibility. He may also need doula support as he transitions to becoming a new father, whether it is his first child or he already has other children.
Remember that this new world that our children are being born into, where people are able to slow down and smell the roses will be part of their birth story. These babies are now part of world history, they are being born at a juncture of change. We are learning about ourselves culturally and globally, that we aren’t perfect but are good enough.
Many families have been impacted financially by COVID. Some families may now feel that they cannot afford a doula. As always, I offer my services on a sliding scale to accommodate families’ abilities to pay because my first priority is to provide the support that emerging families need to build strong roots.
Please contact me for free consultation, or if you are interested in joining us on Zoom support calls, at Bernicerivkin@gmail.com or call me at 773-965-5221.