Emerging from the reclusive cocoon brought on by a pandemic, job change, and some much needed time to reprocess and recover; I am back. 

Though, to be fair, I continued to provide birth and postpartum support during this time, I simply needed a few moments (*ahem, months) to prepare some new and exciting aspects of JB Doula Services, LLC. 

First and foremost, allow me to reintroduce myself if you’re new to my site and content. I am Jessica Brown, a DONA International Certified Birth & Postpartum Doula serving families in South Western Pennsylvania. I’ll have additional content going deeper into what a doula is, and what doulas do for families. For brevity, I serve families as a non-medical support professional through major life transitions such as birth and the early weeks of the postpartum period when families adjust and parents find their footing. 

The job change I had in 2020 was leaving my full time job as an EMT on an ambulance, for a stay at home day job while I work on building my client base as a birth worker. This job shift, with the benefit of social distancing/isolation and more flexible hours for call offs to attend births and client needs, gave me the peace of mind to accept clients during a pandemic because I was no longer coming into direct contact with patients on the ambulance. While I am thankful for the learning opportunities I had as an EMT, I am grateful for the change of pace to focus more on birth and families rather than emergencies. 

What brought me to birth work, you might ask.

Women Supporting Women

The Red Tent Movement inspired by Anita Diamant’s novel ‘The Red Tent’

An eye opening experience among women at the Homercity Red Tent. Here I learned more about my body, and how it works than any of my public school health classes taught me. I remember being shocked and frustrated that I knew nothing about how my cycle actually worked, such as the variations in our discharge to the fact that hormonal birth control can negatively impact future fertility. It quickly became apparent that I did not know even a fraction of what I should as a woman about my own body. 

From there, I continued to learn more and had a growing interest in holistic women’s health. I personally decided to get off hormonal birth control and learn about charting my cycles as well as other factors that can affect fertility such as diet, exercise, and our emotional landscapes. 

Somewhere in that time of exploration of women’s health, I became more aware of the birth climate in the United States. Primarily the general lack of information such as when I was a teen being prescribed birth control (with no discussion of increased risk of blood clots, stroke, or infertility after discontinuing the pill). I became aware of the disparity in experiences women were having revolving around birth, where the typical theme was feeling like they had no say, control, choice, or power. Something that was a rite of passage and a major life event was being reduced to a medicalized, sterile, and isolating (even before a pandemic) procedure. 

That Moment When…

You realize you know practically nothing about how your body works

Already interested in finding a way to serve women and their health, I was guided toward midwifery. Primarily the out of hospital midwifery where women could have home births without fear. Surrounded in a familiar, comforting environment with people they loved. Unrushed, and literally at home in their surroundings. I immediately felt a connection with this renewal in community based, intuitive and family centered care. 

The more I researched the more I knew I wanted to be a home birth midwife. I desperately wanted to be a part of providing choice to women in my area. So those who wanted or needed a hospital birth could have that, while those who didn’t could more easily access a midwife. 

More midwives are emerging from various forms of training every day, but we still need more. Particularly for where I am in Westmoreland County (previously living in Indiana County), the closest midwife center (where you can birth not in a hospital but also not at home, a happy medium) was in Pittsburgh an hour or more away. Choice is frankly very limited, there are only so many midwives in this area who can only accept so many clients at a time. 

Inspired to be a part of greater change, I reached out to some of those local midwives to learn what I needed to do to get to that point. While recently out of college with a BA in Anthropology and Psychology, I was not financially in a position to apprentice with them. Turns out it’s hard finding a job that allows you to call off work for births and prenatals and still get those bills paid! 

So they recommended I look into becoming a doula as well as researching the possibility of becoming an EMT. One would get me more direct experience with birthing women to be sure this was the path I wanted to take (At that point I had not personally been to a birth nor had any children of my own, I just felt in my bones that this was what I needed to do). The other would teach me the fundamentals of patient care and lay a foundation for what I would need to learn to become a midwife.

2017 I started that doula journey, attending training for both birth and postpartum (I was ambitious and eager to learn). I’ll go more into depth about DONA International in a later post as well. There are tons of ways to become a doula, but this route is the one I am most familiar with and can give some insight into for those interested in learning more. 

Between 2017 and September 2020, there were many starts, stops, twists and turns to getting certified and starting my business while working full time. I am proud to say that I was able to finish all the requirements in that time and am officially certified! 

Now, spring of 2021, I am feeling that ambition again. To put in the work of educating those around me to the benefits of having a doula (for many in Western Pa who don’t live in Pittsburgh a “doula” is very much a foreign concept). To put the time in to secure more clients so I may focus full time on birth work as I have wanted to since 2017. To create art exploring the relationship between mothers and their babies, the birth process, and womanhood. And finally, to dedicate myself to self study in preparation to apprentice as a Traditional Midwife (Also known as Direct-Entry Midwifery). 

Officially an Ancient Art of Midwifery student!

There is absolutely a lot driving me further and further into the world of birth work. The art I create and the desire to serve others all point toward birth and families. 

I hope this gave you a little insight into who I am and the motivations behind becoming a doula. 

More to come in exploring these different aspects of birth work from what a doula does, your birth options, my art, and what I’ve learned along the way.

I wish you all the best, and happy birthing!

JB