My first important lesson about being a doula.

Our First Workshop...

With deposits paid, kids taken care of, and much anticipation, myself and and a friend made our way to Hillcrest Private Hospital for the first workshop of our doula course. There were only 6 places on the course, so we were really able to get to know each other, which I appreciate because it is encouraging to be around like-minded people!

http://www.wombs.org.za/

To start with we all shared a bit about ourselves. Actually, I lie, we all shared a lot about ourselves. Ask a woman to tell you about her self, her child, her births and her passions and you'll get the idea. It was lovely to listen to all the stories and through the sharing someone remarked that most of us had pretty strong personalities.

So I had my first little revelation. It seems that doula needs to have a sense of strength and independence about her to want to be a doula in the first place. The important thing is that it should not be a strength that dominates, but rather a strength that empowers. A doula is not there to rescue the mom and be the star of the show, but to reveal to the mother, and her partner, the strength they already have. So I realized I really need to work on my watching and listening skills, but to do that I just need to learn to keep my mouth shut sometimes. So just as all the facts and figures are an important part of our training, I think these little self-revelations are pretty important too...