This year I noted one of my days for a local network group. Here is a rough idea of what I might get upto as a doula, so hopefully you will get the jist
My working days include various work related tasks. I have started to use a Bullet Journal to my advantage as I can prioritise appointments and personal stuff all in one space! It has been a revelation!
4.30am – Home from birth-SLEEP!
7am – Coffee (x3!) and catch up with emails
8am – Sort out the kid’s schedule for the day which varies depending where I am working (as we’re HE first job is to sort everyone’s schedule for the day, one of the pros of home educating is flexibility!)
9am – Postnatal visit…..make mum a coffee whilst she feeds baby after the lovely, hot shower she managed to grab when I arrived. Tidy around and prepare lunch for mum and older siblings and pop in the fridge to be grabbed later. Ask if any niggly tasks need doing that mum hasn’t managed whilst getting to know her baby. Sit and have some tea and cake with mum and listen to her story.
11am – Postnatal visit for breastfeeding support. I support a mum who’s struggling to breastfeed following her Caesarean, and we cover tips on how she can get comfortable and work around her wound.
13.30pm – Midwife visit. Mum wanted me by her side to support her as an advocate whilst dad-to-be is at work. She is struggling to get her birth preferences agreed at the hospital and is meeting with the Supervisor of Midwives to ask for some support from the Midwifery team.
2pm – Home again for a nap, prepare dinner and cuddle the kids (and the husband!)
5.30pm – Facilitate birth choices group and set up a pool demo for new parents exploring their options and considering a home water birth
8.30pm – Catch up telephone calls with other healthcare professionals who I am currently working alongside with a family with complex needs to update them on this week’s visits.
9pm – Dinner and Bedtime!
11pm – Called out by parents to a postnatal ward for urgent support
4am – SLEEP!!!
I love my work as a doula, and all of the planned and unexpected work it entails. I love the families I support for the short time I am with them. Being a doula is much more than my job, it is who I am. It is most likely something I have done most of my adult life, without realising-many doulas report this experience themselves.
Doulaing is not always planned, on a schedule or even predictable. And I would not have it any other way, especially when I arrive home on some days, I am treated to a view of the sunset <3