Cove Babies Doula

Two things you may not know about me: I am fiercely protective once I have committed to/chosen that I love someone, and I have a beautiful gift of staying calm in emergency scenarios. What is something that makes you unique?

It was a beautiful birth to end this roller coaster of a year. May 2021 bring you all more light and love, and so much more freedom from whatever it is that holds you back! I am wishing for the same for myself.

26 years ago on this day, I attended my first birth, the birth of my first child at 4:39pm on December 16th, 1994. It was a dark and rainy day in North Vancouver. I was barely 18 years old and had so much to learn. The one thing that came naturally to me was something that had existed in me from a very young age. The maternal instinct inside of me was always strong, even though I never expected or "planned" to have a baby of my own so young. Here I was now, a mama for the ver...y first time. At 41 weeks and 2 days at 3:18am, my membranes ruptured while I was sleeping. I had only gone to sleep 2 hrs before around 1am and I woke up saying, "I'm peeing!" My sensations didn't start until a while later and by the time we were in the car and crossing the 2nd narrows bridge to head to Lions Gate Hospital. My birth wasn't particularly long, considering it was my first, but the 8 hrs of back labour and the annoying in and out disturbances from the hospital staff definitely made me extra awesome to have as a birthing guest that day. (Understandably!!) My mom was my birth support and I was extremely lucky to have her there with me, alongside my partner. She cared for me just as she had so many other times in my life up until that point, with unconditional love. I had gravol and demerol, twice, and 4 baths, (they were the BEST!) I also tried entonox (laughing gas) during the pushing stage and the mask they used then to administer it, got stuck to my face and I actually passed out. (I woke up not knowing who my partner was for a minute or two!) After what felt like the longest pushing stage EVER, (I now know much better as I only pushed for 1 hr & 45min,) I had this unbelievably perfect baby girl. I am also sad to say that I have no real memory of birthing my placenta, or even mention of how incredible it was to have fed and housed my baby for so long, something that I always look forward to at every birth I attend. Unfortunately, I was told she had swallowed some meconium (newborn poop) on her way out and back then, they intibated the baby's who for the first 4 hours to make sure that her lungs were clear, so I never got to hold her in those first moments as we do now, (for the most part.) Once the 4 hours had passed, I went to find my brand new baby so I could feed her some of the colostrum that my body had produced for her, just as my mom had fed me, only to find a nurse hiding in a corner with her, feeding her a bottle of sugar water!! (Something that is still shocking to me today, but again... 1994, and the start of our very broken breastfeeding journey, a story for another day.) That baby changed my life in ways I never knew could be. We grew together and are still growing together today. I love you to the moon and back, my sweet, stunning, feisty, incredibly talented, and brilliant, Alessandra, and I wouldn't change our lives for a single moment, for they have made us who we are today.

Was just looking up an old teacher from when my eldest was in elementary school and I came across this in his posts on Twitter. It reminded me of one of my greatest teachers in this work, Jessica Austin, and of the profound words she wrote today. If you haven't already, go check her out. She is an incredible human being, one that I am honoured to be learning from in this lifetime.

I have recently sent a few clients to this circle and they have had really great experiences. Feel free to share if you feel others in your circle could benefit.

If you’re free tonight, there is a Zoom movie showing of a documentary film called ‘These Are My Hours’. Cost is $10, to support the Doula Fund, and hosted by the DSA ( Doula Services Association of British Columbia,) of which I am a part, and gives us access to be in the hospital with our clients at this time. The Doula Fund also allows people who do not have access to funds to hire a Doula.

Great news!! https://instagram.com/safebeginnings?igshid=1wvqqfggocml1

Does this resonate with you? If so, come join us!!

An incredible image taken by a fellow Doula, Juno Bug Birth Support, with a very important message. #birthhappens #beprepared

After becoming a young mom at 18, Tania started supporting other young moms in their own journeys, but it wasn’t until many years later, after a friend’s birth, that she realized she was a Doula all along. After a phone call the very next day with Gloria Lemay, she started her training with her and @jessicaaustinchildbirth to become a Wise Woman’s Way of Birth Doula. Since, she has certified with midwife Charlene Campbell in Childbirth Emergency Response Training, and has mos...t recently taken the @motherwitdoulacare Postpartum training with @reverend_doula and is working towards completing her certification, currently. She now has three children of her own (with 19.5 years between the first and second, now 25, 6 & 3 next month,) works as a volunteer Child Passenger Safety Technician alongside Holly Choi at Safe Beginnings First Aid and Janna Bakla CPST, and volunteers her time in the community of North Vancouver as much as life allows it. @northvansinglemomstea being one of those volunteer gigs, having been a single mom herself for 10 years prior to meeting her husband, it is something very close to her heart. Tania believes that our role as Doulas in pregnancy and beyond has great importance to the future of all growing families. Her biggest passion in this work is to ensure that her clients have enough information and education to make the sometimes difficult decisions they need to make throughout their pregnancies and birth of their babies. Tania says that her favourite part of the work we do is supporting the instinctual power within every birthing person and seeing them witness themselves in that power as they birth their babies.