I HAD A BEAUTIFUL birth experience. [But] there was this undertone of microaggression from the staff, one of which, when my husband came into the room, asked if he was my “baby daddy.” I also had a gap in my care. I lost so much blood that I passed out from hypovolemic shock. We had a doula, and she later told me my nurse waited too long to weigh the pads I bled on. The doctor asked, “How much blood has she lost?” And they were like, “We’re weighing it all now.”

My daughter was born in 2020. The Black maternal health crisis was a big conversation that year. That’s why I became a doula. I want to support other families of color and help them have beautiful birth experiences. Even if they’ve had a baby before, maybe I could be a part of what helps them have a redemptive birth. I would like to see one day where that’s not needed, where someone doesn’t have to have another set of eyes and another set of ears in the room in order to be treated with dignity and respect, for their birth to be honored and seen as sacred.

I pray before every birth.

I’ve had clients who have told me they don’t want to talk about any faith stuff or that they’re on a very different faith journey than myself. And I’ve had other clients be very vocal about their faith. If they pick up on the fact that I’m a believer, then they love talking about how faith can be incorporated into birth. I love praying with my clients if they’re open to it. I pray before every birth I go to while I’m on the way there. The moment of birth, for me, feels like the veil between this life and heaven gets so close. I feel it in the room when baby is on their way, and they’re pushing through, but until they breathe that first breath, they haven’t transitioned. It feels like such a sweet, holy moment.