My Journey Into The World of Birth Work
During my first pregnancy, I spent so much time researching how to care for my new baby that I completely overlooked the importance of childbirth education. A part of me was afraid of childbirth, and I avoided thinking about it rather than preparing for it. I disconnected myself from the idea of actually giving birth, as if I would wake up one morning to find that I was no longer pregnant and there was a baby sleeping soundly in a bassinet next to me. Once I arrived at the hospital to be induced, the reality set in and I was sick to my stomach with fear. I believe that my lack of knowledge about birth, as well as my OB/GYN’s failure to obtain informed consent attributed to the downward spiral of medical interventions that ultimately resulted in an emergency c-section. After my daughter was born, I began researching birth more in order to understand where things had gone so wrong for me. I learned about the two different models of care in regards to birth. During my first pregnancy, I didn’t even consider the midwifery model of care. I knew that I wanted to give birth in a hospital, with an epidural administered as soon as humanly possible. However, after my experience with the medical model of care, I gained a new interest in natural childbirth.
Once I learned about doulas and what they do, I felt cheated. I was young, unprepared, uninformed, and I had little support. I could’ve really benefited from having one! I knew instantly that this was something that I wanted to do so that other people could receive that support that I missed out on. However, I quickly got discouraged when I saw the costs involved with becoming certified. Being a stay at home mom, I didn’t have a lot of money to invest in the beginning, but I did have a passion and a strong desire to help mothers and babies. I did my research to find the best doula certification program that was in my realm of affordability at the time. I was over the moon when I discovered Madriella. Their professional membership had everything that I needed at a crazy low price. The online classes allowed me to work at my own pace through my courses. Madriella has a variety of courses that are all available with a professional membership. They include:
Birth Doula Certification
Postpartum Doula Certification
Childbirth Educator Certification
Certified Placenta Specialist
Breastfeeding Educator
Certified Professional Doula
Massage for the Laboring Woman
Loss and Bereavement Doula
Young Parent Support Specialist
Trauma-Informed Care
Understanding Developmental Disabilities
Madriella’s professional doula course helped me step-by-step create a birth-work business, and their other courses helped me grow it. Thanks to Madriella, I am preparing to teach my first childbirth education class, something I hope to still be doing when I’m old and gray. I recommend it to every person that I know who expresses interest in birth work because the support and knowledge that they have to offer is invaluable, and it is actually doable for the women who want to start but without spending thousands of dollars. With their already insanely low price, they also offer monthly payment plans. They even help their students grow their business by publishing their doulas in their directory, and offering an affiliate program. Yes, shameless plug here.. But bare with me, because this is actually an incredible program.
Madriella’s core beliefs align with mine, which was one of the things that called me to this certifying organization. One thing that they believe is that doula care should be affordable and accessible. With their affiliate program, they support established doulas by paying them to talk about something that lights a fire under them. They also support doulas-to-be by offering an affordable education, and supporting their student’s professional development the whole way so that once they are certified, they can confidently jump right into it! The more doulas that get out there, the more women we can serve. If you’re ready to jump into the world of birth work, you can enroll here for only $250 when you use my affiliate code “compassionate”. Using this code saves you $50 on a professional membership. Madriella accepts $50/monthly payments for enrollment so you can pay as you go.
