Are you a PP doula?

tlcdoula · 12-09-2006, 10:55 PM

I would love to see everyone who is a pp doula that frequents here sign in.

Please share the following:

1. How long have you been a pp doula?

2. Did you attend a training? If so, with who and did you enjoy it?

3. How frequently do you work as a pp doula?

butterflybirth · 12-09-2006, 11:30 PM

I attended PP doula training in April through DONA (with Susan Martensen as trainer). I thought the training was fabulous. I have also attended DONA birth doula training and felt that the PP doula training would be a great benefit to birth doulas as well, whether they want to do expanded PP work or not.

I found the workshop helped me most in the area of organization and developing effective listening skills. I learned a lot from the other doulas there as well, as most of them were somewhat to very experienced. I attended my PP doula training in Austin, Texas, which has a pretty strong doula community and that also was inspiring.

I have yet to serve any PP clients, however. (Or birth clients, for that matter.) My businss/calling is languishing for lack of real focued attention and total commitment. (i.e. I'm ambivalent and looking for a day job due to worsening poverty situation, and realize I may not be on the right path here...)

AmandaB · 12-10-2006, 09:50 AM

I do work as PP Doula, although I am not trained. I was 12-14yo when my brothers were born and my mother in the depths of PPD. I stepped in to look after them, when my mother could not. I figure babies are not foreign to me and I am not adverse to housework. I would like to take a training, unfortunately they are not offer very often and the last time was a month ago and I was broke! Hopefully the next time.

I get work as off/on as I do Birthwork. I have been involved with 4 families in the past 1.5years. Some have hired me as an extention of my birth contract. I enjoy it, although it is harder now that my dd is in school. But once I get my license it might be easier.

tlcdoula · 12-10-2006, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by butterflybirth

I attended PP doula training in April through DONA (with Susan Martensen as trainer). I thought the training was fabulous. I have also attended DONA birth doula training and felt that the PP doula training would be a great benefit to birth doulas as well, whether they want to do expanded PP work or not.

I found the workshop helped me most in the area of organization and developing effective listening skills. I learned a lot from the other doulas there as well, as most of them were somewhat to very experienced. I attended my PP doula training in Austin, Texas, which has a pretty strong doula community and that also was inspiring.

I have yet to serve any PP clients, however. (Or birth clients, for that matter.) My businss/calling is languishing for lack of real focued attention and total commitment. (i.e. I'm ambivalent and looking for a day job due to worsening poverty situation, and realize I may not be on the right path here...)

I have heard that DONA trainings are good. I haven't attended one for pp doulas yet, but would like to in the future.

tlcdoula · 12-10-2006, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amandoula1980

I do work as PP Doula, although I am not trained. I was 12-14yo when my brothers were born and my mother in the depths of PPD. I stepped in to look after them, when my mother could not. I figure babies are not foreign to me and I am not adverse to housework. I would like to take a training, unfortunately they are not offer very often and the last time was a month ago and I was broke! Hopefully the next time.

I get work as off/on as I do Birthwork. I have been involved with 4 families in the past 1.5years. Some have hired me as an extention of my birth contract. I enjoy it, although it is harder now that my dd is in school. But once I get my license it might be easier.

Wow, what a way to be introduced to doula work, but I am sure it helps you to bring in a different perspective. I am curious - do you work primarily with people who have ppd issues or just anyone? I ask only because all of the work I have done so far has been with mamas in crisis and ppd.

AmandaB · 12-10-2006, 11:45 AM

"I am curious - do you work primarily with people who have ppd issues or just anyone?"

Well here are my clients in a nutshell:

Client #1>>> She needed someone to get her premmie on schedule. Because I couldn't get him to sleep for the 4 hours that I was there, she fired me after a day. I talk to her about stimulation, play time and that babies are portable but she didn't want any of that. Get him to sleep! That is all she wanted and I think she sensed my hesitation, so that was it for me.

Client #2>>> A birth client attempting a VBAC that ended in section. They already had a sturdy 2.5yo and she needed my help to get him off to the sitters and lite housework. I worked for her for 5wks. I know that I helped alot in that situation.

Client #3>>> That was more a babysitter than Doula. The mom had colapsed from an aneurism 4wks after delivery (she had a c-birth), and grandma was getting pretty exhausted looking after the little pumkin fulltime. Unfortunately the mother died at the end of my first week ... it was very tough, although I didn't know her (I was not their birth doula, I answer a request from a former client to help). I was left to look after the baby for 2wks. I have not heard from the family since I left in March. But through the grapevine I hear things are going alright.

Client #4>>> She hired me before the birth for a week. I ended up working for them for 8. It was a good experience, although near the end was feeling like if I didn't put my foot down, I would still be there. They were a lovely couple, I just felt that I was being a nanny rather than Doula. Ah well, live and learn and it was good money.

And now I have one coming up for March and I may get my birth fee to look after her son. They need soemone who is going to be on call for them to come in when they go into labour. I thought cool, and if she has a section, which the dr is telling them (baby is too BIG!?!), then I will work with them for 6wks pp.

So I don't necessary work in crisis situations, although I understand what is like to support women dealing with PPD and I am sensitive to that. Ok, i am done hijacking this thread. lol.

tinamomof6 · 12-10-2006, 12:17 PM

and did my training and certification through DONA. Actually, I took my trainings one month apart from each other.

I took my PP training with Debra Pascali-Bonaro. She was great. She is very involved in CIMS and many other projects in the childbirth community. I believe she use to be on the board of DONA years ago.

I have six children so I am very experienced in infant care and postpartum recovery issues. I also helped a family member that suffered from Postpartum Psychosis, that was very intensive and I was with her for three months. Even with my background I found the training really beneficial. I always recommend doulas attend a training, regardless of which organization they train with. The experience of the educator and the topics covered are invaluable. For ours they even brought in speakers....a lactation consultant, a counselor about PPD, and also a prenatal loss/death specialist.

There are very few DONA certified pp doulas in my area, actually I'm the only one on Long Island, so I get lots of calls from DONA's referral list. And I like to be able to offer birth and postpartum services to my clients.

I do at least one postpartum job a month, along with my birth work.

sacredma · 12-10-2006, 06:31 PM

i have been a postpartum doula for about 14 years. i did not train for it and am not certified. mostly all my clients are word of mouth, referals from former clients or from midwives or labor doulas. i also do labor support as well. my doula partner is a dona certified pp doula and she does get hits off the dona website. she is also a dona l.s. doula.
i got into it when my children were young and it was something i could do when they were in school and also after as their father was a teacher and was able to watch them when i worked. it was just easier to juggle at the time then labor support.
i really love the work as there is so much reward in helping a woman transition into motherhood. i do a lot of breastfeeding help as well as baby care, laundry, cooking, etc.

Amydoula · 12-10-2006, 08:56 PM

1. I have worked as a postpartum doula since March 2004, certified since September 2004.

2. DONA International training in Boston in June 2004. Ann Grauer was the teacher and she was amazing!

3.I work all the time, 5 days per week. I take either one or two clients at a time, depending on how many days they would like. I keep the overall hours part time working either 3 or 4 hour shifts.

heidi · 12-10-2006, 10:37 PM

Well, you know this already

, but..........
1. How long have you been a pp doula?
Just about 3 months now I believe. Not long at all.

2. Did you attend a training? If so, with who and did you enjoy it?
I haven't yet, but I have every intention of doing that, hopefully within the next few months. I'm already doing my reading, and looking into trainings like infant cpr, etc....

3. How frequently do you work as a pp doula?
I've been busy since I started. Apparantly, it's a big need in my area. One of my jobs was helping a family who experienced the horror of stillbirth. I would love to take some graduate courses on grief(I have an undergrad degree in psychology) and eventually make working with families dealing with loss my specialty. Ultimately, I would love to help families even in the hospital, maybe even through the labor/ delivery of a still birth. I feel like I have been given this passion for a reason.

I am exclusively a postpartum doula and I just love it. I feel so passionate about caring for new moms.

tlcdoula · 12-10-2006, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amandoula1980

Client #3>>> That was more a babysitter than Doula. The mom had colapsed from an aneurism 4wks after delivery (she had a c-birth), and grandma was getting pretty exhausted looking after the little pumkin fulltime. Unfortunately the mother died at the end of my first week ... it was very tough, although I didn't know her (I was not their birth doula, I answer a request from a former client to help). I was left to look after the baby for 2wks. I have not heard from the family since I left in March. But through the grapevine I hear things are going alright.

Holy cats that must have been a hard job to handle!!!! I am sure they are so glad that you were there to help them in their time of need.

moncton doula · 12-11-2006, 06:27 AM

I took my DONA pp training in May with Susan Martensen (awesome!) and have not taken on any pp clients...yet. Once I finish my LCCE-hopefully this spring-maybe by fall-my next thing will be my postpartum certification. That way I'll have one child in school therefore only one at home to find a sitter for.

tlcdoula · 12-11-2006, 07:17 AM

I have to say that I am so glad that there are several of us here. I would love to see this section of the forum pick up - for a long time I thought there weren't that many of us

everydaymiracles · 12-11-2006, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlcdoula

I would love to see everyone who is a pp doula that frequents here sign in.

Please share the following:

1. How long have you been a pp doula?

2. Did you attend a training? If so, with who and did you enjoy it?

3. How frequently do you work as a pp doula?

I attended a training in April this past year - but it was just a formality really to update and Canadianise ?and yes I know thta isn't a real word) as I had attended a 16 week program in Australia about 15 years ago that went into child development and mothercare work - which is essentially working with mothers in the immediate postpartum period. I have PPD'd my friends and then became a birth doula 3 years ago and a CBE 2 years ago - it was a natural extension to include PP services.

My training was with CAPPA (simply because there are so few DONA ones around - I had certified through DONA as a LD and trained through CAPPA for my CBE

I usually have one client at a time and try to keep my hours during the day time (with younger children and my other work - which is mostly evening appointments, it works better. I have had 4 'official doula clients in the last year - 3 of the 4 I have really felt that I made a difference and helped with their transition. With the fourth - there was a weird feeling - and the funny thing is that I had been their birth doula (and their was no awkwardness) the clients mother had been in town for a week, I was there two days a week for two weeks and then dad's parents were coming to visit from BC. On my last visit, she was like - 'Oh, okay - how much do I owe you? Right thanks." Very unemotional or unappreciative - just weird. Mum was adapting well and really didn't seem to need my help - maybe she resented my presescence? Anyway, live and learn! R

tlcdoula · 12-11-2006, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by everydaymiracles

- 'Oh, okay - how much do I owe you? Right thanks." Very unemotional or unappreciative - just weird. Mum was adapting well and really didn't seem to need my help - maybe she resented my presescence? Anyway, live and learn! R

Oh that is a real bummer. Maybe it was all just so overwhelming for her having so many people there caring for her one right after another. What type of work did she do?