A Doula for Everyone | Peaceful Birth Company pt. 2

Part 2 of my interview with Peaceful Birth Company (PBC to the locals!), an incredible doula agency in Fort Collins, CO that I am very proud to be a part of!

Connect with PBC:
Instagram: @peacefulbirthcompany
Website: www.peacefulbirthcompany.com

Links and Resources:
Website: www.greatestjoydoula.com
Listen to the Birth Your Way Podcast 
on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/birth-your-way/id1891727848
and Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5XaaUhUPmPUB3497gTQSje
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@birthyourwaypodcast

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:08

Welcome to Birth Your Way Fort Collins. I am thrilled today to have the Peaceful Birth Company team back for part two of our interview. This is just a few members of the PBC team, but I'm so thrilled to have you all here today. If you wouldn't mind, just go around and introduce yourselves.

SPEAKER_04 0:23

I'm Katie Iango, and I'm the owner of Peaceful Birth Company and Doula and a childbirth educator. Mom. Animal lover. So maybe. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

I don't know if you added that in the middle. I don't think I did.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

The people should know.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

She loves animals here a lot. I'm Carlene Neal. I'm an herbalist, a doula, a Waldorf-inspired caregiver, and a mother of five.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

I'm Ellen Hunsaker. I'm a doula. I'm a prenatal, postnatal, and baby me yoga teacher and a nanny. And member of PBC.

unknown 1:00

Yay.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

And I'm Danielle Stinger, host of Birth Uway Fort Collins. I'm also a very proud member of the PBC team, trained by PBC, the birth dooler and childbirth educator as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Thanks for joining me for part two. Yeah. Thanks for having us. So fun we had to do two parts.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

To pick up where we left off last time. We were talking about the benefits of the group, the shared values of the group, the shared perspective on birth of peaceful birth company. So if you didn't hear part one, I really recommend going back to listen to it because it's a really great overview on who Peaceful Birth Company is as a group and the values and beliefs that we all share. But to dive further into the group model, which I know when people are looking at selecting a doula, they're looking at do I hire an individual solo practice? I really like this particular person. What are the benefits of hiring a group versus a solo person? Which we did talk a little bit about in episode one. But to dive further into the practicalities of working with a group, I know a concern that many families worry about is like, what if my doula is at another birth? What if they get sick? Many doulas are brought to this work by our own births, and so we have our own kiddos that sometimes we're not able to come to the birth like we wanted to sometimes. So how does peaceful birth company working in this group address that issue, would you say?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Yeah, I would say that starts in prenatals, right? Even before then in consult, they know that when they're joining the team, that they're not going to be left alone. And then as we get farther along in the pregnancy, they're getting the opportunity to meet the team if they want. If they read a bio and they feel connected to one of the other doulas as a backup, they get a chance to sit down with them and consult with them. And I think it goes back to that trust piece again. We know that we trust each other, we're very loud about that, and I think that's felt energetically. And I feel like families come in and they can kind of just feel like everybody's on the same page. And we navigate it through, we have an app that we use. So I feel like real time when we meet each other, we're able to just reach out and we can set up a backup. Sometimes we have multiple backups. You know, because sometimes we have multiple births a month and all of us are stacked in one month. And so we'll have backup, backup, backup.

unknown 3:08

Backup, backups.

SPEAKER_04 3:09

And I think it's important to note that what I tell every client that meets with us, like, yes, you'll have your primary doula, you'll have your backup doula, but the research overwhelmingly shows that having a doula at your birth is going to improve outcomes. And I also like really trust the universe. It's always funny how like, you know, I'll be really attached to wanting to go to somebody's birth, and then for some reason I'm at a different birth, or you know, and it I think that the right doula ends up there for the right reasons. And like Carly was saying, we all really trust each other to to hold our clients and take good care of them. And I think a solo doula practice, I would hope still has a backup option, right? It might be another solo doula, that type of thing. But like Carly said, there's been many times where maybe it's a long birth and you've had to kind of run through doulas or people are sick or whatever. It's so nice to have a deep bench of doors to to lean on. I think people are concerned they don't want to have like their doula, but I think that's the goal, really. That's priority, is to have Yeah, we always prioritize having your primary doula there. Because there are doula groups around the country that you just hire the group and whoever is available shows up. And while I think, like I said, having a doula there is better than not having a doula, I do think that there's value in ideally having somebody that you've connected with that you feel like some version of safe with. That's the ideal, but like life's. And I also think I train the doulas to prioritize their work-life balance. And, you know, if you're on call for all your births all the time and you're staying to all of them all the time, now this is not a sustainable job for you anymore. And that would be a bummer to lose all these great doulas because they were burnt out. So I think it's also kind of normalizing to our clients that our doulas also deserve to have a life and to have flexibility. And, you know, like I said, I play in a band and we have concerts and I can't just be like, oh, my clients in labor, I'm gonna jump off stage. But I do have this great backup doula, who's gonna cover me while I'm doing that? So I think it also kind of speaks to the ethos of just making sure that this work is sustainable because the average doula only lasts three years. They burn out in three years, and I think it's because we tend to martyr ourselves and like, you know, we just can't help but want to be available all the time and then it's exhausting, you can't keep doing it. So a bit of it is like I think just even messaging or normalizing to the community that yeah, it's okay to have a backup doula and a backup backup doula because all of us deserve flexibility and all of our clients deserve to we're ready and willing and able to be there as much as possible.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

And we're pretty good about also sharing like what are the most important part you know, things that our clients want to happen or like how they want their space to feel. We're pretty good about communicating that with backups. And a lot of times we have uh chances for people to call and chat with their backups beforehand too, so that they kind of have an idea like, okay, if my backups or my doula is sick, then I could possibly be with this one and we've made contact. And we also keep our information in a place where we can easily share it with each other, their plans, and so you can be assured that we're all gonna be on the same page for you and come in and help you achieve the same goals as your primary doula if you get a backup.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

Yeah, I would say my own experience working with all of you too is like all the primary doulas are very good about making sure that like if I'm the backup, we have a meeting. Yeah, like it's very unlikely that you would meet your backup doula for the first time at your birth. I think everyone's very good about that. And also from like a practical logistic level, we have a CRM at PBC, like we have a shared software where all of our notes go into about what clients prefer, what we talked about in our last meeting. Like so if your backup doula and your backup to your backup has access to that if needed. And if you consent to it, of course. Right.

SPEAKER_04 7:01

I was gonna say in a HIPAA-compliant way. It's a very HIPAA compliant.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

But yeah, I think that's a really unique thing about peaceable birth companies that you invested in that kind of infrastructure so that there is a seamless handoff if needed within the group. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Yeah. And then just remembering that, you know, I think of doal as similar to midwifery care in the sense of like the intimacy of it. You're building that relationship prenatally and you become really close, you spend a lot of time one-on-one. It's not just 10 minutes and we're gone. And maybe we don't make it to your birth, but we are checking in maybe the next day. We are visiting you maybe the next day, we're going to your postpartum visits. So the care doesn't end just at the birth. We are continuing care. And usually more so than not, the backup is coming with too, because they have that experience with them and they generally want them to be there as well. So yes. Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:50

If a backup comes to the birth, like anytime I'm a backup, I just come to postpartum because I want to see that. We went through something together. Yes. And then we touched on this just a little bit, but how would you say as a team we all collaborate and support each other behind the scenes to make sure that families get consistent care? I mentioned our CRM where we have our notes, but beyond that, what other things do we do?

SPEAKER_04 8:13

Yeah, I feel like Slack is a-Yep, we use Slack to message each other and communicate. And the beauty of that is it's organized into channels, so like ADHD brains like mine cannot get totally overwhelmed by everybody talking, and it makes it where we can support each other in a unique way like that. We try to get together and support each other in more like emotional, social ways, but it's hard. We're all busy doulas. A lot of people have other full-time or part-time jobs, have kids, so it's hard to get together in those ways. And then I also think it's sharing of knowledge and resources, like, hey, did you see that new thing that came out? Or hey, I worked this birth with this doctor and learned this thing, and just kind of sharing those experiences. I mean, it's so valuable that it's like I see doulas not on PBC coming to PBC doulas to ask us those questions and to like pick our brains because they know that we have this hive mind of support and information. So I think that would be that'd be it a lot. I mean, I I can't tell how many times I've like left a birth and called somebody on the team just to process. That is so, so helpful just to like have just know that you have anybody on the team who will answer the phone in the middle of the night and just let you talk through that, knowing how important that can be after you leave a birth.

unknown 9:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

We call them doula debriefs. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:29

I've been on I've been on both sides of that. Yes. Yeah. Very helpful. I think the shared, yeah, and the shared training too. I think getting people who are all trained the same way have the same value set. Absolutely. What would you say is a good fit for PVC? Which families?

SPEAKER_00 9:49

That goes back to just for me all are welcome. Like I feel I feel that I've just had such a variety of clients, really. Different religions, different belief systems, different values. And I'm just like a social little butterfly. And I'm like, here I am with all my information. And and because of that, I think that benefits me. Like I just uh it's easy for me to talk to people and be with people and you know, I respect and honor people's different values, and I just that's how I kind of feel about it. I feel like it's just that piece of like being, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

I think there's so many of us, yeah, yeah, that like we had said, there's it's kind of a doula for everybody, possibly on the team. So it's hard to say like who's the right family. I mean, I guess it would just be like people who are like wanting kind of the best experience for themselves, because we do tend to, like I said, ask questions and challenge belief systems and do these things to make sure that trauma is minimized in the birth. But like if somebody comes to us and is like, I don't want to know anything, don't talk to me about anything, I don't want you to advocate for anything. I mean, we could probably still be their doula, but they're not getting the best use of us as their doula. So yeah, I think just and because of the community we've built, I do think uh the hope is that uh people feel safe coming to us and being in community with our community, you know, and so people that are open-minded and loving and yeah, that type of thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Yeah. I was gonna say people who want to like really engage with what we have to offer because we know that these things are can be like so beneficial for the time period, you know, of having kids and the community. Like we, you know, if we offer it, we want you to use it if that's something that you want. You don't have to, but like yeah, maybe people who want to engage with the community or you know, be as educated as you can going into birth for your own benefit and for everybody's, like everybody would benefit from all of our clients like participation in community, like what they can bring to specific people and couples, and you know, it's all beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

So I think something that's important to add to that we haven't really talked about is we also focus on the partners, yeah, and it's just as valuable the education for the partners, you know, throughout pregnancy, understanding how birth happens and how can I support my partner in labor and birth and then especially postpartum. You know, it's not uncommon to see first-time parents that are just like we're gonna just wing it. And sometimes that does work, but you know, I think that is a big piece. And I've had clients hire me saying, I just need you to teach my husband. I need you to teach my husband, I need you to guide him and educate him. And it's a lot too. It's a transformation for the dad as well. They are also in this new season and they're also shifting and transitioning after birth. And so I think that's important to talk about is like families coming that are also needing support, just not just for the person that is pregnant, but the people around them that can extend to moms, mother-in-laws, you know, supporting the children. So it's we tend to say we're not just here for you, we're also supporting them as well and guiding them.

SPEAKER_03 13:23

I'm so glad you said that. I was just helping teaching the doula training at PBC this past weekend, and I got to teach the section on partner support, which is very important to me because as I mentioned before, I didn't have a doula at either of births, and my husband and I talked about it, and he was like, Well I'm gonna be your support person. You know, we kind of had that conversation. I was like, Yeah, you are. But he was the first one after the unmedicated be back. He was like, Could have would have loved a doula. Really benefited from that. Yeah, there's just so much benefit to having someone who is not overwhelmed by birth, like who has seen it many times before, who is able to answer the question, is this normal? And almost all the time the answer is yes. Yeah. But to have someone the duration who can hold that.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

And I think another thing that's pretty cool and unique about PBC is that I think we have this cool fabric makeup that is a glimpse into our community, like different people, different cultures, different lifestyles. We have duels who speak Spanish, we have queer duas, we have duas of color, like you said, different religions and values. And so it makes it to where not only do you have this person who understands the landscape of birth and understands the process, you have someone who can then translate it to your lived experience because they potentially have a similar lived experience. And I think that's so huge. And so that's like when, you know, it's like what type of family would be a good fit. It's like what's less about that, and it's more about making sure that you find the right doula for you. And PBC happens to have a that diverse team and a lot of different options who can serve your partner, your extended family, your kids, your dog, your like whatever. You know, we are gap fillers, as it were, and I think it's unique that we have doulas who can show up in pretty special ways because of the different lived experiences and the different perspectives. And we talk about, like you said, a lot of us come to this through having kids, but we have doulas who don't have kids, which I think is also really valuable in a lot of different ways. So I think it's cool because our community can kind of cherry-pick what makes sense for them and what makes them feel the most supported.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

I love that. Well, you guys, I could sit here and talk PBC stuff all day.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

But I just want to thank you so much for taking the time to share about the group with our community.

SPEAKER_04 15:34

Yeah. Thanks for being here. What a treat this has been. So fun. We're so proud of our Danielle. I didn't see this stuff, but thank you.