Real Mums: My Post-partum Doula

When the Murrows brought their newborn baby home they imagined blissful walks in central park, long evenings at beer gardens with friends, and a big ‘ol plate of Belgian frites. What they didn’t envision was that one of them would get seriously ill, that they would be making a big life decision about where to live and that they would have a million questions.

Parenthood at any age and any stage is a team effort. Families rely on a village; teachers, mentors, guides, neighbours, family, chosen or given, and the early days are no exception.

Artist and Writer, Vita Murrow, shares her experience of one of the early picks on her parenthood team; her family’s post-partum doula.

This spring my baby turned 10! It snowed lightly the day he was born. My dear friend and loving husband supported me on my delivery, family raced to greet the new addition. How excited I was to graduate from one stage of parenthood, pregnancy, to the next, new baby!

My path to baby was not without its twists and turns. I had an early period of bedrest and at 38 weeks it was discovered that I would be welcoming baby via C-section. This meant a change to how I thought about the support I might need. I began thinking past the delivery to the days that would follow. That was when I knew I would need to add a post-partum doula to my team. Something I had never heard of before but was gaining popularity in the circles of young families in NYC where I was living at the time.

I had been enjoying a hearty yoga practice at the Prenatal Yoga Center in NYC. There I was pointed in the right direction to a doula, Meghan.