A peak into my path thus far…

Even as I sit here and write this, I still cannot believe that I have found the path of birthwork and yet, it finally feels as though the puzzle of my life has found its rightful fit. This is what it must feel like to find your calling.

The truth is, in my life, I have explored many paths. I first graduated and worked as an early childhood educator in Canada and then moved abroad to teach in Shanghai, where I lived for 6 years. During that time, I also became a qualified yoga teacher, while simultaneously, hosting monthly women’s circles, facilitating Reiki and eventually founded my own Grazing catering company called Of Earth and Honey. All of these paths have fulfilled parts of me but never seemed to form a whole. It was only until I felt the call to support pregnancy, birth and postpartum, that all of my random gifts and life paths, seemed to unite into one beautiful package: a nurturing doula with a flair for cooking, a way of holding space, a love of children, and a talent at adorning others with love and beauty.

Although, the true catalyst that led me here was the birth of my daughter, which I now regard as my own re-birth in many ways. You see, for as long as I can remember, I have feared birth. To a large extent, I believe these inherent beliefs were passed down through my family, but just as well shared within our society. Another factor of my fear was due to my condition of Vasovagal Syncope. A condition that can cause you to faint with emotional or physical triggers. Throughout my life, I would faint with pain and so, overtime I developed a strong narrative around my pain threshold, my inner power, and of course, around my ability to birth. Fast forward through my life and the course of my own evolution, I began to hear stories of empowered births. I recognized that something had sparked within me: a desire to claim that experience for myself. And so, when the time came and I became pregnant, I realized I wanted to pursue an unmedicated birth. At the time, I did not realize that it would encompass shadow work, grief, mourning, trauma healing, rewriting a new narrative, but that is the the fire that I had to sit in and eventually walk through. This was my experience during pregnancy and even during my birth. My pregnancy was not easy. I was physically sick for the whole of it and it felt as though I was in the dark trenches of Matrescence. This transition pulled me in every which direction, but as a result, expanded me from the inside out. The same can be said for my birth experience. I was stretched to my absolute edge, as so many women are during their births, but out I came anew. It was through my own difficult pregnancy that I felt the gap in support. It was through my own healing birth experience that I recognized the power of birth and of myself. It was through my postpartum period that I understood the need for slow nurturing care. Needless to say, it did not take me long to know I was being called to make this my life’s service.