Mama~ You have GOT this birth… you got it, on your own. Everything you need to birth your baby is right inside of you… you truly don’t need anything else. In fact it’s all the external things that threaten to get in the way of a birthing mama’s path, yes even the doula, sometimes.  Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t call one of us when it’s time… it can be very handy having one of us doulas around, for sure! But be careful where you are placing your power, because it truly, truly is ALL yours.

YOU are the force and power of the universe at your birthing time…

YOU and you alone can Hold that power in your body, and allow it to move through you, and deliver it into this world… into your arms.

We like to be there (as doulas, midwives, doctors, husbands, grandmas) because it is an amazing thing to witness and touch and be a small part of…. and if in some small way we feel that we have had the privilege to serve this Goddess of birth, then it enriches our lives for the better too.  But never forget… You are the Goddess of birth… not the birthing place, not the midwife, not the doula…. any and all of those things can change, but the power of birth stays the same…. Because it is you, it always has been… it was inside of you before you ever conceived this child, it lives inside of you now, and it will be inside of you even stronger after you birth your baby, forevermore.

So enjoy this journey, mama, even with all its twists and turns, peaks and valleys, and long seemingly endless plains!  Enjoy being with the only one who was there when you conceived this child, as you bring him into the world, together….because that’s all you need.    You’ve got this!

[I wrote this letter to a mama who had just found out that on top of recently switching birthing locations and careproviders (a couple weeks before birthing day) that it didn’t look like I, as her doula, would be able to be there, either….. and I realized that the greatest compliment I could ever receive (as one who works with women) is “I didn’t really need you…. I’m glad that you were there…. but I could’ve done this on my own!”…. and yes, that is me and my baby in the picture, moments after his emergence!]