She Left Her "Real Job" to Become a Full-Time Doula: Rachel's Story

And of course it was COVID time, so that must have been really hard.

So

I'm so interested

in what it was like to have four babies in England with the National Health Service.

And like when I picture it, I'm picturing call the midwife and, you know, your home visits from these lovely midwives versus then you come back here

to Alabama.

Yeah.

And what was that like for you when you did take your doula training and you did start going into the hospitals? Granted, it was COVID, but what were your thoughts on just the contrast between the two?

Yeah, it was surprising.

I mean, it was and it wasn't surprising because, of course, all that time I had friends back when I had babies, so I kind of knew what it was like.

Yeah, I think I was surprised at...

Just how hard people had to work to find the kind of care that they wanted and needed.

Yeah.

And probably especially, well, kind of two things.

I felt like the postpartum care was really lacking here.

Yeah.

Everybody, you know, once you go home from the hospital, you're really just kind of dropped and told, like, well, find a pediatrician and go see a pediatrician and then get back here in six weeks and we'll give you a clean bill of health and you're done.

Right.

And parents are not giving any, like, well, what do I do with this? I can't believe you're letting me go home with this human now.

Right.

And...

You know, one of the issues that we have, especially here in Alabama, but across the United States that I know about from teaching public health, of course, not only do we have maternal mortality and morbidity rates and infant mortality rates that are shockingly high for the income level that we have in this country.

But the racial disparities in those rates and working for the nonprofit I worked with, you could really see firsthand a lot of Sometimes it would be subtle, but differences in the way that people are treated

and

listened to.

And of course it was COVID time, so that must have been really hard.

So

I'm so interested

in what it was like to have four babies in England with the National Health Service.

And like when I picture it, I'm picturing call the midwife and, you know, your home visits from these lovely midwives versus then you come back here

to Alabama.

Yeah.

And what was that like for you when you did take your doula training and you did start going into the hospitals? Granted, it was COVID, but what were your thoughts on just the contrast between the two?

Yeah, it was surprising.

I mean, it was and it wasn't surprising because, of course, all that time I had friends back when I had babies, so I kind of knew what it was like.

Yeah, I think I was surprised at...

Just how hard people had to work to find the kind of care that they wanted and needed.

Yeah.

And probably especially, well, kind of two things.

I felt like the postpartum care was really lacking here.

Yeah.

Everybody, you know, once you go home from the hospital, you're really just kind of dropped and told, like, well, find a pediatrician and go see a pediatrician and then get back here in six weeks and we'll give you a clean bill of health and you're done.

Right.

And parents are not giving any, like, well, what do I do with this? I can't believe you're letting me go home with this human now.

Right.

And...

You know, one of the issues that we have, especially here in Alabama, but across the United States that I know about from teaching public health, of course, not only do we have maternal mortality and morbidity rates and infant mortality rates that are shockingly high for the income level that we have in this country.

But the racial disparities in those rates and working for the nonprofit I worked with, you could really see firsthand a lot of Sometimes it would be subtle, but differences in the way that people are treated

and

listened to.