Meet the Doula: Dana Jarmon

Tuesday, September 19th, 2017

 

Hello everyone! My name is Dana and I’m a professional birth doula here at Kindred Spirits Doula Services. I’d love to tell you a bit about myself, where I come from, and the reasons I’m passionate about being a doula. I love Jesus, cooking and eating great food, lifting heavy weights, sharing a beverage (I was going to say coffee but I think coffee is gross… a doula who doesn’t like coffee?! SOS!) with my friends and having authentic conversation, yoga, reading books and listening to podcasts about birth, catching up with my siblings, and continuing to learn all I can about birth and how I can better serve my clients.

 

 

I’m a wife to my sweet husband and life partner, Joseph. Without him I couldn’t be a doula! He shows me the kind of support I strive to show my clients: unwavering and unconditional. Also he’s super handsome and talented and funny and I’m his #1 fan. I’m a mama to our son, Beckham, who, and I realize I’m biased when I say this, is the bomb.com. He’s the light of my life. Being his mama is the biggest blessing I’ve ever received. He’s just one of those kids who is ALWAYS smiling/laughing/eating something dangerous/giving kisses. He brings a passion for motherhood to my life that I couldn’t have imagined before becoming a parent. It’s so incredible to get to share this passion for parenthood with my beautiful clients and their families. We have a dog, Rudy (my first baby!), who’s super goofy and sweet. Now let me tell you why I chose to become a doula.

As a kid I was fascinated by birth. I thought (and still do think) that pregnant women were beautiful. I loved seeing women with gorgeous, round bellies; that lovely glow that comes from the joy of feeling life in their womb. I loved seeing mamas breastfeed their babies. I loved the way everyone got so excited waiting for a new baby. And I loved the connection and love that a new baby brings to their family and friends. This interest and appreciation for birth grew and grew, and finally in April 2016 I took a doula training workshop through toLabor and became a professional birth doula and activist.

Birth is beautiful. It’s fascinating, intriguing, messy, refining, challenging, joyful, powerful, sacred… I could go on. We all begin with birth. We are all a PART of birth, whether you’re currently a parent, have yet to become one, or never become a parent. We create the culture in which our women give birth, through education, support, a fundamental belief in women’s ability to give birth, and a conviction that birth is a rite of passage. I’m drawn to birth work because of the strength and vulnerability simultaneously working together to create some of the most impactful experiences in a person’s life.

To the expecting mama: a doula holds the space for you, the birthing person, to have your own unique birth experience. Not to speak for you but to help YOU find your voice. To know that this birth is one of the first experiences you have as this child’s parent to advocate for yourself AND them at the same time. To help you make informed decisions that are best for you, your baby, and your family, because your choices matter and you deserve to be heard. To know how to ask questions of your care provider to make sure that together you’re an unstoppable team during your birth. To support you in your decisions with no agenda of my own. To ask thought-provoking questions. To encourage and offer love during all of the complex moments of pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum. To offer a drink of water or a pat on your partners’ arm and reassure them that you’re doing amazing. To remind you that you are more than capable of birthing your babies. To make sure that you are doing well physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I’m committed to doing all of these things for my clients, and I could add so many more things to that list, but most importantly, I’m committed to doing what I can to help this transformative time to be one of the most beautiful experiences of your life.

I can’t WAIT to get to know each other, work together, and maybe even grab a beverage together.

 

Except coffee. Because coffee’s gross.

-Dana

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