VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:
"My name is Amy Beck, and I'm a birth doula and childbirth educator. I also provide post-partum support.
I was pregnant with my daughter, Avery, she's 11, when I realized how interested in birth I was. I've always been interested in the pregnant body and birth, but it wasn't until I was going through the process and reading books and feeling her inside that I realized how much I really liked anticipating labor and birth.
A birth doula supports a mom emotionally and physically, and helps to provide information, you know, if they have questions or they need something explained outside of what their doctor or nurse maybe might do.
And that was back in 2009 that I got certified, and I've been working with over a hundred families since then.
I wait for that phone call at whatever time of day or night saying that she's in labor. I'm with a family while they're in labor through the birth of their child, so sometimes that amount of time is six hours. Other times it can be, you know, 30 hours.
When we experience things that are new or that feel overwhelming or maybe scary even, I think that it's really helpful to have someone there to help possibly normalize what's happening, to help bring the big picture or some perspective, to just be there. I mean, sometimes I'm with a family, and I'm really just sitting there just being with them.
This experience of meeting this new person that you've been for, from both parents, is really cool. And to be someone who like wipes the sweat away from mom's forehead with a washcloth, and to, you know, to be part of that process that believes in mom so much and celebrates her and honors that process is really amazing."
