Bobbie, our most experienced doula!
Bobbie is our most experienced doula and one of the owners of GCS! Continue reading to get to know her better.
What is your favorite part of being a doula?
It’s so hard to name just one thing. Watching the miracle of life unfold before my eyes is something I could never really tire of, but if I’m honest, I really, really, really love the relationships and getting to know my clients! I am continually amazed at these women and their partners and their strength and resilience in labor. I usually leave the hospital with a smile on my face knowing the sweet baby freshly born in this world is in the loving, capable and caring arms of his/her parents. It gives me perspective that although we see so much negativity and ugliness in the world on a day to day basis, there is so much good that may not be so visible. There are children being raised in wonderful homes with incredible parents and that gives me hope for the future of my own children and their generation. There is still a lot of good in this world.
Why did you become a doula?
I just wanted to help! I wanted to give information and serve women and families during this beautiful, life-changing time in their lives. It was so hard to sit on the sidelines when my friends were giving birth and not serve them. I realized my passion to serve and minister to women was a calling and being a doula was one way the Lord could use me to serve families.
What is something you wish you could tell your clients that you don’t ever feel like you can say to them in person?
There are two things.
1. I don’t care how you choose to give birth. (Did I really just say that!?!) I only care how you feel about your experience. I have many clients who hire me knowing they want an epidural. Their goal is to be informed throughout the process and to make educated decisions along the way. I love their births just as much as an unmedicated birth. I also have clients who make a little more noise or cuss and are very vocal about their thoughts and feelings during their birth. I love their births and respect them just as much as I respect the calm, quiet, and collected mom. My hope for each birth is for the women to look back and feel good about their decisions and the way they chose to give birth, and I believe that my clients should have unique experiences.
2. This is very hard for me to say because it’s hard to understand unless you have witnessed or know someone who has experienced it. The birth of your child is a very precious gift that should be protected by having the most supportive care provider. The experience should not be gambled based on your relationship or hopes to educate them. I’ve supported many women who are with a care provider they have always loved and respected, but is not necessarily supportive of the way they want to birth. The woman stays with the care provider because of the established relationship or wants to influence the care provider in a positive way about low intervention birth. Oftentimes, the client regrets it after the birth when the care provider’s opinions and common practices interfere with the way the woman hopes to give birth. A normally strong person can become very vulnerable during labor because of all that labor requires, and may not be able to speak up for her true desires when confronted during the process. In these cases, I sometimes wonder if the birth experience would have looked different with another care provider.
What are your hobbies?
When I have time, I really love sewing and any kind of painting and crafting. I have also recently started running.
How many children and ages?
Caroline 10
Abram 6
Haddie 4
Marlee 2
How long have you been married?
12 years
What is your favorite time of year?
Fall…I love watching the leaves change colors, the cool air, football on Saturdays and baking anything pumpkin flavored!
What is your favorite book? Movie?
Pride and Prejudice for both! Favorite version of P and P is the long A&E one
What is the longest you have ever gone without sleep?
It’s a tossup between the birth of my firstborn and a birth I attended last year. With my firstborn,I was awake from early Friday morning until just before midnight Sunday night. I attended a birth last year that lasted longer than my own first birth, however, I took a 1-2 hour nap twice over the course of several days and nights.
How many births have you attended?
Just over 100 births!!
Check out her bio to read more about Bobbie.
http://www.gentlechildbirth.org/bobbie-moore