Dear Doula,
Thank you.
Thank you for answering the questions I didn’t want to ask anyone else.
Thank you for reassuring me when I was unsure what was happening in my own body.
Thank you for taking the time to meet with me and get to know my hopes, fear, and dreams for my birth and respecting them.
Thank you for providing me with resources so I could be informed.
Thank you for checking in to see how I was doing physically but also mentally and emotionally.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you for setting aside your own opinions to advocate for my desires despite how different they may have been from your own.
Thank you for your hug and encouragement when I was crying and afraid of my impending induction.
Thank you for giving me an innumerable amount of hip squeezes and counter pressure with every contraction.
Thank you for supporting and exhorting me in the throes of back labor.
Thank you for recording the timeline of my labor so I can relive it as much as I want.
Thank you for celebrating with us as I birthed our son into the world.
Thank you for running to get us food after a long and tiring day when I’m sure you just wanted to go to bed.
Thank you for allowing me to openly process with you.
Thank you for fully investing yourself in me and my baby.
Most of all, thank you for believing in me when I wanted to give up.
I will forever be grateful for your presence and participation in the greatest accomplishment of my life.
