Utah Doula Services’ 2018 in Review

This year has been a fantastically busy one, and we wouldn’t have it any other way! Our normal client load is two per month so we can offer our best support both prenatally and during labor, but some months this year we took on more as they were special circumstances.

(All images are shared with permission)

January

We held the ICAN VBAC Mom’s panel. It was a great turnout and we had lots of moms come hear how other moms achieved their VBAC.

Single mother discounts for doula services


We had the pleasure of helping this very strong and determined mother bring her baby into this world with the wonderful midwives at the University of Utah. After a long 75 hour labor, her and baby were exhausted and it was agreed that a cesarean would be the safest way to be born. Her mother was a fantastic birth partner every step of the way! 

VBAC with Dr. Edmunds at St. Mark's


We had the honor of helping this awesome couple with their VBAC alongside one of our favorite doctors, Dr. Sean Edmunds. ! This couple make such a great team. She was so strong and he was great at encouraging and helping her with whatever she needed along the way.

After 14 hours of labor, this sweet baby boy was received into his dad’s hands, all 10 pounds of him  with Dr. Housel at Mckay Dee Hospital. This Hypnobirthing mom was incredible!  

Utah Doula Association Holiday Dinner

We attended the Utah Doula Association Holiday Dinner and helped bring in the new UDA Board. 

February

In February we got some much needed rest from births. Instead, we provided prenatal support to our upcoming mamas, and started a Bradley Method class series. We also attended the Pregnancy and Beyond Expo and got to meet a lot of great birth workers.

March

We helped this military couple have their successful VBAC AND rainbow baby
After 54 hours of labor at the University of Utah with Dr. Rose.

We hosted the Postive Birth Group – Davis County and made beautiful and meaningful Affirmation Banners.

We also hosted the ICAN meeting about Breech babies, how to turn them, and your options if your breech baby won’t turn.

For World Doula Week, we made this video with the Davis County Doulas to show how doulas are helpful for birth partners too!

April

This mama got to meet her sweet baby girl after a long 41 hours of labor with the wonderful midwives at the University of Utah. She rocked every minute of it! Literally, with Zumba.

We also got to help a sweet couple have their first baby with the midwives at IMC. She went VERY fast and we showed up during transition. Her labor was only 4 hours long! 

We also had the honor of helping another couple have their first baby at the University of Utah after a week of prodromal labor. Sometimes birth doesn’t go as we prefer, but being able to prepare and support our clients helps make for a better birth experience.

May

May was a very busy month! We hosted the ICAN meeting about hospital protocols for VBAC, then we had the honor of helping our Type 1 diabetic client and her fabulous husband have their 11 lb baby at the University of Utah.

Utah Doula Association prizes

We attended and helped with the UDA Conference, as Vice President of the UDA.

Then, we helped another couple have their VBAC with the amazing Dr. Edmunds at St. Mark’s, then the next day helped a fun, determined couple with their amazing unmedicated twin birth at the University of Utah, It is standard for women to birth in the operating room with twins, just in case.

We ended the month with supporting our single mother client with her unmedicated birth with the amazing midwife Kira Waters at St. Mark’s hospital.

June

We took June off since April and May were so busy. Instead we finished a Bradley Method class series, and  started another class series. We raised money for and attended the Promise Walk for Pre-eclampsia. Our VBAC doula was on the VBAC Link’s Podcast telling her VBAC success story

July

Kathleen Mark Ogden Regional birth doula support

In July we had our DCD Cares Program client go into labor. We rushed to Ogden Regional, but both us and her midwife Kathy Mark only made it in time for the delivery of the placenta because she birthed so fast! 

We had Dr. Doug with Statera Chiropractic come talk at our ICAN meeting about how chiropractic care during pregnancy can help decrease your risk of a cesarean and increase your chances of a VBAC.

Dr. Keri Gibson doula birth

We supported another sweet couple having their first baby at the University of Utah with another one of our favorite doctors, Dr. Keri Gibson. 
This mama did fantastic and her husband was so sweet, comforting, and supportive as they brought their beautiful baby boy into this world.

Our doula, Karina, got to have a much needed family vacation to Hebgen Lake for a family reunion. 

We finished July off by volunteering to help the Utah Breastfeeding Coalition. 

August

We got to help this cute couple have their 2VBAC with the wonderful midwives at The University of Utah Hospital.

These wonderful repeat clients had a surprisingly fast birth. Last time was 36 hours and this time was only 4! We met them at the University of Utah hospital as baby was crowning and delivered their beautiful baby boy with only one push.

This tough woman got her long awaited VBAC at IMC with the midwives! Her husband was so supportive and encouraging. 

This mother got her unmedicated birth with Dr. Watts at St. Mark’s Hospital! She was educated, committed, strong, and simply amazing. Her fiancé was an amazingly loving, supportive, and encouraging birth partner.

We held our first annual Davis County Doula Client and Student Appreciation Picnic. It was so much fun to see our clients, students, and their new babies! 

We got to hang out with some awesome people at the Back to Breastfeeding event! Kandice wasn’t able to make it, but she had to be in the picture for it to be complete. It took a while for us to get a good freeze frame of her. 

September

This wonderful family had an amazing unmedicated induction at the University of Utah. Everyone was very supportive of their preferences, even though it wasn’t their ideal situation. This was one tough mama and her husband and mother were fantastic support people. 

These military parents worked so hard to get their baby boy here safely at Davis Hospital with Stacie Carter. This meant a change in plans and accepting to have a cesarean. They were so incredibly strong and willing to go with the flow of how this baby needed to be born. 

After 42 weeks and 5 days of pregnancy and almost a week of contractions, this beautiful couple were more than excited for the birth of their baby boy. This adorable set up done by baby’s dad, helped inspire mom to keep going and helped keep her relaxed at IMC Hospital

Accidental car birth

We ended our September with an amazing accidental CAR birth . We got the call to come, but only made it just in time for the birth of her placenta. This first time mom gave birth to her baby girl 20 minutes after her water broke at home, in the car. 

October


We had the honor of helping an amazing couple bring their fourth baby and first baby girl into this world. Even though it wasn’t the birth she had wished for (VBA3C), baby was born weighing only 2.2 lbs at 32 weeks and came out kicking and screaming and surprised us all with how well she was doing!

This tough mama worked so hard to get her beautiful baby boy here! After pushing for a long time at The Birth Center, midwife Becky decided she needed to transfer. She had her baby within 10 minutes of arriving at IMC. 

This cute couple waited to find out the sex of their baby until after their unmedicated birth at Cache Valley Hospital with Dr. Bertoldo. This is the moment when they both looked and found out it is a
.
.
.
Boy!

This amazing first time couple brought their baby girl into this world at IMC with the midwives after 26 hours of unmedicated labor using The Bradley Method! He was THE perfect coach and birth partner and she was incredibly strong and determined. They make such a great team and their baby is so loved. 

November

We attended the annual Fall UDA retreat. We got to spend some time with some of our fellow doulas.

In November, Karina was preparing for her hysterectomy for suspected adenomyosis. Her husband put together a uterus farewell party, complete with a uterus cake and henna celebrating all that her uterus has done for her. It was beautiful, full of love, healing energy, and just what she needed to feel good about saying goodbye to her womb.

Unfortunately, Karina’s hysterectomy got moved back so she wasn’t able to attend one of her best friend’s surrogacy twin birth, because she was still healing. She sent in her wonderful backup and she helped this bad-ass surrogate give birth to twin babies, unmedicated, vaginally. Luckily, Karina still got to support this surrogate and the two dads prenatally and give her well-deserved Vadge of Honor to her. 

December

We are remodeling our Centerville teaching space and getting ready to start our next series. We look forward to another great year in 2019!