Evelyn Conrad, ICCE, CD DONA, HBCE, CLC, CH
My passion for birth began as a "yearning from nowhere" to be with pregnant women and their birth experience when I was freshman in high school; a fellow student, who was barely an acquaintance, became pregnant. I was enthralled with her growing belly and longed to be there when she gave birth. I hardly knew her. She never knew of my secret desire, but her pregnancy enticed me to become her friend.
I knew no real birth story of my own because I had been adopted at two weeks old, but somewhere within me there was a calling to be part of this sacred experience every mother goes through at least once. Perhaps it was my unknown birth experience that created this yearning; I do not know.
I married right out of high school in 1981 and couldn't wait to become pregnant. Two years later, we decided to have a baby. I sought out to find a midwife and found a wonderful midwife who worked at a hospital. Although I preferred to birth at home, I was very comfortable with her and felt that she would respect my wishes and allow me to own my experience. Forty weeks later, I gave birth naturally to a daughter. Two years later, a son. Both of my birth experiences were profound in my life! I was forever transformed!
I couldn't accept the idea that I would only go through this incredible experience twice. My midwife encouraged me to get the training to work with pregnant and birthing women. For me, I knew I could not take the time away from my children to train to become a midwife, but I did find a childbirth educator training that worked with my life and parenting style.
I also volunteered at a shelter for pregnant teens and did labor support; then when I became a childbirth educator and began teaching classes I volunteered to attend births with my students. Before I knew it I was a professional labor coach.
In 1990, I certified as a homebirth midwifery assistant. What I remember most from the training was being told by the instructor, to hang a birth bag by the door and the universe would make it happen. I was at that time attending only births in the hospital. I had no idea how or if I would ever attend a homebirth, but I trusted what she said.
In 1995, I read an article about Doulas, having never heard the word; the description of what a doula did was exactly what I had been doing for ten years. I looked into it further and trained and certified with DONA International. Once certified I hung out my shingle, "Your Birth Connection." It felt weird to be paid to do something that seemed so sacred; I felt honored to be part of their birth experience and that I should be paying them to be present. But, life comes with bills... and putting value to my service was also honorable.
Being the "lone doula" in a community was difficult, I began to market myself to pregnant women and no one had ever heard of the word "doula." My own midwife who also was a pioneer became my mentor and I will be forever indebted to her for all she has done. Her words of wisdom have taken me far. Slowly, progress was made and doulas became better known in the birthing community.
December 1998 brought me to my first homebirth. My back up doula and very dear friend, Vicki was having her third baby and chose to give birth at home. Both she and I worried that labor would move along too quickly and we wouldn't have enough time to savor the experience, but it ended up being her longest labor, 12 hours. It was so different than birth in the hospital. It was incredible! I am not saying that birth in the hospital isn't, but homebirth is so sacred and amazing in such a different way.
I continued on my life's journey quietly changing the world one baby at a time. My now ex-husband, always spoke of a coworker named Andrea, who was a midwife who attended only home births. She was also a RN who worked in the Emergency Room with him. He shared with her that I was a doula. For months he spoke of her to me and of me to her.
I wanted to meet her, but it felt awkward to pursue. As fate would have it... I ended up in the ER one night with a gall bladder attack; she was my triage nurse. I was so excited to have met her, but I was in so much pain I couldn't talk.
Months if not years later, a doula client of mine went to Andrea for a homeopathic consultation. I was impressed with her results. Eventually, I made an appointment with her for myself. This was the beginning of our relationship. Not long after, we had our first client together.
I continue to support women in the hospital as well as at home. I have trained and certified as a consulting hypnotist and find this work enhances so much of the birth work I do; helping women to conquer their fear, be empowered and claim their birth as their own whether birthing in the home or hospital.
My children have grown now; I am wife to a wonderful and understanding man who is patient with my "on-call" life. We enjoy our time together, laughter with friends and family, camp life and our crazy pugs.
I trust that the universe will provide for me everything that I require in life and that I will be where I need to be at any given time. The pregnant women who are sent to me will benefit from my wisdom and I will continue to learn from them. I feel blessed to be working with such a skilled midwife; she is my dear friend and mentor and I am so grateful to have her in my life.
I am honored to be able to do this work. Not everyone is fortunate enough to love what he or she does for work. Birth is my passion; my life and I never take it for granted. This is my calling; this is why I am on this earth; this I know...
Check out my websites: www.yourbirthconnection.com and www.absolutehypnotherapy.com