The Journey to Doulaxy
Hello, everyone. My name is Denisa, and I'm a birth and postpartum doula. But the burning question is, what was the journey to get here? Before we get into that, I would like to give you some background about myself. Trust me, this wasn't on my bingo card when I was growing up, especially as someone who wasn't as personable. This journey didn't start until I went to China to teach English for five years and had a sudden desire to have children. As a black woman in America, I am fully aware of the high mortality rate for black mothers, so I really wanted to do my research before ever becoming pregnant so that I wouldn't become a statistic. Research has proven that a woman going through the birthing process has a higher chance of a smooth birth with a doula. Check out the link below to confirm this research. I want to be that person who helps make that come to fruition for moms in hopes that I will also have someone who does the same when it is my time to go through the birthing process.
Back to the story about me, I guess. Yes, I'm the type that will go off on tangents. I hope you don't mind. I will try to keep them to a minimum, but I make no promises. Let's start with undergrad, I wanted to major in pharmacy and astronomy, as you can tell by my fascination with space and stars, just by the look of my website. Unfortunately, that didn't work out as planned, so I promptly switched to psychology and linguistics and graduated with a desire to help people since I assisted international students in improving their English. After graduating, I decided to take a gap year, more like a gap decade. I went to South Korea and taught English there for three years, then came home for a year, but being at home for that year didn't satisfy me; I wanted to go out into the world again. So after that year, I decided to go to China to teach English, where I stayed for five years. If you are wondering, here's the fun fact: I was in China before, during, and after the pandemic. Yes, I have stories for days about that experience, but that's not what this blog is for. Maybe I will tell you offhandedly in person another time when I'm having a nostalgic moment about my time abroad.
See, I told you about the going off on tangent moments. Okay, this is the last one before we get to the birth of Doulaxy. When I came home from China, there was that feeling again of dissatisfaction of my insatiable desire for mental stimulation, which I often get when I'm in a new environment where I'm constantly learning or navigating something new. A year or two after returning to the US, I decided to go back to school to satisfy that desire. I got my masters in instructional design, which aligns with my teaching background. Now, I can create teaching material on anything with enough information and expert knowledge. All you have to do is tell me what you want and how you want it, and I can do that to the best of my abilities. This was a chance to get the constant stimulation that I wanted, but with all that, there was still something missing, and it was the desire to go into the birth world. Shortly after graduating, I decided to get certified as a birth and postpartum doula.
Beginning this journey as a doula has been fascinating, and my insatiable desire for mental stimulation has, in a sense, been satisfied, if not a bit overwhelmed. Just starting the doula training opened my eyes to the vastness of the birthing world. Which leads me to why I named my business Doulaxy, as you've noticed, I keep saying the birthing world, in all honesty, I should say birthing universe instead, because of how much there is to learn. I wanted to pay homage to my love for the stars and put birth into that perspective to create a correlation between how complicated the universe is and the complexity of birth in the same space. So, the name Doulaxy is just doula and galaxy put together. Symbolizing the doula as the galaxy, which cares for the star, which is the mother. You will understand this more when I release the Doulaxy poem.
I will close this blog now. I'm sure you have had enough of my random tangents for today. Stay tuned for next week's entry, and be on the lookout for my creative side with poems and short stories about the birthing world. If you don't already follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, please do so. Trust me, I will have more things there for you.
Bye for now.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10292163/
