Journey to the Other Side of Birth©
From Birth & Postpartum Doula to Midwife
This is my Journey...
I started serving families in 1999 and my first birth certification was through DONA International in 2000. I have been aware of the calling to become a midwife for over 16 years, however many parts needed to come together at the right time in order to begin to move forward with this goal.
As I waited I prepared.
I am the first DONA Advanced Certified Birth and Postpartum Doula, ( 2016) and the first DONA Certified Postpartum Doula (2007) in my state. I have had the honor of creating a grant program that not only provided free breastfeeding support within the community for Ethnic families but also increased the number of professionally trained Ethnic Certified Lactation Counselors by 400%. For a list of all my certification & trainings, please view my resume.
Finally...
I had started to investigate the possibility of doing an apprenticeships with providers in bordering states. Oklahoma
does not have ANY Ethnic Certified Nurse Midwives or Certified Professional Midwives, so just like many other midwifery communities in the U.S. current midwives seek to only offer apprenticeships to their friends or others within their social circles. Traveling seemed to be the only way around this barrier that I had tried to get around for past 5 years.
Two CPM that had been providing services in India, moved to OK and partnered with a local midwifery practice with plans to return overseas within a year. During the year, I was able to do births with them because they were on call when my doula clients went into labor. I really enjoyed the way they provided care. One day as I was on a social media platform I came across a newly posted announcement. Not only had they decided to stay in OK but they also founded a new practice- Mosaic Midwifery. I call them as soon as I finished reading the post to ask if they were going to be accepting students and if so I would like to opportunity to apply. I am so thankful that they are providing a pathway for change within our community.
Now after working so hard to become the best doula I could be, learning as I observed without the weight of the responsibility for the physical health, the life and death decisions for both the birthing person and newborn. I am being stripped down to the basic framework. Learning to view prenatal care, labor, birth, and the immediate postpartum periods through a different lens. I am honored and amazed for this opportunity and I am patiently looking forward to the day when I am able to put it all together as I serve clients not as their doula but as their midwife.
Danielle Lugrand
Student Midwife
