Doula-ing

I had a meeting with potential doula clients yesterday. When I went to meet them I was just thinking of it as a getting-to-know you chat. We sat down and talked, and after a while I asked if they had any specific questions for me. She asked me to describe how I see my role as a doula. I thought, "Oh no, this is a real interview! I'm not prepared to answer hard questions like that!" LOL.

Out of the last 10 births I've attended, five were close friends where I had some idea I would be their doula from early in the pregnancy, one was a last-minute call by an acquaintance in labor, two were as a midwife's assistant, and two (the first two of the ten) were couples who hired me after an interview. With those stats you can see why I have forgotten what it is like to really be interviewed, to "sell myself" and tell someone why I am the best doula they could hire!

I was a little nervous as I drove home from their house. I thought they would be a wonderful couple to work with and we would make a great birth team. But did I come across well? Did my answers line up with their expectations? It is so hard to tell after an interview!

Apparently I did fine, because she contacted me today to say they'd like to hire me. Woohoo! They are not due until mid-March, so we have lots of time to get to know each other and prepare for an awesome birth. :)

The other thing I had to do before this meeting was update all of my doula paperwork. All of my forms, folders, and cards still had my old phone numbers and e-mail on them. The last time I handed them out (to a very good friend, luckily) I had to cross that out and write my new info in by hand! She kept finding new places that had outdated information on it and making fun of me. So now I have crisp new versions of everything.

It feels good to be up-to-date and working again!