I love birth. What?! Someone loves birth?! YES! I love talking about birth, I love seeing the birth, I even love giving birth! Unfortunately, the narrative around birth is that it's dangerous, painful, scary and just something you have to suffer through to have a baby. Listen, I get it. I understand why this is the narrative. I know that for many women, this has sadly been their experience. Birth trauma and the long-lasting pain it carries can stay with someone longer than we give credit. But what if there is another way? We need to stop accepting this as "normal" and let birth grow and blossom us like it's intended to do. We need to stop giving up control over our doctors and start recognizing that our power is within. We just need to be well-prepared, well-educated, and well-supported.
My hope for Mother the Mother Birth Services and The Mother Birth Blog is to create a space for women to learn, ask questions and grow their knowledge of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. I want mothers to feel connected to their body and baby, truly knowing and believing they are a team. Here, we want to change the narrative, one birth at a time.
The Face Behind the Words
To officially introduce myself, Hi - I'm Kinsey Sucher, the face behind the words. I have been married for eight years and have two daughters, four-years-old and one-year-old. I first heard what a doula was when I was living overseas. Before kids, my husband and I worked for a year in a Haitian village in Sosua, Dominican Republic. We felt called to open and operate a mother and infants program where we provided clean food and water and a safe place for babies to roam and play with toys while their mothers snacked and chatted. We had many pregnant and newly postpartum women coming through our doors and it sparked something inside me. Working hand and hand with these women and listening to their birth experiences made me want to educate myself more on the topic and find ways to best help the pregnant women in our program. That's when I first was introduced to what a doula was.
Flash forward a few months, I find out I'm pregnant and six months later, we packed everything up, moved back to Florida, and ran the mothers and infants' program from afar. With the busyness of moving and preparing for a new baby, I never got a chance to dive into birth work. I still didn't know much about pregnancy and birth and thought I'd just "wing it". Well, you know how that goes. I didn't know what to expect and the intensity of the contractions scared me. I didn't know how to work with them, not against them. The interventions kept stacking up and within just a few hours of being there, I felt completely out of control and out of touch with my body and baby.
After that experience, I reflected and remembered the role of a doula and how I could have seriously benefited from having one. I knew I didn't want other women to feel helpless like I did. I became wildly passionate about birth work and haven't looked back. I have had the pleasure of supporting well over fifty families as either their doula or midwife assistant.
I am now fifteen months postpartum with my second daughter and her birth experience only grew my passion. I birthed in the comfort of my home with the best support team I could ask for. Yes, the doula hired a doula ha! I was in control, I was informed, I felt safe and supported, and I knew I was made and well-equipped for that moment. That is the narrative I want to help write for all my clients. I want them to know their strength and power.
Pictures of the birth of my second daughter
Stay awhile!
Whether you are trying to conceive, pregnant, postpartum, in the thick of motherhood or just love all things birth, you are welcome!! I truly believe changing the narrative of birth starts within everyone.
If you're interested in having me as your birth doula, send me a message and I'd love to chat. Wherever you are in life, don't do it alone.
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xoxo
Kinsey Drea, Mother the Mother Birth Services