My Story

In 2019, I met and married my husband. I was a baker at the time. Before we got married, I told my husband I didn't know if I could get pregnant (I was having some fertility issues that resulted from birth control use 5 years prior). He was okay with that, and we agreed we would foster or adopt as an alternative. Nevertheless, I continued to try to find a solution to my fertility issues. About 8 months after we were married, a friend of mine referred me to something I'd been skeptical of my whole life: a Doterra oil blend that was designed to help restore my body's hormonal levels. And IT WORKED!! This, along with many other similar experiences prior, really opened up my mind to healthcare outside of the mainstream medical model. 

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4 months later, I found out I was pregnant. I was in such elated relief and wonder that my body had conceived that I spread the word like wildfire! I was heartbroken when that same day, I began to miscarry. A week later, I was writhing in painful contractions in the ER. No, it wasn't ectopic. I learned that day that miscarriage can be a lot more painful than mild menstrual cramps and that the emotional pain exacerbates the physical pain. We lost our first child that way. After a week or so of a good book, heavy grief and pressing into our faith in Christ, we decided to try keep on trying. A month and a half later, I found out I was pregnant again. This time, there were mixed emotions. I was able to resist feeding into the fear of possibly miscarrying again, but I didn't know how I was going to handle giving birth to a full-term baby if I couldn't cope with the contractions my body went through to miscarry a 5-week baby. My husband had a friend who was a doula and suggested we contact her. After a brief conversation, we knew that we wanted her presence during our pregnancy and birth. That was one of the BEST decisions we made that pregnancy. This is also when I began learning how to do EC with my babies through Go Diaper Free online.

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Eight months later, I gave birth to our daughter, Fida, in our home with some midwives, family, and our doula. I walked out of the birth room that day transformed and believing that I was capable, adequate, and powerful to give birth to our children and to nourish them. I learned how to trust my body and it's design. I learned how to surrender to the process. That experience was a gift beyond measure as was our daughter, and I knew for certain that I would not have experienced my birth like that without our doula. She helped me process my emotions prenatally, physically prepare my mind and body for birth, was by my side through the hardest parts of my birth, affirmed my ability to birth my daughter when I began to think I couldn't do it anymore, and physically supported my body while I pushed her out. I also left that birth with many questions about the whole process I had just experienced. My body had birthed our daughter without me even knowing how to. I was awe-struck and determined to learn more about what my body just did.

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Around the same time we celebrated Fida's first birthday, I found out I was pregnant again! Very early on, I began learning all I could about the physiology of birth (I even took Karen Strange's newborn resuscitation program),. The more I studied, the clearer a life calling became in my heart. I knew that if other women learned this information and were intentional about preparing for their birth experience, their birth experiences and outcomes could be drastically different. Rather than feeling confused, inadequate, or even traumatized after leaving the birth room--as other mothers I knew had expressed to me-- I wanted every mother to walk out of the birth room with their baby in arms feeling victorious and believing they are powerful, more than enough, loved, and in love.

 

So, I took action! During my first trimester of that pregnancy, I wrapped up EC with Fida, and by 15 months old, she was completely day time potty-trained. In the spring of 2023 (entering third trimester), I completed the Intentional Birth Pro doula certification program and apprenticed my doula at local births. I completed the program a couple days before I gave birth to our second daughter, Anikka, that June. After some recovery time, I began to serve families as a doula in the valley. In those first 6 months of my doula career, I completed the APPA training program for placenta encapsulation and Body Ready Method program for birth workers. And, in 2024, I launched Sacred Souls Doula LLC to offer my knowledge and skillset to serve expecting families in my community. All the while, I had been doing EC with Anikka as well and loving every minute of it. I actually had so many people ask me about it when we are out in public that I also decided to start offering support to families deciding to do EC with their little ones. We are now expecting our third daughter in April, 2024, and I am excited to join the birthing women of the world once again.

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Now that you know the back story to Sacred Souls Doula and my doula beginnings, I'd love to leave you with some food for thought as you prepare for your birth! At the end of our lives, us mothers will not remember all of the events of our lives, but one thing we will always remember (as if it were yesterday) is giving birth to our children (if you don't believe me, go ask the 80 year old woman you know about her birth stories!!). Childbirth is a rite of passage that directly shapes the trajectory of our launch into motherhood and our children's launch into life on the outside. Therefore, every part of our (and our children's) experience matters. It either supports the process our bodies are working to complete or it hinders them. It either serves to build our confidence in our capabilities or it serves to undermine our confidence. Michel Odent, french obstetrician and childbirth specialist, wraps up my thoughts here when he said," The truth for women living in a modern world is that they must take increasing responsibility for the skills they bring into birth if they want their birth to be natural. Making choices of where and with whom to birth is not the same as bringing knowledge and skills into your birth regardless of where and with whom you birth." In other words, education of physiological (natural) birth and a skillset that facilitates that process in its natural state are necessary for a natural birth in our world today, much more so than whether we give birth at home with a midwife or by ourselves or if we give birth at the hospital with an OB. I'll be honest, it takes a lot of intentionality, self-responsibility, honesty, courage, and hard work to walk that road; nevertheless, I have witnessed it (and experienced it) time and time again lead to beautiful, rewarding and confidence-building birth and motherhood experiences. Not one person I know who has walked that road has regretted it. I believe in you!

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With love and hope,

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Mary-Jo Eddy