When our family moved from Fargo to the Twin Cities last year, I was sad to shutter Fargo Doula, but a little excited to leave behind the constantly-on-call lifestyle. After years of attending a couple of births a month (or, a few times, a couple of births in a day), I looked forward to doing crazy things like leaving my phone in the kitchen overnight, or out of earshot when I was in the shower. Every evening, I buried myself under the covers, content that a baby wouldn’t drag me out of my nice warm bed until morning (most nights; I do still have four kids). I planned to dabble in childbirth education when I had the time and energy, but it seemed I had forgotten to pack those when we moved. I got the kids settled into our new house and community, wrote a bit, and was becoming more sure that my temporary hiatus might turn into a permanent retirement. And then…

I took one doula client. And the birth was amazing. And I remembered that every birth I’ve ever attended was amazing in its own way. And when I got home and started talking to my husband about maybe starting up doula work again, he noted that it had been a while since he’d seen me so fired up about something. I thought about the pang I got every time a former Fargo Doula client contacted me to ask for doula recommendations for a second or third baby. And how my ears perked up whenever someone brought up pregnancy and birth in conversation. I remembered clients over the years talk about how I must get bored when so much of my job is just waiting, and how I always maintained (and still do) that I have a temperament uniquely suited to sitting around and doing “nothing” for long periods of time.

It has become clear to me that seventeen months was a long enough retirement. I look forward to serving women and families in the Twin Cities starting in 2017.

Jill Christianson
Paisley Doula
paisleydoula@gmail.com
701-200-0642