After 25 years of living the corporate 9 to 5, LeVaughn McPherson left to seek a more heart-centered life and occupation. Within several years, she found herself training to be a spiritual counselor and interfaith minister, which she found fulfilling and in alignment with her desire to live a more meaningful life. She knew that making such a huge shift had been the right choice.
But LeVaughn’s story took a new turn when she attended the birth of a friend, observed and attended in the process, and performed a blessing on the baby, all of which she found soul-touching, profound and beautiful. That was when she knew she had found her true calling… as a Birth Doula.
In this episode of our podcast, Steve interviews LeVaughn McPherson, a certified Birth Doula, childbirth educator, and lactation consultant. LeVaughn shares her inspiring journey of supporting parents through one of life’s most significant transitions. In addition to her work in maternal and infant health, she is also a trained Spiritual Counselor and Interfaith Reverend. We’re proud to have LeVaughn as part of the Espavo team.
To learn more about LeVaughn and her work, visit www.CherishingBirth.com.
#SteveRother #TheBackStory #LeVaughnMcPherson #BirthDoula #Birth #Blessing #Family
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:26):
Music. Hi, everybody.
Welcome to the back story. I'm very honored today as as you
well know, in the last back story, we had a death to a very
good friend of ours, GAIL, who came and kind of gave us some
pictures of that. Now we're going to get the other
side of the story. We've got Lavonne McPherson,
(00:48):
who's with us here today and she's on, she's a birth doula
and she's done quite a bit of that.
So Reverend, Reverend Lavon is with us here today.
So how you doing Hun? How's everything going I?
I am doing excellent. Good.
I really want to hear about yourwork.
I, I know, I know quite a bit about the other side in the
(01:10):
death process and everything around that.
And it's I have a son who's turning 50 years old, so it's
been a while since I've had children.
So I'm like I'd like to find outa little bit of what you do and
how this works and all the otherprocess around it.
Alright, awesome. So yeah, I'm, I'm around the age
(01:33):
of your son as well, so say it. But yeah, I am.
What it what is called a berthdula?
It's considered something kind of new, but it's actually
something pretty ancient in practice.
As a berthdula, the word doula actually means servant, right?
(01:55):
It's supposed to be Greek, meaning servants.
And as a birth doula, Ioffer assistance and companionship
guidance, coaching on a mental, emotional, physical and
spiritual level to anyone that'sgiving birth, anyone that's
(02:18):
pregnant and giving birth. And So what that looks like
practically as I kind of try to make it tangible, as tangible as
possible while you're pregnant, during the birth and after.
I'm the person that would be educating you on the process,
(02:40):
helping you to get comfortable if you have aches when you're
giving birth, rubbing your back,massaging you, making you
comfortable if you're hot, cooling you off, just tending to
all your needs during the birth.And then after the birth, if the
individual is interested in breastfeeding, also supporting
(03:03):
that as well. So it's pretty much a full
spectrum of service. It is not deemed to be medical
care, though it is, you know, a part of the field.
There's a fine line. I'm pretty much filling in the
blanks for care that's not offered by medical providers
(03:23):
usually. Right, right.
So you do this with people that are mostly in your field, in
other words, around you. And you also do work virtually,
do you not? Yeah, I do it personally.
I'm actually based in New York, NY City.
However, yes, I do offer my support virtually as a birth
(03:47):
doula. In addition to being a birth
doula, I am a Lamaze certified childbirth educator.
Lamaze childbirth education has been around since, let's say for
about 60 years now. They're considered like a
pioneer in the national birth movement coming out of a time, a
period in time in the States where things are kind of scary
(04:10):
when individuals went to birth in the hospital.
And so as a child birth educator, the goal with that and
the intention is to really buildconfidence in the individual's
body, right body's ability to give birth and the baby's
ability to give birth. Just really giving it inside
(04:31):
views to kind of remove, you know, what's hidden and what's
not understood and what's not seen so that there can be more
comfort and ease and education going into the experience.
In addition to that, sorry, I'm also a certified lactation
counselor and so I have advancedtraining and supporting
(04:54):
individuals that are interested in breastfeeding and really
prepping them ahead of time witha lot of tools and tips to have
a successful go at breastfeeding.
There's a lot of, there's a lot of, lot of questions that come
up around breastfeeding and, andof course, the, the baby in the
beginning and the whole, the whole process here.
(05:14):
That's one, one aspect I can pretty much tell you, if you're
having a child, your life is going to change real quick the
whole process around that. So it's just pretty amazing.
So you, you, you use the Lamaze method or do you teach people
Lamaze? Do you teach teachers Lamaze or
how does that work for you? Yeah, I I'm not a a teacher's
(05:38):
teacher. I teach parents and I'm actually
pretty well taught in a variety of let's say modalities to
support parents. And so one of the great angles
of Lamaze education over other chopper education programs,
which are all excellent, but Lamaze has an angle in that it
(06:01):
provides what you call evidence that's based information,
scientifically backed studies that show what are the
healthiest practices for, for their birthing parents along
their journey of pregnancy and birth.
And so I'm able to actually empower parents with that
information that they would otherwise not have access to.
(06:24):
And it supports them in making decisions along the way as to
how they're cared for decisions when, you know, we're in,
they're in the birthing room, things are kind of popping up
and the providers, you know, maybe has a bit of a concern,
right? And they're put in positions to
where they have to make some pretty tough decisions, right?
(06:45):
Yeah, real quick sometimes too, yeah.
Really quick, yeah. Seems urgent, you know, it's a
brand new experience. It's it's yeah, it's a lot It
could be a lot in that space, especially as a first time
around yeah. So that's the the benefit of
Alamaz Education and so I use that, but I also am very, very
(07:08):
keen on customizing my services based on the needs of a parent.
I don't believe that one-size-fits-all, especially
when it comes to, you know, people being people and life
being life and a pregnancy beinga pregnancy.
Everyone has a unique dynamic scenario or situation that
(07:29):
they're kind of dealing with in their pregnancy, and so I really
specialize my services uniquely to what is called for for that
particular family. It's amazing, absolutely
amazing. Well, and and as I as I
mentioned to you before, my wifeBarbara was actually certified
as in Lamaze. She was going to go on to teach
(07:52):
it, but we ended up having children instead.
So we went, we were in a totallydifferent direction, but she she
really studied it in the beginning.
And I guess it had only been around for a fairly short time
at that point, but it was reallyfascinating.
So much has evolved so quickly. And, and tell me, do you, do you
do the water birth thing that that was so popular for a while?
(08:15):
Is that even popular anymore or how?
How does that work? Yeah, it's not that popular,
unfortunately, and that's because there's not a lot of
education around it. There's not a lot of education
around to the actual safety of it, right?
It's something that's kind of, you know, it's very unfamiliar
(08:36):
and therefore it's scary a lot of individuals.
Our hospital here put in all these tubs for water births.
They're they're apparently one of the places that people can go
for water births. Well, that's excellent and
hopefully that takes off. Some states are better than
others and in your side of the world, I would say I've noticed
(08:59):
that there is more adaptation for water birthday right here on
the in the northeast, not so much.
Interesting. It's it's more fleeting and
rare. And that brings up an important
point around the safety of birthin general.
(09:20):
What I've noticed is that a lot of people are almost petrified,
like they have extreme terror around birth.
Well. It's scary, I bet.
Yeah, Yeah. You know, whether it's the pain,
whether it's just the unknown, whether it's scaring, whether
it's ending up in an emergency situation to where an individual
(09:45):
ends up with surgery. I mean.
Yeah, the list goes on and on. You know, there are a lot of
shared stories, scary stories of, you know, first time parents
experiences in the hospitals andwith birthing.
And a lot of that has put a lot of fear into the field of birth
(10:05):
right. And it has also dulled and
nullified the confidence in the process.
And so with that, there is this thought or this feeling that the
safest place for me to be automatically is in a hospital,
right? But there are also other options
(10:26):
aside from the hospital when it comes to birthing, just as you
mentioned a water birth. In addition to hospitals for
individuals that are completely healthy right along with their
baby, you do have birthing centers that are tended to by
midwives. They are also trained
professionals in in the field ofbirth, natural birth and low
(10:51):
intervention and low risk birth.So are you considered to be a
midwife as well or is that part of what you do or is that
separate? Oh no, a midwife would be
equivalent to an OB that's considered medical support.
Interesting. Yeah, yeah.
So that's a quite and actually that's a common question.
So thank you for bringing that up.
(11:14):
So me as a doula, for example, I'm not going to be, you know,
checking to see how dilated you are or verifying, you know, your
blood pressure or the baby's heart rate.
That's something that the medical professionals such as
OBGYN or midwives would do. What I do is kind of handle all
(11:34):
the brunt of everything in between the challenge of being
in labor for hours and hours andhours, you know, mentally and
emotionally, the discomforts that come along that I'm hands
on support. A doula serves the parent
literally pretty much from the beginning of the birth until it
(11:56):
ends. And so if that is a 24 hour
period, if that is a 36 hour period, your doula, you know,
could be there with you like rubbing your back.
So that's where it's pretty distinct and different from the
service that the medical providers provide.
So you must be on call all the time.
On call when I take on a client so, you know, I have to kind of
(12:22):
let's say Divvy in a measure of self-care for myself and not
take on more than I can chew so that I could be of the highest
service, you know to my clients so maybe.
Excellent, excellent that that'sthat's fascinating.
And then you work also afterwards.
Do you actually work with answering questions about the
baby and and sleepless nights all the fun things that they
(12:46):
they run into besides besides breastfeeding?
Oh, yeah. And actually, thank you for
asking that part of the work is really educating the parents
during their pregnancy. So that's good if if they reach
out a little bit ahead of time before they're expecting to have
(13:06):
a baby, because we'll have a good two or three meetings with
each other. And my whole intention there is
to really prepare the parent for, let's say, let's say, the,
the awakening that comes that, OK, like I have a baby now.
Like, what do I do? And so and so we're discussing
(13:30):
what is going to look like. You know, we're not only dealing
with what comes up during pregnancy, but I'm really
educating them on what to expectduring the birth, especially if
someone's getting induced, whichis very common.
Now, a lot of people have the perception that like, OK, doctor
said I should get induced. So we scheduled this date and
(13:52):
I'll just go in and have my baby.
But it's not that simple. You know, it's, it's usually a
very challenging process to be induced.
And so I'm really almost, I'm almost like a CHEAT SHEET,
right, For what's what's to be expected or what's to be
experienced generally, quite often, you know, what's to
(14:15):
expect out of the environment ofbeing in the hospital.
You know, who are the different people that would be caring for
you? What are the different
medications or tools that they would use to support you in your
labor and getting it going or full gamut, right?
A little bit of role play, right?
(14:37):
How to get comfortable, how to reduce pain, right?
The distinction between pain andsuffering, right?
Because that's a big thing. A lot of nobody wants to be in
pain, right? And your and your whole life
changes afterwards. Then you go home and sometimes
you have to deal with the you have to deal with the postpartum
depression. Sometimes the whole family
(15:00):
tends, especially in first time children, you go into a survival
thing where you go without sleepfor a few days and you know,
sometimes, sometimes months and everything else.
So you're you, you stay with them during that time, you, you
work with them for answer questions.
Yeah. So I usually it depends on the
(15:21):
client. I have private clients, I have
clients that I'm contracted to, to serve, but I do have a number
of meetings after they give birth.
And all of that is really reallyto ensure breastfeeding success
and to also check in to see how they're doing emotionally.
As you mentioned postpartum depression, it is on the rise,
(15:46):
but as a Lamaze certified child perp educator, I do know that a
large reason a large percentage of of individuals that fall
under that umbrella of having postpartum depression, it has a
lot to do with how their pregnancy and their birth
unfolds. Interesting.
(16:06):
Yeah. And so, yeah, my, my support
really is a really intervention.You know, it's really
intervention ahead of time and setting them up really to win
and setting them up like every parent wants a happy, healthy
baby and a happy, healthy mom, right?
And everyone wants to come home alive.
(16:27):
That's the bottom line, right? That's what everyone wants, and
so I really educate my parents on the best practices, the best,
safest, scientifically backed practices to do so.
That's amazing. That's amazing.
So do you have packages available for people?
How do you, how do you work that?
How do people get a whole? Well, we're going to talk about
(16:49):
your website too and put that uphere as well.
What is your website? How can people reach you?
Oh thank you. My website is WWW dot
cherishingbirth.com. Fascinating, cherishing birth.
This is a movement. It's something that really
should be emphasized. We're a little off balance.
(17:13):
It's such a precious, tender, beautiful thing for parents and
the little babies that are beingborn.
It's absolutely beautiful. It's completely magical, but a
lot of that magic and beauty hasbeen lost due to all of the fear
that's that's you know, that's in the in the space.
(17:34):
And so my my mission is to really cherish the birthers,
cherish the birthing moms, the partners and, and the the little
babies that are coming. So yeah, Ioffer an array of
packages and I didn't mention that I ioffer kind of like a
(17:55):
full spectrum type of service. And so being that I'm a reverend
as well as a birth doula and a child birth educator, I do know
that people come into pregnancy and this birth experience
already having, you know, maybe challenges in life or things
(18:18):
that, you know, that are just kind of causing disharmony,
right? And so I really make it a point
to give space for individuals tospeak to that and you kind of.
Work with the whole spiritual side of it then too.
And work with the spiritual side, because birth is also
(18:38):
spiritual. Oh, of course it.
Is, yeah, it's hugely spiritual and that's not spoken of as
well. And so it's very important to
work with anything that it's present as a fear, as a trauma,
right? As a phobia, whatever it is,
(19:01):
it's very important to work withit prior to an individual giving
birth because it's kind of common that those fears, those
anxieties, whatever that is, kind of comes up there in the
breaking process. Sometimes it's over and
sometimes it's covert, but it does come up right.
(19:22):
And so I do, I have a method that I call clearing, so to
speak, to where I allow some space again to have dialogue
around that and then help an individual remove the dense
energies and fears and phobias and anxieties that are present.
And it doesn't completely have to be birth related, but I do
(19:46):
that type of work to get them ina space of harmony and, and some
people just to a space where they're enjoying and being
present with a pregnancy even. But sometimes that's not even
there, right? And so I do that work for
individuals. I have that available for
individuals that need it prior to even getting into childbirth
(20:07):
education, even getting into, you know, what's going on in
your body and what's going on with the baby and what to expect
while you labor at your birth. So the packages scale from that
type of work to child work education to breastfeeding
support. And then of course, I actually
offer physical support as a birth to a while an individual
(20:31):
is is in labor. Well, it's a, it's fascinating
too, because not only do you, you probably work primarily,
obviously with the parents trying to work out or the
surrounding people, sometimes other people as well, but the
reality is you're having a huge effect on the baby entering.
(20:51):
We for years, we did a lot of work with inverse wave therapy,
which basically took people backeven into previous lifetimes to
discover traumas and difficulties.
And we had a lot of people that discovered that they had, they
almost died during their birth or they had some sort of trauma
or great fear that was set into them during their birth.
(21:14):
And they were able to release some of that.
So anything that you can do to ease the pain and the
restrictions of the mother also makes it a whole lot easier long
term for the baby and for the spirit to come in and really do
the work that they came to do. That's that's actually amazing.
Thank you for mentioning that, Steve.
(21:35):
It, it is so true. And even science is proving that
now. And even as a childbirth
educator, we know that the health and the well-being of the
baby is really contingent and depending on the health and the
well-being of the mom, right? So they're not separate.
So you have a, you know, a mom that's mentally, emotionally,
physically sound, then that transfers on to the baby.
(21:59):
And so that's why I have such anemphasis on really supporting
the spiritual aspect, the emotional aspect and the the
mental aspect to bring some harmony and ease and to lift up
the vibes and bring in some happiness and bring in the, you
know, a greater connection with this being that's coming in
(22:22):
through these parents. That's absolutely amazing.
Yeah, we had, we, like I said, natural childbirth was actually
somewhat new when we were havingour our first child.
And we had this old German doctor, he says, you think
you're having natural childbirth.
That's not natural childbirth. Natural childbirth when the
(22:43):
woman goes out and squats behindthe tree.
And we said, no, now you're really scaring us.
Don't. Don't do that.
But, you know, that's beautiful,and that is actually wisdom
because that shows subtly how beautifully safe birth usually
(23:05):
is, especially when you leave italone, right?
When we kind of start to kind oftinker with things, it kind of
makes things complicated a bit and kind of throws it off.
But historically, you know, before there were official
doctors, before there were hospitals, right?
Individuals birthed at home, they build, they, they birthed
(23:27):
amongst community, the births amongst women that were, you
know, trained or just intuitively had the the knowing
of how to support a birth and they use, you know, what was of
the land in order to support it.It was a very, pretty simple
process. There's a lot of patience for
(23:48):
the process. There wasn't as much fear the
process. It was, you know, something
beautiful and something honored and a birth at this point in
time is very, very medicalized. And so we're far from the
knowing of how natural and normal and and largely safe it
(24:10):
is. Definitely, there are are always
going to be a percentage of individuals that probably need
extra support. Yeah, they fall outside of the
realm of, let's say being healthy and literally a surgery
can save a life. But but that literally is a
(24:30):
very, very, very small percentage of burning people,
right? And so this is the education
that needs to be made available.And that's why it's important
for parents that haven't, especially if they haven't.
And even for the second, third time around, if someone has
experienced some trauma, I do work with a lot of clients that
(24:54):
are high risk and that have had previous traumas.
So it is highly important being that birth is so medicalized
that an individual actually receives the support from let's
say a birthday law, right and a child birth educator, even even
if it's not me. But to have that type of support
(25:16):
available to you that is really,really kind of biased on your
side and kind of giving you information and choices that may
not otherwise be available or offered to you under the care.
Of and it changes. It changes really too, Yeah.
New things, new things evolve and different things that show
(25:39):
up. So when you when you work
virtually, how does that work? I mean, obviously if you're
working with someone in Australia, you're not going to
be able to travel down there forthe birth, but or, or do you
tell you tell me how that works?So there is such a thing, you
know, if someone is definitely interested in me having holding
(26:01):
space for them during their birth, I could travel.
That is a thing. There is no limit, you know,
it's just a matter of of to minds and hearts having an
intention and then saying so. And once in agreement, yeah, I
can travel. It's not a problem.
But as far as virtually, this issomething that came up, of
(26:22):
course, with the pandemic. You know, after the pandemic,
everything went online. During the pandemic here in New
York, they were not allowing birth doulas inside the room.
They even were not allowing the partners in the room.
And we do lists have to advocatelike fiercely to at least have
the partners be able to join their their.
(26:45):
They wouldn't allow the partner.They wouldn't allow the partner
in the. Room, yeah, they were not
allowing the partners during thepandemic.
It got that that severe. And so we had to do a lot of,
yeah, like I said, advocacy, which we're big on advocacy and
that's why there's a lot of change.
And then eventually they were allowing the partners into the
(27:05):
room. We as doulas weren't able to be
in a in the room. And so our businesses, of
course, like everyone else, wentonline and went virtual, right.
The only distinction is that I wouldn't be rubbing your back or
cashing your, your vomit if you're vomiting right In person.
However, as is typical when you're inside a hospital giving
(27:28):
birth, again, you never know what's going to happen.
And things kind of pop up and decisions need to be made.
And parents usually find themselves kind of like a, you
know, feeling a little intimidated about the process
and uncertain about what decisions to make.
And so I would be there, you know, to guide that individual
(27:54):
through and through, through andthrough the process, informing
them of their rights, reminding them of some evidence based
information and just helping to them to have other options that
again, might not be available tothem at that time.
So virtually even, it's still a powerful experience and still
(28:14):
very helpful. Incredible, absolutely
incredible. So that, that is well, and from
what the group talks about, theytalk about the fact that the,
from the human perspective of the two transitions, the death
is much more difficult than the birth.
But from the spirit perspective,the birth is much more difficult
(28:37):
than the death because the baby has the, you have to leave home
where you have everything and come into this harsh, dense
world. So those, those people that
receive you, those people that make that transition easier and
more comfortable are huge. That's a really, that's a really
big deal. And I mean, from, you know, from
(29:00):
the perspective of helping humanity, that's much bigger
than just helping mom and dad have their first baby.
That's a, it's a really big, bigconnection for raising the
vibration of all of humanity. So good job, Absolutely good.
Yeah. Thank you.
Good. So what would you like to tell
anybody who's thinking of havingchildren?
(29:21):
What what's what's your general advice?
My general advice is to know that one, and this is a good
thing. When you're pregnant, you don't
have to put together a list of objectives for the day.
(29:42):
You don't have to put together alist of goals.
You don't have to decide when you're gonna start working on
the eyes, the eyeballs, the arms.
How are you gonna create the bones?
What about the blood? Do you do you have to put
together a perfect cocktail for the baby's blood?
You don't have to figure out anything mechanically.
(30:02):
The baby is just in you and the baby's being nurtured through
you mentally, physically, emotionally, right, and
spiritually. Whatever you take in, you don't
have to think about it. It's being done with that alone.
You should know that your body is capable, right?
(30:25):
Capable of bringing life. It is capable of doing it in a
healthy way. Your body is very intelligent,
right? It's doing it automatically,
right? With that half faith and a lot
of trust in the process. That's number one.
Number two, it's very important in this time and age to actually
(30:50):
have assistance in the room. One of the tenants of Lamaze,
one of the principles that we say leads to a a very successful
and healthy normal birth is having a loved one with you or
having a trained support person with you.
(31:10):
It makes. All the world other than the
nurses and the doctors. Other than the nurses and the
doctors, because the training iscompletely different.
You'll notice that when parents actually have visits with their
provider, they're probably seen maybe for 10 to 15 minutes.
You might wait for two hours, You're probably seen for 10 to
15 minutes. Emphasis really is on the
(31:32):
physical health and the physicalwell-being of mom and baby,
right? Or birthing person and baby.
It's really on the physical aspect of it only, right?
But there's so much more as we, as we stated to birth and to
pregnancy. What about the mental and the
physical? What if you already are very
anxious person? What if you're already, you
(31:54):
know, in therapy? What if you've had a history of
trauma, right? These are things that a lot of
providers do not tend to, right?And it's not a right or wrong.
They just weren't trained to andit's not the system for that,
right? So the distinction is that when
you bring a doula into the space, right, that you will have
(32:15):
created a more holistic completeteam, right, for you to help you
have the type of birth that you ideally would love to experience
to really make a difference in the outcomes of your birth.
And actually, I should also mention that studies have
(32:35):
already shown evidence is already out there that an
individual that has a doula in the room leaves a way more
satisfied with their birth. One, they have lower rates of
interventions. Medically, they use mess less,
I'm sorry, less pain medication on average.
(32:58):
They have greater breastfeeding success.
How wonderful. They are more satisfied with
their births and birth duelists also reduce the risks of
delivering via surgery, caesarean or C-section.
OK, so the data is already out there at this point.
(33:18):
I, I usually don't like to say people have to do anything, but
in this environment, it is a strong, strong recommendation
and almost a requirement, especially when you're birthing
in the hospital, to actually have a doula.
And on top of that, having some type of childbirth education
(33:41):
ahead of time will take things over the top for a birthing
family. So so do most of your most of
your clients have in in hospitals or birthing centers or
how? Yeah, I started out in birthing
centers. Most of my clients are at
hospitals. When I meet a client and they
(34:03):
are low risk, that's the technical term for saying that
this is a healthy mom. She has no problems.
Baby has no problems, right? So they call you low risk,
right? When I see that a parent is low
risk, I really, really advise that they seek care from a
birthing center and a midwife. That's really the best place for
(34:27):
them to be, especially if they would like a normal delivery and
birth. It's a very safe place to be.
And so that's where the education is.
But again, being that there's somuch fear, a lot of people think
that a lot of times the hospitalis the best, best place for me
to be and almost like the only choice.
And that varies from state to state and country to country.
(34:50):
But where there is access to midwifery and birthing centers,
that is a very healthy and safe choice for the majority of
birthing persons. Fascinating, absolutely
fascinating. So when you do go into a
hospital, do you have resentments from the staff?
Is there, are they acceptance ofyou or do you still have, do you
(35:12):
still have to kind of prove yourself?
How does that work? Is that that working out OK?
That is such an excellent question.
So it's been about five years now that I've been a doula and
things have definitely changed. Wow.
Yeah. One thing that we do for parents
is we help them come up with something called birth
preferences, which is also knownas a birth plan.
(35:35):
And five years ago, that was something that a lot of
hospitals and doctors did not like to see at all.
Right. The birth plan or birth
preferences is an advocacy tool.It really is list.
It's written to kind of inform the provider of what the
individual's values and preferences are for their birth,
(35:55):
what they want to experience, right?
It's written in plain language so that they don't necessarily
get the routine assembly line. I would say kind of like here
that are available in in hospitals, right, this kind of
protocol. And so yeah, five years ago that
was such a big thing. They poo poo.
(36:17):
They didn't want to see it. Like what do you mean you want
this and what do you mean you want that?
Because we do this. This is our policy.
This is our practice right now. They're adopting.
They've really warmed up to the birthing plants.
Awesome. Dual is generally we are an
intervention and as an intervention, most hospitals are
(36:42):
not that warm and fuzzy, you know, and excited about doulas
right now. The climate is that of course
there's way more acceptance because more parents are
bringing them into the room. And so it's almost like a
necessary evil, right? And of course, you know, it's
(37:02):
not that way of process. This is not 100% finite thing
across systems, but doulas are disrupted by nature.
You know, to have a doula means that, OK, a provider gives you
one particular option for, let'ssay, having a birth experience
(37:23):
and having a doula is like, yeah, but there's also this
option that you may qualify for,right?
And sometimes providers don't offer that.
So that is, you know, that's a little, that's a little bit of a
stickler, right? And not a cozy thing, but things
(37:44):
are getting way better. Things are getting way better.
You know, the differences from provider to provider, because at
the end of the day, people are people, right?
That's true. And so you'll experience, you
know, a variety of personalitiesat any any given time.
And so part of the the advice also is just really for parents
(38:06):
to make intuitive decisions and to know their rights, to know
that if you don't feel comfortable or if you feel like
you're not being served, that you don't have to stay with that
provider. Yeah, it's true, but.
Remember, you're paying them. That's true, but most people
don't think around. Most people don't think that
way. Most people.
Yeah, we don't. Yeah.
We're so like kind of used to the system and the way that it's
(38:30):
run, it's like anywhere else. If you're not satisfied with the
service, normally, you're gonna,you're gonna say forget it, can
I get a refund? And you're gonna look for
someone else, right. Or you're just gonna, you're
just gonna cut off the interaction.
And this is such an important thing.
Like literally we're dealing with lives and legacies and the
(38:52):
health and the well-being of a family unit for a lifetime to
come. This is such an important thing
that individuals want to be diligent about who they hire to
serve them. You're hiring them.
So we have to have a whole new attitude to this experience and
not have a fear of like hurting feelings, hurting a proprietors
(39:14):
feelings or not being loyal, whatever it is.
Because you know, when you're when it's all said and done,
when you go home, it's just you,your baby and and your partner,
you know, and then you know, theproviders are continuing on.
And so really, you know, it's this, this whole thing is about
putting the power back in the parents hands and knowing again,
(39:35):
what is available to them as tools and for advocacy, what
choice is available to them. And putting the battery in their
in their back so that they can really step up and, and really
be the complete loving and parents that that they want to
be, that they aspire to be. It starts when you're pregnant.
(39:55):
It doesn't start after you have the baby.
No, Yeah, life, life changes forpretty quick.
Pretty quick. Yeah, that's amazing about that.
I'm I'm so happy to be able to share this with people.
Thank you so much. Give us your website one more
time. Yeah, thank you.
So my website ischerishingbirth.com that is
(40:18):
ww.thewordcherishingwithingbirth.com.Awesome.
And from that, you know, I advise that an individual, if
they want to, if they're interested in my service
services, there's a contact formthere, just reach out to me.
Again, I like to meet an individual where they're at and
(40:41):
the uniqueness of, of their situation.
And so usually, you know, I liketo have like a little brief
conversation and get to know people a little bit and exactly
what they're looking for and howI can serve them.
But as far as the scope of my service, it's fast, it is
complete. I have all the tools to help
emotionally, removing fears, anxieties, increasing
(41:04):
confidence, educating you about the pregnancy, having a healthy
pregnancy, providing resources where needed.
If there's anything that an individual's kind of dealing
with, for example, pelvic problems, right, just giving
them resources and the tools to really thrive and feel well
(41:26):
holistically, that's really whatit's all about.
And then again. All the questions that come up
because, God, there's tons of them, yeah.
Yeah, and sometimes providers are not available.
Like I'm a part of some Facebookgroups for moms and the the
questions that I see coming on there, it just shows to me, you
know, the need of individuals having access to other
(41:49):
professionals such as doula, doulas and child work educators
because they're asking questionslike, oh, I think this happened
to my body. I'm seeing this coming out and
like, you know, and they're asking other strangers online,
like what do I do? How should I feel about this
when they have providers, OK, that they can't access their
(42:10):
providers at the time or some ofthem don't feel safe enough to
ask the questions. Whatever it is, it's a
combination of a lot of things, but a lot of things are kind of
being missed. And so having a doula, having a
childbirth educator, having an another individual that is
trained in birth in the holisticaspect of it, mentally,
(42:33):
emotionally, physically, spiritually is really another
really intricate tool and empowering tool and necessary
tool to reduce fear and to increase that confidence and to
literally enhance the the life and the well-being of the family
unit. Awesome.
(42:55):
You do a lot of work with the with the parents, with the
people around there, but you also do a lot of work with the
spirit coming in. That is, that's the area that I
see. And of course, we work with all
the time in the work that I do and that last more than a
lifetime. Sometimes we carry these
imprints for multiple lifetimes in different ways.
So the work you're doing, my dear, is incredible.
(43:17):
Thank you so much for sharing itwith us today and, and for for
being there doing the work you're doing.
It's awesome. Thank you.
It's an it's an absolute honor and I'm honored to have been
chosen to do this work. And I really do get that.
It is. Yeah.
It's it's a big service to the spirits coming in.
And that's why I have such an emphasis on really like, OK,
(43:41):
where are we at? Like, how can I help to make
this a happy, a happier, healthier experience for you,
right? Because I know bottom line,
everybody wants that for the baby, for the baby coming in,
but I'm going to love up on the baby and I'm going to love up on
the mom and the partner as well in the process.
Awesome, awesome. Thanks for sharing with us
(44:01):
today, Reverend Levon, Thank youso much for your work and, and
for your time and for sharing somuch with yourself with with all
of us here today. Well done my dear, well done.
Thank you and thank you so much for having me.
It's an honor and thank you for all of the work that you do.
As Baba my sweet, take care. As Baba.
(44:53):
Music.
Music. Hi, everybody.
Welcome to the back story. I'm very honored today as as you
well know, in the last back story, we had a death to a very
good friend of ours, GAIL, who came and kind of gave us some
pictures of that. Now we're going to get the other
side of the story. We've got Lavonne McPherson,
(00:48):
who's with us here today and she's on, she's a birth doula
and she's done quite a bit of that.
So Reverend, Reverend Lavon is with us here today.
So how you doing Hun? How's everything going I?
I am doing excellent. Good.
I really want to hear about yourwork.
I, I know, I know quite a bit about the other side in the
(01:10):
death process and everything around that.
And it's I have a son who's turning 50 years old, so it's
been a while since I've had children.
So I'm like I'd like to find outa little bit of what you do and
how this works and all the otherprocess around it.
Alright, awesome. So yeah, I'm, I'm around the age
(01:33):
of your son as well, so say it. But yeah, I am.
What it what is called a berthdula?
It's considered something kind of new, but it's actually
something pretty ancient in practice.
As a berthdula, the word doula actually means servant, right?
(01:55):
It's supposed to be Greek, meaning servants.
And as a birth doula, Ioffer assistance and companionship
guidance, coaching on a mental, emotional, physical and
spiritual level to anyone that'sgiving birth, anyone that's
(02:18):
pregnant and giving birth. And So what that looks like
practically as I kind of try to make it tangible, as tangible as
possible while you're pregnant, during the birth and after.
I'm the person that would be educating you on the process,
(02:40):
helping you to get comfortable if you have aches when you're
giving birth, rubbing your back,massaging you, making you
comfortable if you're hot, cooling you off, just tending to
all your needs during the birth.And then after the birth, if the
individual is interested in breastfeeding, also supporting
(03:03):
that as well. So it's pretty much a full
spectrum of service. It is not deemed to be medical
care, though it is, you know, a part of the field.
There's a fine line. I'm pretty much filling in the
blanks for care that's not offered by medical providers
(03:23):
usually. Right, right.
So you do this with people that are mostly in your field, in
other words, around you. And you also do work virtually,
do you not? Yeah, I do it personally.
I'm actually based in New York, NY City.
However, yes, I do offer my support virtually as a birth
(03:47):
doula. In addition to being a birth
doula, I am a Lamaze certified childbirth educator.
Lamaze childbirth education has been around since, let's say for
about 60 years now. They're considered like a
pioneer in the national birth movement coming out of a time, a
period in time in the States where things are kind of scary
(04:10):
when individuals went to birth in the hospital.
And so as a child birth educator, the goal with that and
the intention is to really buildconfidence in the individual's
body, right body's ability to give birth and the baby's
ability to give birth. Just really giving it inside
(04:31):
views to kind of remove, you know, what's hidden and what's
not understood and what's not seen so that there can be more
comfort and ease and education going into the experience.
In addition to that, sorry, I'm also a certified lactation
counselor and so I have advancedtraining and supporting
(04:54):
individuals that are interested in breastfeeding and really
prepping them ahead of time witha lot of tools and tips to have
a successful go at breastfeeding.
There's a lot of, there's a lot of, lot of questions that come
up around breastfeeding and, andof course, the, the baby in the
beginning and the whole, the whole process here.
(05:14):
That's one, one aspect I can pretty much tell you, if you're
having a child, your life is going to change real quick the
whole process around that. So it's just pretty amazing.
So you, you, you use the Lamaze method or do you teach people
Lamaze? Do you teach teachers Lamaze or
how does that work for you? Yeah, I I'm not a a teacher's
(05:38):
teacher. I teach parents and I'm actually
pretty well taught in a variety of let's say modalities to
support parents. And so one of the great angles
of Lamaze education over other chopper education programs,
which are all excellent, but Lamaze has an angle in that it
(06:01):
provides what you call evidence that's based information,
scientifically backed studies that show what are the
healthiest practices for, for their birthing parents along
their journey of pregnancy and birth.
And so I'm able to actually empower parents with that
information that they would otherwise not have access to.
(06:24):
And it supports them in making decisions along the way as to
how they're cared for decisions when, you know, we're in,
they're in the birthing room, things are kind of popping up
and the providers, you know, maybe has a bit of a concern,
right? And they're put in positions to
where they have to make some pretty tough decisions, right?
(06:45):
Yeah, real quick sometimes too, yeah.
Really quick, yeah. Seems urgent, you know, it's a
brand new experience. It's it's yeah, it's a lot It
could be a lot in that space, especially as a first time
around yeah. So that's the the benefit of
Alamaz Education and so I use that, but I also am very, very
(07:08):
keen on customizing my services based on the needs of a parent.
I don't believe that one-size-fits-all, especially
when it comes to, you know, people being people and life
being life and a pregnancy beinga pregnancy.
Everyone has a unique dynamic scenario or situation that
(07:29):
they're kind of dealing with in their pregnancy, and so I really
specialize my services uniquely to what is called for for that
particular family. It's amazing, absolutely
amazing. Well, and and as I as I
mentioned to you before, my wifeBarbara was actually certified
as in Lamaze. She was going to go on to teach
(07:52):
it, but we ended up having children instead.
So we went, we were in a totallydifferent direction, but she she
really studied it in the beginning.
And I guess it had only been around for a fairly short time
at that point, but it was reallyfascinating.
So much has evolved so quickly. And, and tell me, do you, do you
do the water birth thing that that was so popular for a while?
(08:15):
Is that even popular anymore or how?
How does that work? Yeah, it's not that popular,
unfortunately, and that's because there's not a lot of
education around it. There's not a lot of education
around to the actual safety of it, right?
It's something that's kind of, you know, it's very unfamiliar
(08:36):
and therefore it's scary a lot of individuals.
Our hospital here put in all these tubs for water births.
They're they're apparently one of the places that people can go
for water births. Well, that's excellent and
hopefully that takes off. Some states are better than
others and in your side of the world, I would say I've noticed
(08:59):
that there is more adaptation for water birthday right here on
the in the northeast, not so much.
Interesting. It's it's more fleeting and
rare. And that brings up an important
point around the safety of birthin general.
(09:20):
What I've noticed is that a lot of people are almost petrified,
like they have extreme terror around birth.
Well. It's scary, I bet.
Yeah, Yeah. You know, whether it's the pain,
whether it's just the unknown, whether it's scaring, whether
it's ending up in an emergency situation to where an individual
(09:45):
ends up with surgery. I mean.
Yeah, the list goes on and on. You know, there are a lot of
shared stories, scary stories of, you know, first time parents
experiences in the hospitals andwith birthing.
And a lot of that has put a lot of fear into the field of birth
(10:05):
right. And it has also dulled and
nullified the confidence in the process.
And so with that, there is this thought or this feeling that the
safest place for me to be automatically is in a hospital,
right? But there are also other options
(10:26):
aside from the hospital when it comes to birthing, just as you
mentioned a water birth. In addition to hospitals for
individuals that are completely healthy right along with their
baby, you do have birthing centers that are tended to by
midwives. They are also trained
professionals in in the field ofbirth, natural birth and low
(10:51):
intervention and low risk birth.So are you considered to be a
midwife as well or is that part of what you do or is that
separate? Oh no, a midwife would be
equivalent to an OB that's considered medical support.
Interesting. Yeah, yeah.
So that's a quite and actually that's a common question.
So thank you for bringing that up.
(11:14):
So me as a doula, for example, I'm not going to be, you know,
checking to see how dilated you are or verifying, you know, your
blood pressure or the baby's heart rate.
That's something that the medical professionals such as
OBGYN or midwives would do. What I do is kind of handle all
(11:34):
the brunt of everything in between the challenge of being
in labor for hours and hours andhours, you know, mentally and
emotionally, the discomforts that come along that I'm hands
on support. A doula serves the parent
literally pretty much from the beginning of the birth until it
(11:56):
ends. And so if that is a 24 hour
period, if that is a 36 hour period, your doula, you know,
could be there with you like rubbing your back.
So that's where it's pretty distinct and different from the
service that the medical providers provide.
So you must be on call all the time.
On call when I take on a client so, you know, I have to kind of
(12:22):
let's say Divvy in a measure of self-care for myself and not
take on more than I can chew so that I could be of the highest
service, you know to my clients so maybe.
Excellent, excellent that that'sthat's fascinating.
And then you work also afterwards.
Do you actually work with answering questions about the
baby and and sleepless nights all the fun things that they
(12:46):
they run into besides besides breastfeeding?
Oh, yeah. And actually, thank you for
asking that part of the work is really educating the parents
during their pregnancy. So that's good if if they reach
out a little bit ahead of time before they're expecting to have
(13:06):
a baby, because we'll have a good two or three meetings with
each other. And my whole intention there is
to really prepare the parent for, let's say, let's say, the,
the awakening that comes that, OK, like I have a baby now.
Like, what do I do? And so and so we're discussing
(13:30):
what is going to look like. You know, we're not only dealing
with what comes up during pregnancy, but I'm really
educating them on what to expectduring the birth, especially if
someone's getting induced, whichis very common.
Now, a lot of people have the perception that like, OK, doctor
said I should get induced. So we scheduled this date and
(13:52):
I'll just go in and have my baby.
But it's not that simple. You know, it's, it's usually a
very challenging process to be induced.
And so I'm really almost, I'm almost like a CHEAT SHEET,
right, For what's what's to be expected or what's to be
experienced generally, quite often, you know, what's to
(14:15):
expect out of the environment ofbeing in the hospital.
You know, who are the different people that would be caring for
you? What are the different
medications or tools that they would use to support you in your
labor and getting it going or full gamut, right?
A little bit of role play, right?
(14:37):
How to get comfortable, how to reduce pain, right?
The distinction between pain andsuffering, right?
Because that's a big thing. A lot of nobody wants to be in
pain, right? And your and your whole life
changes afterwards. Then you go home and sometimes
you have to deal with the you have to deal with the postpartum
depression. Sometimes the whole family
(15:00):
tends, especially in first time children, you go into a survival
thing where you go without sleepfor a few days and you know,
sometimes, sometimes months and everything else.
So you're you, you stay with them during that time, you, you
work with them for answer questions.
Yeah. So I usually it depends on the
(15:21):
client. I have private clients, I have
clients that I'm contracted to, to serve, but I do have a number
of meetings after they give birth.
And all of that is really reallyto ensure breastfeeding success
and to also check in to see how they're doing emotionally.
As you mentioned postpartum depression, it is on the rise,
(15:46):
but as a Lamaze certified child perp educator, I do know that a
large reason a large percentage of of individuals that fall
under that umbrella of having postpartum depression, it has a
lot to do with how their pregnancy and their birth
unfolds. Interesting.
(16:06):
Yeah. And so, yeah, my, my support
really is a really intervention.You know, it's really
intervention ahead of time and setting them up really to win
and setting them up like every parent wants a happy, healthy
baby and a happy, healthy mom, right?
And everyone wants to come home alive.
(16:27):
That's the bottom line, right? That's what everyone wants, and
so I really educate my parents on the best practices, the best,
safest, scientifically backed practices to do so.
That's amazing. That's amazing.
So do you have packages available for people?
How do you, how do you work that?
How do people get a whole? Well, we're going to talk about
(16:49):
your website too and put that uphere as well.
What is your website? How can people reach you?
Oh thank you. My website is WWW dot
cherishingbirth.com. Fascinating, cherishing birth.
This is a movement. It's something that really
should be emphasized. We're a little off balance.
(17:13):
It's such a precious, tender, beautiful thing for parents and
the little babies that are beingborn.
It's absolutely beautiful. It's completely magical, but a
lot of that magic and beauty hasbeen lost due to all of the fear
that's that's you know, that's in the in the space.
(17:34):
And so my my mission is to really cherish the birthers,
cherish the birthing moms, the partners and, and the the little
babies that are coming. So yeah, Ioffer an array of
packages and I didn't mention that I ioffer kind of like a
(17:55):
full spectrum type of service. And so being that I'm a reverend
as well as a birth doula and a child birth educator, I do know
that people come into pregnancy and this birth experience
already having, you know, maybe challenges in life or things
(18:18):
that, you know, that are just kind of causing disharmony,
right? And so I really make it a point
to give space for individuals tospeak to that and you kind of.
Work with the whole spiritual side of it then too.
And work with the spiritual side, because birth is also
(18:38):
spiritual. Oh, of course it.
Is, yeah, it's hugely spiritual and that's not spoken of as
well. And so it's very important to
work with anything that it's present as a fear, as a trauma,
right? As a phobia, whatever it is,
(19:01):
it's very important to work withit prior to an individual giving
birth because it's kind of common that those fears, those
anxieties, whatever that is, kind of comes up there in the
breaking process. Sometimes it's over and
sometimes it's covert, but it does come up right.
(19:22):
And so I do, I have a method that I call clearing, so to
speak, to where I allow some space again to have dialogue
around that and then help an individual remove the dense
energies and fears and phobias and anxieties that are present.
And it doesn't completely have to be birth related, but I do
(19:46):
that type of work to get them ina space of harmony and, and some
people just to a space where they're enjoying and being
present with a pregnancy even. But sometimes that's not even
there, right? And so I do that work for
individuals. I have that available for
individuals that need it prior to even getting into childbirth
(20:07):
education, even getting into, you know, what's going on in
your body and what's going on with the baby and what to expect
while you labor at your birth. So the packages scale from that
type of work to child work education to breastfeeding
support. And then of course, I actually
offer physical support as a birth to a while an individual
(20:31):
is is in labor. Well, it's a, it's fascinating
too, because not only do you, you probably work primarily,
obviously with the parents trying to work out or the
surrounding people, sometimes other people as well, but the
reality is you're having a huge effect on the baby entering.
(20:51):
We for years, we did a lot of work with inverse wave therapy,
which basically took people backeven into previous lifetimes to
discover traumas and difficulties.
And we had a lot of people that discovered that they had, they
almost died during their birth or they had some sort of trauma
or great fear that was set into them during their birth.
(21:14):
And they were able to release some of that.
So anything that you can do to ease the pain and the
restrictions of the mother also makes it a whole lot easier long
term for the baby and for the spirit to come in and really do
the work that they came to do. That's that's actually amazing.
Thank you for mentioning that, Steve.
(21:35):
It, it is so true. And even science is proving that
now. And even as a childbirth
educator, we know that the health and the well-being of the
baby is really contingent and depending on the health and the
well-being of the mom, right? So they're not separate.
So you have a, you know, a mom that's mentally, emotionally,
physically sound, then that transfers on to the baby.
(21:59):
And so that's why I have such anemphasis on really supporting
the spiritual aspect, the emotional aspect and the the
mental aspect to bring some harmony and ease and to lift up
the vibes and bring in some happiness and bring in the, you
know, a greater connection with this being that's coming in
(22:22):
through these parents. That's absolutely amazing.
Yeah, we had, we, like I said, natural childbirth was actually
somewhat new when we were havingour our first child.
And we had this old German doctor, he says, you think
you're having natural childbirth.
That's not natural childbirth. Natural childbirth when the
(22:43):
woman goes out and squats behindthe tree.
And we said, no, now you're really scaring us.
Don't. Don't do that.
But, you know, that's beautiful,and that is actually wisdom
because that shows subtly how beautifully safe birth usually
(23:05):
is, especially when you leave italone, right?
When we kind of start to kind oftinker with things, it kind of
makes things complicated a bit and kind of throws it off.
But historically, you know, before there were official
doctors, before there were hospitals, right?
Individuals birthed at home, they build, they, they birthed
(23:27):
amongst community, the births amongst women that were, you
know, trained or just intuitively had the the knowing
of how to support a birth and they use, you know, what was of
the land in order to support it.It was a very, pretty simple
process. There's a lot of patience for
(23:48):
the process. There wasn't as much fear the
process. It was, you know, something
beautiful and something honored and a birth at this point in
time is very, very medicalized. And so we're far from the
knowing of how natural and normal and and largely safe it
(24:10):
is. Definitely, there are are always
going to be a percentage of individuals that probably need
extra support. Yeah, they fall outside of the
realm of, let's say being healthy and literally a surgery
can save a life. But but that literally is a
(24:30):
very, very, very small percentage of burning people,
right? And so this is the education
that needs to be made available.And that's why it's important
for parents that haven't, especially if they haven't.
And even for the second, third time around, if someone has
experienced some trauma, I do work with a lot of clients that
(24:54):
are high risk and that have had previous traumas.
So it is highly important being that birth is so medicalized
that an individual actually receives the support from let's
say a birthday law, right and a child birth educator, even even
if it's not me. But to have that type of support
(25:16):
available to you that is really,really kind of biased on your
side and kind of giving you information and choices that may
not otherwise be available or offered to you under the care.
Of and it changes. It changes really too, Yeah.
New things, new things evolve and different things that show
(25:39):
up. So when you when you work
virtually, how does that work? I mean, obviously if you're
working with someone in Australia, you're not going to
be able to travel down there forthe birth, but or, or do you
tell you tell me how that works?So there is such a thing, you
know, if someone is definitely interested in me having holding
(26:01):
space for them during their birth, I could travel.
That is a thing. There is no limit, you know,
it's just a matter of of to minds and hearts having an
intention and then saying so. And once in agreement, yeah, I
can travel. It's not a problem.
But as far as virtually, this issomething that came up, of
(26:22):
course, with the pandemic. You know, after the pandemic,
everything went online. During the pandemic here in New
York, they were not allowing birth doulas inside the room.
They even were not allowing the partners in the room.
And we do lists have to advocatelike fiercely to at least have
the partners be able to join their their.
(26:45):
They wouldn't allow the partner.They wouldn't allow the partner
in the. Room, yeah, they were not
allowing the partners during thepandemic.
It got that that severe. And so we had to do a lot of,
yeah, like I said, advocacy, which we're big on advocacy and
that's why there's a lot of change.
And then eventually they were allowing the partners into the
(27:05):
room. We as doulas weren't able to be
in a in the room. And so our businesses, of
course, like everyone else, wentonline and went virtual, right.
The only distinction is that I wouldn't be rubbing your back or
cashing your, your vomit if you're vomiting right In person.
However, as is typical when you're inside a hospital giving
(27:28):
birth, again, you never know what's going to happen.
And things kind of pop up and decisions need to be made.
And parents usually find themselves kind of like a, you
know, feeling a little intimidated about the process
and uncertain about what decisions to make.
And so I would be there, you know, to guide that individual
(27:54):
through and through, through andthrough the process, informing
them of their rights, reminding them of some evidence based
information and just helping to them to have other options that
again, might not be available tothem at that time.
So virtually even, it's still a powerful experience and still
(28:14):
very helpful. Incredible, absolutely
incredible. So that, that is well, and from
what the group talks about, theytalk about the fact that the,
from the human perspective of the two transitions, the death
is much more difficult than the birth.
But from the spirit perspective,the birth is much more difficult
(28:37):
than the death because the baby has the, you have to leave home
where you have everything and come into this harsh, dense
world. So those, those people that
receive you, those people that make that transition easier and
more comfortable are huge. That's a really, that's a really
big deal. And I mean, from, you know, from
(29:00):
the perspective of helping humanity, that's much bigger
than just helping mom and dad have their first baby.
That's a, it's a really big, bigconnection for raising the
vibration of all of humanity. So good job, Absolutely good.
Yeah. Thank you.
Good. So what would you like to tell
anybody who's thinking of havingchildren?
(29:21):
What what's what's your general advice?
My general advice is to know that one, and this is a good
thing. When you're pregnant, you don't
have to put together a list of objectives for the day.
(29:42):
You don't have to put together alist of goals.
You don't have to decide when you're gonna start working on
the eyes, the eyeballs, the arms.
How are you gonna create the bones?
What about the blood? Do you do you have to put
together a perfect cocktail for the baby's blood?
You don't have to figure out anything mechanically.
(30:02):
The baby is just in you and the baby's being nurtured through
you mentally, physically, emotionally, right, and
spiritually. Whatever you take in, you don't
have to think about it. It's being done with that alone.
You should know that your body is capable, right?
(30:25):
Capable of bringing life. It is capable of doing it in a
healthy way. Your body is very intelligent,
right? It's doing it automatically,
right? With that half faith and a lot
of trust in the process. That's number one.
Number two, it's very important in this time and age to actually
(30:50):
have assistance in the room. One of the tenants of Lamaze,
one of the principles that we say leads to a a very successful
and healthy normal birth is having a loved one with you or
having a trained support person with you.
(31:10):
It makes. All the world other than the
nurses and the doctors. Other than the nurses and the
doctors, because the training iscompletely different.
You'll notice that when parents actually have visits with their
provider, they're probably seen maybe for 10 to 15 minutes.
You might wait for two hours, You're probably seen for 10 to
15 minutes. Emphasis really is on the
(31:32):
physical health and the physicalwell-being of mom and baby,
right? Or birthing person and baby.
It's really on the physical aspect of it only, right?
But there's so much more as we, as we stated to birth and to
pregnancy. What about the mental and the
physical? What if you already are very
anxious person? What if you're already, you
(31:54):
know, in therapy? What if you've had a history of
trauma, right? These are things that a lot of
providers do not tend to, right?And it's not a right or wrong.
They just weren't trained to andit's not the system for that,
right? So the distinction is that when
you bring a doula into the space, right, that you will have
(32:15):
created a more holistic completeteam, right, for you to help you
have the type of birth that you ideally would love to experience
to really make a difference in the outcomes of your birth.
And actually, I should also mention that studies have
(32:35):
already shown evidence is already out there that an
individual that has a doula in the room leaves a way more
satisfied with their birth. One, they have lower rates of
interventions. Medically, they use mess less,
I'm sorry, less pain medication on average.
(32:58):
They have greater breastfeeding success.
How wonderful. They are more satisfied with
their births and birth duelists also reduce the risks of
delivering via surgery, caesarean or C-section.
OK, so the data is already out there at this point.
(33:18):
I, I usually don't like to say people have to do anything, but
in this environment, it is a strong, strong recommendation
and almost a requirement, especially when you're birthing
in the hospital, to actually have a doula.
And on top of that, having some type of childbirth education
(33:41):
ahead of time will take things over the top for a birthing
family. So so do most of your most of
your clients have in in hospitals or birthing centers or
how? Yeah, I started out in birthing
centers. Most of my clients are at
hospitals. When I meet a client and they
(34:03):
are low risk, that's the technical term for saying that
this is a healthy mom. She has no problems.
Baby has no problems, right? So they call you low risk,
right? When I see that a parent is low
risk, I really, really advise that they seek care from a
birthing center and a midwife. That's really the best place for
(34:27):
them to be, especially if they would like a normal delivery and
birth. It's a very safe place to be.
And so that's where the education is.
But again, being that there's somuch fear, a lot of people think
that a lot of times the hospitalis the best, best place for me
to be and almost like the only choice.
And that varies from state to state and country to country.
(34:50):
But where there is access to midwifery and birthing centers,
that is a very healthy and safe choice for the majority of
birthing persons. Fascinating, absolutely
fascinating. So when you do go into a
hospital, do you have resentments from the staff?
Is there, are they acceptance ofyou or do you still have, do you
(35:12):
still have to kind of prove yourself?
How does that work? Is that that working out OK?
That is such an excellent question.
So it's been about five years now that I've been a doula and
things have definitely changed. Wow.
Yeah. One thing that we do for parents
is we help them come up with something called birth
preferences, which is also knownas a birth plan.
(35:35):
And five years ago, that was something that a lot of
hospitals and doctors did not like to see at all.
Right. The birth plan or birth
preferences is an advocacy tool.It really is list.
It's written to kind of inform the provider of what the
individual's values and preferences are for their birth,
(35:55):
what they want to experience, right?
It's written in plain language so that they don't necessarily
get the routine assembly line. I would say kind of like here
that are available in in hospitals, right, this kind of
protocol. And so yeah, five years ago that
was such a big thing. They poo poo.
(36:17):
They didn't want to see it. Like what do you mean you want
this and what do you mean you want that?
Because we do this. This is our policy.
This is our practice right now. They're adopting.
They've really warmed up to the birthing plants.
Awesome. Dual is generally we are an
intervention and as an intervention, most hospitals are
(36:42):
not that warm and fuzzy, you know, and excited about doulas
right now. The climate is that of course
there's way more acceptance because more parents are
bringing them into the room. And so it's almost like a
necessary evil, right? And of course, you know, it's
(37:02):
not that way of process. This is not 100% finite thing
across systems, but doulas are disrupted by nature.
You know, to have a doula means that, OK, a provider gives you
one particular option for, let'ssay, having a birth experience
(37:23):
and having a doula is like, yeah, but there's also this
option that you may qualify for,right?
And sometimes providers don't offer that.
So that is, you know, that's a little, that's a little bit of a
stickler, right? And not a cozy thing, but things
(37:44):
are getting way better. Things are getting way better.
You know, the differences from provider to provider, because at
the end of the day, people are people, right?
That's true. And so you'll experience, you
know, a variety of personalitiesat any any given time.
And so part of the the advice also is just really for parents
(38:06):
to make intuitive decisions and to know their rights, to know
that if you don't feel comfortable or if you feel like
you're not being served, that you don't have to stay with that
provider. Yeah, it's true, but.
Remember, you're paying them. That's true, but most people
don't think around. Most people don't think that
way. Most people.
Yeah, we don't. Yeah.
We're so like kind of used to the system and the way that it's
(38:30):
run, it's like anywhere else. If you're not satisfied with the
service, normally, you're gonna,you're gonna say forget it, can
I get a refund? And you're gonna look for
someone else, right. Or you're just gonna, you're
just gonna cut off the interaction.
And this is such an important thing.
Like literally we're dealing with lives and legacies and the
(38:52):
health and the well-being of a family unit for a lifetime to
come. This is such an important thing
that individuals want to be diligent about who they hire to
serve them. You're hiring them.
So we have to have a whole new attitude to this experience and
not have a fear of like hurting feelings, hurting a proprietors
(39:14):
feelings or not being loyal, whatever it is.
Because you know, when you're when it's all said and done,
when you go home, it's just you,your baby and and your partner,
you know, and then you know, theproviders are continuing on.
And so really, you know, it's this, this whole thing is about
putting the power back in the parents hands and knowing again,
(39:35):
what is available to them as tools and for advocacy, what
choice is available to them. And putting the battery in their
in their back so that they can really step up and, and really
be the complete loving and parents that that they want to
be, that they aspire to be. It starts when you're pregnant.
(39:55):
It doesn't start after you have the baby.
No, Yeah, life, life changes forpretty quick.
Pretty quick. Yeah, that's amazing about that.
I'm I'm so happy to be able to share this with people.
Thank you so much. Give us your website one more
time. Yeah, thank you.
So my website ischerishingbirth.com that is
(40:18):
ww.thewordcherishingwithingbirth.com.Awesome.
And from that, you know, I advise that an individual, if
they want to, if they're interested in my service
services, there's a contact formthere, just reach out to me.
Again, I like to meet an individual where they're at and
(40:41):
the uniqueness of, of their situation.
And so usually, you know, I liketo have like a little brief
conversation and get to know people a little bit and exactly
what they're looking for and howI can serve them.
But as far as the scope of my service, it's fast, it is
complete. I have all the tools to help
emotionally, removing fears, anxieties, increasing
(41:04):
confidence, educating you about the pregnancy, having a healthy
pregnancy, providing resources where needed.
If there's anything that an individual's kind of dealing
with, for example, pelvic problems, right, just giving
them resources and the tools to really thrive and feel well
(41:26):
holistically, that's really whatit's all about.
And then again. All the questions that come up
because, God, there's tons of them, yeah.
Yeah, and sometimes providers are not available.
Like I'm a part of some Facebookgroups for moms and the the
questions that I see coming on there, it just shows to me, you
know, the need of individuals having access to other
(41:49):
professionals such as doula, doulas and child work educators
because they're asking questionslike, oh, I think this happened
to my body. I'm seeing this coming out and
like, you know, and they're asking other strangers online,
like what do I do? How should I feel about this
when they have providers, OK, that they can't access their
(42:10):
providers at the time or some ofthem don't feel safe enough to
ask the questions. Whatever it is, it's a
combination of a lot of things, but a lot of things are kind of
being missed. And so having a doula, having a
childbirth educator, having an another individual that is
trained in birth in the holisticaspect of it, mentally,
(42:33):
emotionally, physically, spiritually is really another
really intricate tool and empowering tool and necessary
tool to reduce fear and to increase that confidence and to
literally enhance the the life and the well-being of the family
unit. Awesome.
(42:55):
You do a lot of work with the with the parents, with the
people around there, but you also do a lot of work with the
spirit coming in. That is, that's the area that I
see. And of course, we work with all
the time in the work that I do and that last more than a
lifetime. Sometimes we carry these
imprints for multiple lifetimes in different ways.
So the work you're doing, my dear, is incredible.
(43:17):
Thank you so much for sharing itwith us today and, and for for
being there doing the work you're doing.
It's awesome. Thank you.
It's an it's an absolute honor and I'm honored to have been
chosen to do this work. And I really do get that.
It is. Yeah.
It's it's a big service to the spirits coming in.
And that's why I have such an emphasis on really like, OK,
(43:41):
where are we at? Like, how can I help to make
this a happy, a happier, healthier experience for you,
right? Because I know bottom line,
everybody wants that for the baby, for the baby coming in,
but I'm going to love up on the baby and I'm going to love up on
the mom and the partner as well in the process.
Awesome, awesome. Thanks for sharing with us
(44:01):
today, Reverend Levon, Thank youso much for your work and, and
for your time and for sharing somuch with yourself with with all
of us here today. Well done my dear, well done.
Thank you and thank you so much for having me.
It's an honor and thank you for all of the work that you do.
As Baba my sweet, take care. As Baba.
(44:53):
Music.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.