Birth HERstory Blog
Celebrating the HERstory of Black women in BIRTH in the 21st Century
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“You do what’s best for your family. Always follow your heart to the degree it is respectful for the people who are a part of your life. And don’t let anyone discourage you. Whatever your passion is, you go for it." ~ Tunisia Macklin
Meet Tunisia Macklin, the Peaceful Birthing Doula. She has been a massage therapist for more than 15 years and professional doula and a placenta encapsulator for almost 10 years. However, birth has always been a part of her life and and a passion to which she feels called. While her nature is the "peaceful doula", she is also known to be unrelenting in her passion to teach women how to advocate for themselves in the hospital environment.
If you are ready to be inspired as well as ignited toward work with birthing families, you will appreciate this interview. Tell us what you think in the comments.
Listen to the Podcast:
2/24/2019
Birthing in South AfricaZinzile Seepie, the Zulu Doula, shares her insights and experiences with birth in in South Africa"I don't know if I would say having an unassisted birth was a decision. The more I learned about birth and the more I reflected on my first birth the more I realized that, even though it was this amazing experience, I was not free. It was a gorgeous birth, but the more I learned about birth and the more I grew in the birth world, the more I remembered my own experience as a child in rural KZN (KwaZulu-Natal), the brighter the discrepancies were in what I understood in terms of how free I was in that birth."
Prior to my unassisted birth, I had the opportunity to meet a number of women who'd had an unassisted birth. One in particular is a good friend of mine. She's had five or six unassisted home births. I'd watched a few of the home videos that her husband had made of her birthing their children. At first I thought she was crazy, but i also knew she was an incredibly spiritual person. And i recognized even then that that was not something she had done of her own human capacity or reasoning that she had. You have to be inspired and I definitely recognized that she was inspired by something than herself to make that decision.
Zinzile's First Birth The birth of my first son was a beautiful water birth in a very well-to-do birth center. It was majestic. There was a huge king size bed, a huge birthing bath, and candle light. It was dim. It was everything that you would want. It was the perfect environment - almost romantic. And I was so fortunate to have an amazing midwife. She was young and African. I remember getting to the hospital at night. There are flowers on the bed there was candlelight. It was dim. It was dark. It was beautiful.
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Dr. DoulaMy work is informed by my background – experiences, expertise, exposure, education & environment – as a woman, mother, wife, sister, educator, researcher, scholar, advocate, birth ally and legacy builder. #IAmTheAnswer #WeSaveOurselves Archives
December 2022
CategoriesAll African Women BirthHERstory Black Midwives Black Women Breastfeeding DrDoula Home Birth Postpartum Pregnancy |