Some days I am just plain thankful for the great ones. Today just happens to be the last day of the year and I happen to be especially thankful for them. My first full year of attending births as a doula - wow!  Yes, great ones. Care providers, I mean.  I do a lot of wishing the other ones didn't exist.  But they still do.  Big sigh. I guess it just makes the work I do much easier when I have a birth every once in a while with a great care provider. Someone who has (usually) had a chance to get to know the woman I am supporting, knows her hopes and fears, knows how to communicate with her (this includes listening), BELIEVES in her, asks her opinion and thoughts in any kind of situation where a recommendation might be in order, knows labor and birth without intervention, knows when some intervention might be beneficial, and can confidently make an important call if need be for safety reasons.  These happen to be the same care providers that appreciate my presence at the birth and know how we all work together as a team and it unfolds so naturally and perfectly for the laboring mom.  Honestly, there are not a lot of them out there, but besides the ones I know personally and continue to refer my clients to if I see a switch is on the horizon, I do get a few surprises now and then.   I feel lucky to know at least one or more in each type of birth setting - home, birth center, hospital.  My hope for the new year is to encounter more care providers that I respect.  I just want my clients to be treated with respect, treated like human beings, like the smart women that they are.  Just to be clear...that is in a big way based on honesty - NO lies or manipulation and NO misleading or omitting information to get consent for things like induction.  And normalizing long labors instead of acting like it means something is wrong or that she deserves to be saved!  Especially the early stage!  Instead of making a woman feel like her body is failing her by not dilating quickly enough and admitting her too early with plans to augment her labor, the great ones will normalize it.  Yes, even though it might be a better/easier situation for the care provider if things moved faster.  My clients are grown up and intelligent women, completely capable of understanding information if given all of it.  Completely capable of participating in a discussion about what might be the best option for HER care. 
I end the year with thanks for my own midwife and some other midwives I love to attend births with because of the great care they provide women.  Hugs to you!!!  <3  I hope to meet more like them in the coming year.  Looking forward to a year of wonderful births shared with the great ones and some new lovely clients taking advantage of their great care. <3

In the Philadelphia area and want to know the great care providers???  Don't hesitate to send me an email.