We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alaina Bierema. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alaina below.
Alaina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
My parents helped me develop my heart for others!
I grew up in church. Every Sunday looked the same for us, get up, big breakfast, dress up, and off to church. As a child it can become incredibly mundane, and honestly, I don’t even remember so many of the lessons they taught each Sunday. But what sticks out the most, was the times we served. We spent countless weekends cleaning others yards, painting schools, passing out water bottles, and doing whatever we could to serve our community! This to me felt more like church than actual church. The act of leaving our temple, and going out into the world brought so much joy for me, and helped me learn so much about the love of Jesus. This is ultimately why I do what I do. Jesus shares the story of the shepherd that left the 99 sheep to go after the one. This is what I feel called to do. I want to leave the comfort of numbers, and chase after those who need the help the most. Right now that’s pregnant moms. I’m honored to support anyone who’s having a baby, but feel especially called to support teen moms and single moms!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’ve loved babies since I was practically an infant myself. I grew up working in church nurse nursery, babysitting, and nannying! However, in High School, I had a friend who got pregnant, and I had the honor of supporting her through alot of her labor! I saw so many things that I loved, but also alot of things that just didn’t make sense to me. So from there my respect and love for moms grew! I dove head first into studying about all things birth, and decided that I wanted to go into birthwork! I started taking classes on anatomy, became childbirth educator, then a doula!
I offer my clients informational, physical, and emotional support before, during and after the birth of their baby! During pregnancy this looks like childbirth education, answering questions they may have, giving them exercises or stretches to alleviate pain, and helping them prepare for a successful birth! At the birth, I use intuitive and hands on skills to help support a physiologic birth. This includes ways to reduce pain, but also to use body work and positioning to allow baby to position themselves and rotate through the pelvis optimally! This reduces the risk of C Section and other unnecessary interventions. I also help them use a variety of “brain hacks” and other techniques to support their body’s hormonal balance. This reduces pain, helps birth progress faster, and reduces the need for interventions.
Unfortunately, the United States has an extremely high maternal mortality rate for an industrialized nation (this rate is even higher for BIPOC women). Part of this is because of our high C Section Rate and use of unnecessary interventions during birth. With a traditional hospital birth, essentially the whole experience is set up against physiologic birth. The bright lights, noises, constant interruptions, and alot of standard policies can impact a laboring parent. All of this, in combination with the culture we’ve developed of “just letting the doctor handle things” or “i’ll just go with the flow” when it comes to birth, has essentially taken alot of the power away from the birthing people. As a doula, I’m not here to save my clients from the system, but rather to equip them to navigate it with knowledge, power, and confidence so they can come out on the other side saying “I did it” rather than “it happened to me”. The birth experience of a parent profoundly impacts their physical, mental, and emotional health for the rest of their lives! This is an experience people remember, and I want it to be one they remember fondly. A day of love and power, not trauma and grief.
A lot of people have this conceived notion that doulas a these crunchy hypno zen people that hold your hand and maybe give you a stick to bite on. When I’ve told people that I’m a doula I’ve gotten responses like “oh, you like rub the moms backs?” or “oh yeah, I was there when my friend had her baby, so I’m sort of like a doula too!”. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Are there hippy crunchy doulas? Yes. And I bet they’re awesome. But when it comes to the work I do, I like to think I’m more of a “Brain Doula” or “Scholarly Doula”. I’m proud of all of the education and knowledge of acquired over the years. Everything I share with my clients is evidence based information. I teach about things like neuroplasticity, the psycho neuro endocrine connection, sports psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, and a handful of other neuroscience based topics that all relate back to birth! I also spend time on the anatomy and physiology of birth, learning about the common interventions and what the evidence says about them. Not only do I teach all of this, but I bring all of this into the birth space and use it to support them during their births. Through the entirety of their labor I’m analyzing how they’re holding themselves, what they’re saying, how they’re saying it, how they’re moving, and even their contraction patterns. I then use this to make changes in the environment, gently guide them back to their rhythm, encourage movements in their body to make room for the baby, and ultimately have the safest, most empowered birth they can! This is just a short list of everything I can do at a birth, but what I value about these things is that it shows the scholarly side of what I do, which isn’t something that all doulas have to offer.
I am proud of the fact that I have something to offer pretty much anyone that comes my way. Even if I don’t have the answer for them, someone in the network I’ve build will. With that being said, everyone needs a doula. There’s a misconception that only people planning a home birth or natural birth need a doula. So not true. I support everyone, no matter what type of birth they’re having. Homebirth, hospital, epidural, C Section, your name it, I’m there. Alot of people thing that “natural birth” is the best type of birth, or the birth I want you to have. The matter of it is, I want you to have the birth you want to have. But, I want you to go into it confident, knowing all of your options, and feeling fully supported.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
Empathy. The ability to put yourself into someones shoes, and truely understand what they’re going through helps so much with supporting them. It’s one thing to witness someone’s pain and feel bad. Then to get down in the dirt with them and understand the pain is the next level. But the best is the ability is to understand the pain, feel it with them, but stay above it just enough to give them the tools to work through it is the ultimate doula skill.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I always recommend people read Story Brand by Donald Miller. This book is more so about marketing and building your brand, but I think it’s a really great philosophy to follow, espescially for those who work so closely and intimately with people. The main idea is that people need to be the hero of their own story. I couldn’t agree more. As a doula, I work closely with parents that are just entering to this new phase of life, going through an intense physiologic process, and, yes, they absolutely need support for this. However, they don’t need to be saved from this. Putting myself in the position to guide them into parenthood with confidence, rather than saving them from what’s to come, really puts myself in a favorable position as far as marketing goes, but I think it’s just a good philosophy. Success for my clients looks like them saying “We did it!”, not “We’ve been saved”.
Contact Info:
- Website: humblebeginningsgr.com
- Instagram: @humblebeginnings.gr
- Facebook: @humblebeginnings.gr
Image Credits
Dutch Mama Doula & Photographer