It’s amazing how Erykah Badu can be both an old soul and a futuristic entity light years ahead. She is singularly timeless. Just one of the many, many superpowers of this mother/singer/songwriter who has mastered the gift of channeling creation. Last week, while making her rounds in anticipation of her new mixtape, But You Cain’t Use My Phone (now available on i-Tunes), and the premiere of the 2015 Soul Train Awards which she is hosting, Badu talked with the Sway in the Morning crew about another way she channels creation into the world – as a certified doula.
The word ‘doula’, according to the website DONA International, means “a woman who serves” and a doula is a someone trained to provide continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth. While speaking with Sway, Badu explained, “In my definition of a doula, when the spirit comes in we don’t know where they’re coming from, we just want them to feel good. I also sit at the bedsides of hospices, where souls are going out, too. Because, I mean, we’re taught what’s gonna happen but the main thing I want is for people’s spirits to be at peace, whatever happens next.”
Among the many benefits of having a doula, studies have shown that when doulas attend birth, labors are shorter with fewer complications, babies are healthier and they breastfeed more easily.
Since 2001, Badu has assisted in 40 births and she says she keeps in contact with all her babies, who affectionately call her their “Badoula”.
Badu, a mother of three, delivered each of her children by home birth, but it was the pregnancy of a friend that put her in alignment to pursue training as a doula. She tells Sway:
My best friends, two of them – stic.man [of Dead Prez] and his wife Afya – were in labor and I was on a flight and he called me and said that, ‘Afya told me to let you know that she’s in labor.’ And I re-routed my flight – This was in 2001 – to go to be with them here in Brooklyn. And I just stayed up with her. Her labor was natural, for fifty-two hours. Fifty-two hours. And I stayed up with her. I didn’t get sleepy or anything. I was able to just be there for her, whatever it took – singing, coaching, walking, bouncing, massaging. I had just had my son, a live, natural birth at home as well, so I had a little bit of experience. After that, I felt that well I can do this. I can be the welcoming committee for new spirits coming in. That’s when I decided to start studying for it. I became a doula about five years ago.
Black Midwifery
Before hospitals and technology became the norm, Black women relied on midwives. In traditional African culture, the midwife was the pillar of the community and keeper of sacred traditions. The International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC) cites that, “Grand (Granny) midwives taught women how to be mothers and taught men how to be good husbands and father, they played a large part in shaping cultural perceptions of motherhood as well as functioning as officiate in the rite of passage of becoming a mother.”
Sharon Robinson, critic and professor of midwifery and Black health care systems, states in her 1984 study for the Journal of Nurse-Midwifery that the first Black lay midwife came to America in 1619, bringing with her knowledge of health and healing based on her African background.
Like many other of our customs and traditions, racism and patriarchal systems became barriers for Black women to continue their practice of midwifery. Today, organizations such as the ICTC, Black Women Birthing Justice and Birthing Project USA to name a few are helping Black women connect with their African tradition of home births by providing training, resources, education and a community of support.
What’s the difference between a midwife and doula?
A midwife is a trained medical professional. Per the American Pregnancy Association, midwives hold certification accredited by the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC). With this certification they can work in private, public or group practice. Midwives can prescribe some medications, they can perform yearly gynecological exams, and they can deliver your child. They can also provide family planning, infant care, women’s health care, and provide prenatal and birthing care.
You can think of doulas like more of a coach for the mother. A doula should also go through training, certification and have experience with live births, but their primary job is really to be there for the mother throughout pregnancy, during the birth and in some cases, after delivery.
There are several doula certification programs available, including the more popular ones offered by ICTC, DONA, Childbirth Postpartum Professional Association (CPPA) and International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA).
In speaking about her own home births in an interview with Mantra Magazine, Badu shared, “My doula was very helpful too, but it still felt like I was being run over by a train and survived. [Laughter.] You know what I found out after that? I was surrounded by women in the room. I looked at myself and what was going on, and I said, “women are gods.”
Indeed we are, Goddess.
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