This episode was inspired by my own, and many other mothers I spoke with, response to The Retrievals, a five part podcast series covering a horrific story of a lawsuit between several women and the Yale Fertility Center in Connecticut, where a nurse was stealing fentanyl that was used for pain management during egg retrievals and replacing it with saline. The women went through excruciating pain, and in each case and story you heard their pain minimized, not believed, or even scolded for their physical reactions, flinching and writhing, during the procedure. 

The podcast has been the topic of conversation for many of mom networks, something women everywhere can’t help but talk about. Not because the case outlined tragic neglect on Yale’s part to regulate narcotics, or because the nurse was so cruel, but because every woman I talked to related to the treatment of the victims in the story. Every woman, especially mothers, could relate to the feeling of gas-lighting, medical professionals minimizing their pain or symptoms, the feelings of being a number and dismissed when their outcomes were not positive. I related to this in my own birthing experience and one thing stood out to me, if the mothers or women are not to be believed in these moments, how can they be heard? Then I remembered my mother when my brother went through near-death health issues in his 20’s, furiously fighting doctors, health insurance, and researching endlessly to diagnose him and find him a cure. Who will fight like a mother for mothers when they need it most? This led me to the role of doulas.

This episode of Boss Mama Jama hosts Katie Braverman, a high school friend of Kate's who recently became a Doula after her own traumatic birthing experience. Katie says, "I like babies, but I LOVE moms". Hear Katie describe the role of a doula and why they're a critical advocate for women in their most important and vulnerable moments. Culture and medicine has changed how we give birth and care for mothers postpartum, but Doulas help maintain the lost forms of caring mothers.

In the face of rising maternal mortality, having a Doula support pre, during, and postpartum has meaningful health benefits; shorter labor, less likelihood of caesarean births, reduce racial disparities due to dismissive behavior in perinatal healthcare providers, lower perinatal costs.

Find Katie, Mama Bravely, Braverman @ https://mamabravely.com/

Source for Doula Care coverage and benefits @ https://healthlaw.org/