Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Bair.
Hi Jessica, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started my journey as a birth worker five months after giving birth to my first son. Our delivery was turbulent, to say the least. To set the scene, at the time, I was married to an active-duty marine who was stationed in Camp Lejeune, NC. Having grown up in Washington state I left all of my family cross country to start my own at 19.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I waltz through my pregnancy telling myself, “I’ll just figure it out as we go.” I had a rough idea of what I had seen and heard from others, but I didn’t have a clue what childbirth was going to be. I have never felt so alone, scared, and close to death as I did the day my son was born.
Traumatic doesn’t even start to describe my experience. I was thrown into an emergency induction after my bag of water ruptured at home the day before. I followed the rules, I did what they told me to. I didn’t drink anything or eat food. I stayed on the bed so they could listen to my baby. I had wanted to have an unmedicated birth, why wasn’t I told pitocin makes contractions worse??
I walked away from his delivery broken. I had experienced 2 failed epidurals, and the capillaries in my shoulders had all burst because I was pushing so hard. My cervix was bruised and swollen from coached purple pushing for two hours when my body wasn’t ready, and I wasn’t fully dilated. I had dislocated a rib on my left side.
I had a second-degree tear and a UTI from a poorly placed catheter. Did I require oxygen during pushing and after delivery, and my baby? My baby came out blue and not crying. After rough stimulation and some PPV (positive pressure ventilation), we finally heard a gurgled scream.
It took him a while to clear out his lungs and he was placed back on my chest to start the hellish journey of recovery. I was told over and over again, “Well, at least your baby made it.” or “That’s just how birth is”. Then why did I need months of therapy for PTSD? Why did I struggle for months with PPD? (postpartum depression) Why couldn’t I just nurse my baby? I was told this was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, why couldn’t I even talk about it without crying?
That is my origin story. That is where Lavender + Honey Doula Services started. During those late-night nursing sessions with tears streaming down my face, scrolling through Facebook I ran across a doula account. Instantly, my soul told me, “This is it. This is what we HAVE to do.” The next week, I enrolled in Stillbirthday. I became a birth and bereavement doula, working with low-income families and women with deployed spouses. Becoming a doula has healed every part of me that my first birth robbed me of.
Fast forward some time, our family moved back to Washington to be closer to family once my husband at the time’s military contract had ended. I had a beautiful, in-hospital, unmedicated birth with my second son. I had worked my entire pregnancy for this birth. I had done my research, put together the birth team I wanted, meditated, read, and studied. I walked away powerful. I had found my voice that 19-year-old me didn’t know I could have.
Fast forward to more time, I became a single mom to two toddler boys! We found ourselves in Utah while I put my life back together. I started to feel the pull to do more. Being a doula and now placenta encapsulator had always been a great side hustle as a stay-at-home mom, but I started to feel pulled to go into midwifery.
I had no idea how that was going to work as my life had just been turned upside down by divorce and relocating my then, 1 and 3-year-old boys. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Soon I was working with local CPMs and LDEMs in the area as a birth assistant. Meanwhile accepting doula clients and working as a phlebotomist to keep my small, broken family afloat.
What started as just a birth and bereavement doula has now become a birth and bereavement doula, placenta encapsulator, phlebotomist, IV tech, and birth assistant with a thriving business and starting the process to become a CPM (certified professional midwife). I am thankful every day my life fell apart so I could be where I am now.
My two boys have always been the driving force behind everything I do. I work countless hours so they have a steady home. I jumped feet first into a career as a birth worker so I could be a better mother and provide for the babies I was given. My journey as a birth worker is also a tribute to that 19-year-old girl that didn’t know what she was doing, scared, alone in a hospital bed.
I believe I will always take doula clients. Helping educate, advocate, and support families in these sacred spaces is an absolute dream come true. I love that my job feels like a fun little hobby! I am so excited to see where Lavender + Honey Doula Services goes as I take a leap more into midwifery as well as doula work and am so honored for every single person that has trusted me to step into their small bubble and be with them through an incredibly vulnerable moment.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t always been smooth. Unfortunately, just as life goes, I have had to relocate quite a bit and start my life over a few times.
Owning a business that runs off of a clientele and word of mouth it’s really hard the first few months trying to find a new community quickly and hit the ground running. Luckily, Utah feels like home for years to come!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Alongside doula work, I am a placenta encapsulator! It isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and that is perfectly fine.
The clients who do choose me as their encapsulator I am always so grateful for. It’s become a beautiful work as I get to create something new each time.
I offer placenta prints, umbilical keepsakes, placenta tinctures, placenta chocolates, and placenta salves, and even make my own hand-sifted herbal sitz baths and hand-sew ring slings that can be a great touch to package or sold individually.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Regardless of your birth plan or preferences, a doula can be a wonderful tool in your upcoming birth!
This is a huge life change and cultivating your village and finding the birth team that is right for you is worth the investment and time. Of course, we want the outcome of a healthy baby, but we also want a healthy mother as well.
Pricing:
- Doula Services $900-$1200
- Placenta Encapsulation $200 + add ons
- Doula + Placenta Services $1000-$1300
- Herbal Sitz Baths $10-$15
- Handmade Ring Slings $40
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lavenderhoneydoulaservices.godaddysites.com/
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/lavenderandhoneydoula
- Facebook: facebook.com/jess.doula.sbd
