I went and met with a new doula client tonight. I'll start off the story by saying she signed up for my services, but I wouldn't have blamed her if she didn't go with me! :)
Here's the funny story.
This lady was telling me about her best friend who had a doula for her birth. She said her best friend ended up with a c-section because her child was breach, and her doula didn't come for the c-section because she had a planned "procedure" that morning and their schedules clashed. I knew instantly that she was talking about me, but I wasn't sure she knew it was me that her friend had formerly hired.(does that make sense??)
:) The "procedure" was an ear tube removal because my eardrum had grown over the actual ear tube and it was infected and I was sick from it. My procedure was scheduled for 6 in the morning, and the former client's c-section was originally scheduled for 2 o'clock that same afternoon. No problem, right? I can do both! So the night before the c-section and my procedure (like 7 p.m. the night before), the former client called me and said that her c-section was rescheduled at the last moment to be at 7 the next morning. She knew I had that procedure, so she was freaking out. I couldn't call to cancel my procedure (which is what she expected me to do) when it was less than 12 hours away and the dr.'s office was closed. She didn't want me to send a backup doula, but I did anyways because that is what I agreed to in my client agreement. If I couldn't be present for a birth, I would send a doula in my place. So a doula was sent, and I recovered. The day after her c-section, I spent about 10 hours with her at the hospital helping her recover, and did the same the day after that. A total of 20 hours postpartum was spent with this former client (and 4 prenatal visits including childbirth education). I felt satisfied that I had made up for not being there for her birth (it was a c-section and I wouldn't have been able to be in the operating room anyways).
So back to the original story.. when this new client tonight was telling me about her best friends experience with her doula, I knew it was me! I must have had a look on my face when she was explaining about her friend because she asked me if I knew who it was. I had to speak up and say I think I knew who her doula was. The new client said, who? I said.. ME! We both laughed, and I told my side of the story and she understood why I couldn't be there, and why backup was sent. I told her I felt totally awful and hoped the 20 hours I spent with her postpartum and all of the prenatal appointments had made up for the day of her c-section when backup was sent. She just made me promise her that I'd be there for her birth, no matter what. I promised and pinky swore. :) We really really hit it off to begin with, so we had a good laugh when we figured out I was the doula her BFF had a less than stellar experience with. (totally not my fault, by the way!) She still ended up signing up with me.. and I hope I can totally be an awesome doula for her!
I look forward to going to her birth, and I know it will be a totally different experience for her than what her bestest experienced.
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