Let Us Introduce Ourselves!
Hello Doulas of Arkansas!
As the Doula Alliance of Arkansas (DA-AR) grows and expands, we want to provide this community with regular blog posts. Our goal at the DA-AR blog is to bring you state and local information applicable to doula practice, practical information, personal stories and perspectives from all kinds of folks involved in birth work, and promoting community well-being.
As the blog gets rolling, we, as your regular bloggers, would like to introduce ourselves!
Desiree Girard-Baxter is a birthworker in Central Arkansas. She’s a full-spectrum doula, advanced lactation counselor, yoga teacher, babywearing instructor, craft enthusiast… and now a happy blogger for the Doula Alliance of Arkansas. She is one of the doulas at Balanced Mama in Little Rock, and runs their yoga and postpartum programs, as well as serving as the executive director of Balanced Mama’s non-profit, Everyone Deserves a Doula. In her personal life, she’s got two mostly grown children, a few elderly dogs, and is married to her favorite person. She’s particularly attached to her large extended family and her lively bunch of nieces and nephews! She’s always ready to encourage and lend her enthusiastic support to the people around her!
Robin Mero Butler is a birth doula and breastfeeding counselor in Carroll County/NWA, She is a former journalist, a grandmother to 4 boys, and runs the gift shop for Mercy Hospital Berryville as an auxiliary volunteer. She is married to Kevin and they live in the woods with their animals, lots of flowers and a creek.
We, Robin and Desiree, had the pleasure of meeting in person for the first time at a community event open to DA-AR members, on Aug. 30. A group of doulas and clients met at the office of Balanced Mama for a day of learning, building community, and gathering resources!
The non-profit arm of Balanced Mama, Everyone Deserves a Doula, has been working for the past year on a childbirth education project, and opened their doors to share what they’ve created with their sister doulas of the Doula Alliance.
A few pictures from the day…
Desiree (creator of the curriculum) being VERY excited about the project!
Everybody gets comfy by the end of the day!
Desiree introducing the curriculum.
Everyone Deserves a Doula exists to connect growing families in Central Arkansas with resources, supplies, and support. Thanks to a grant from the Blue & You Foundation, Everyone Deserves a Doula created a Mobile Childbirth Education childbirth class in a box! The purpose of the MCE is to support doulas across Arkansas to bring comprehensive, evidence-based childbirth and postpartum education to the people of their communities. Transportation, cost, availability, and awareness are all major barriers to pregnant folks in Arkansas. Everyone Deserves a Doula hopes that this class will help overcome some of those barriers.
The Mobile Childbirth Education box comes with everything you need to teach a childbirth class. Tactile teaching aids, slides, videos, take-home booklets with information, resources, and tools like birth and postpartum plan templates for participants. Everyone Deserves a Doula has also created a teacher edition of their Mobile Childbirth Education box to make teaching as easy as possible. The teacher edition includes instructions for using the teaching aids, suggested class discussion questions, and even snack and class set-up suggestions. The Mobile Childbirth Education box also includes things like nametags, pens, AV cords, and sign-in sheets.
The Mobile Childbirth Education box is currently available for doulas in Arkansas to checkout at no cost! If you’re interested in bringing this class to your community, reach out to Everyone Deserves a Doula at EDaDoula@gmail.com or to Desiree directly at 501-952-8241.
