Picture this ...
You're at your baby shower, after the games, the hugs, the cake, the punch, the old photos of you and your partner as newborns, and you're just about to open the final gift on the table. Little do you know, this baby gift is likely one of the most valuable that anyone could give you.
Instead of finding another set of socks or an additional adorable outfit, you discover that the gift-giver has bestowed you with a truly unique treasure.
Imagine that, within that single, little box, you'll find the gifts (yep, plural as in, more than one gift) of:
- Time: For yourself, for your partner, for your older children, to bond with your new baby, for your hobbies, for making decisions without pressure or feeling rushed
- Confidence: To make choices that feel right for you, for your baby and for your family
- Comfort and relaxation: In those final months of pregnancy, during birth, and in the earliest days of postpartum
- Education and preparation: About birth, your baby, routines and systems that will make your everyday life easier
- Quality sleep: Yes! It really can happen! Daytime naps (sleep when the baby sleeps!) or restful sleep at night; you choose!
- No judgement: No "I told you so's" or "When you were little, we..." or "Well, you turned out fine!"
- Light housework completed: Folded laundry and fresh sheets on your bed go a long way!
- Meals and snacks: Healthy, home-cooked dinners, and breakfasts, and one-handed snacks all prepped and ready to be eaten right now, or stored in the freezer for later
- A safe place: To vent, cry, process, or talk about your birth, pregnancy, life, or your in-laws, as needed
- A web of unconditional support: From before birth, during, and into the earliest days of postpartum and beyond. We never our clients slip through the cracks or feel alone in this journey at any stage along the way.
All of those gifts? That's what you get with the support of an Emerald Doula. Really.
One of our most favorite things to do at EmDo is to help families create gift registries with us. Families will coordinate with their shower attendants for Doula Dollars to be gifted instead of baby gear or clothes (that may not ever be worn).
It's a super creative gift for the holidays, or for a co-worker, a close friend, or a relative. Contributions can be pooled together, or each person can email us to set up a gift that we'll tally and apply for one of our clients. So, no matter how large or small, each gift makes a BIG impact.
Clients, you get to choose how those Doula Dollars are spent. Use them for classes, yoga, birth doula support, help with lactation and infant feeding, or postpartum doula hours.
If you're interested in setting up a registry for yourself or for someone you love who's expecting a baby soon, please email us and we'll happily coordinate it!