Professional Labor Support
Posted by doularama | Filed under News
I live on a hilltop not far from a Stella D’Oro bakery. At the right time of day, when the wind mingles with the particles of baked dough just so, our neighborhood air is filled with sweet temptation.
Decades ago in Colombia, there was a small bakery which was known for miles for its egg bread, the aroma of which was enjoyed at the same time every day, as a long line formed outside for the delicious loaves. My uncle was delighted to have found a job in this fine establishment, until his revelatory first day of work. That morning before sun up, he was given his instructions and began mixing and kneading. When the defining moment came to turn this ordinary dough into the beloved egg bread, the owner poured a stream of yellow syrup, not resembling anything magical at all, into the dough. The divine egg bread’s aroma was the product of an artificial goop and my uncle’s spirits fell like a startled soufflé.
For almost a year now the secret ingredients at my local Stella D’Oro are in the hands of scabs. For many of the usual reasons, the workers have been on strike with their picket signs on Broadway, rallying support and asking for a public boycott. Now, I know it may seem like I’m making this up, but I hope you believe me when I tell you that, since the strike began, about once a week, the aroma of baking goods has been replaced by the burning smell of a batch gone awry.
So, am I writing all this just to make you hungry or to ask you to stop buying a certain product? No, here’s the good part. On one of those burned-cookie mornings I was on the bus that runs past the Stella D’Oro factory. I was talking to a woman and ended up telling her I am a doula. These days, people either respond with excited interest or have no idea what I’m talking about. The woman on the bus was getting ready to disembark as she asked, “What’s a douler?” Knowing I had little time, I told her that I provide professional labor support. She seemed thrilled and cheerily said as she headed out, “So you’re helping out the Stella D’Oro workers. That’s great. They really need the support!” If she had hung around a little longer, she may have been disappointed with my response.
Here it is for you, though:
The word Doula comes from the Greek word for the most important female slave or servant in an ancient Greek household, the woman who probably helped the lady of the house through her childbearing. Dana Raphael, in the book The Tender Gift described Doula as a “title for those individuals who surround, interact with and aid the mother at any time within the perinatal period.” Because of that book the word became used in the context in which we are using it today. A doula is a woman experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during, and just after childbirth. In the prenatal period, a doula can help women gain information so that they can have the power to make knowledge-based decisions rather than fear-based decisions.
It turns out, by the way, that the Stella D’Oro strikers did not need my labor support, as the judge ruled in their favor. I wouldn’t have been able to help them anyway, unless one of them was having a baby.
Tags: childbirth, doula, doulas, labor, pregnancy
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