u/Unusual_Bumblebee_48

I have been drawn to doula work for a long time, but only now starting to think more seriously about it. Wondering if it would be too hard while I am still building my own family (but also the family is a big motivation to even do it).

Context: I work full time and have a 1 year old baby. I would like to have baby #2 at some point in the next 2-4 years (timeline TBD)

I am thinking postpartum doula first, and maybe expanding into birth doula down the road when I'm done having my own kids. Now seems like potentially a good time to start. My thought is that I'll do it as a side hustle for a while (probably until I get pregnant with #2, whenever that may be), get some experience and positive reviews, and then at some point (probably after baby #2 is done BFing) I will quit my full time job and doula will become my primary income.

Some of my thoughts / concerns are...

Part of the draw to this is that I could work odd hours like nights and evenings and save on daycare. I think we'd still need part time daycare but that would still save a lot compared to full time. I don't need to make as much as i do in my current job if we are saving significantly on daycare. Is this schedule realistic as a postpartum doula?

It seems like the main demand for postpartum doulas is night shift. Will I totally hate doing night shift and then coming home and dealing with young kids? I definitely wouldn't plan to do night shift full time, but maybe a couple nights a week?

Any experiences, advice, anecdotes, etc are welcome...​

Hello friends!

A few months ago I posted my pregnancy and birth story. (Here: https://www.reddit.com/r/vaginismus/s/PMIb4V6CYk ).

For a brief summary if you dont want to read the old post - I had primary vaginismus, was cured via PT at age ~21, married the guy that supported me through my whole vaginismus journey, had our beautiful baby last summer at age 27. As soon as I got pregnant my vaginismus came back and I have been unable to have PIV since winter 2024. I shared what insertion-related stuff happened during pregnancy, talked about how my vaginismus returned, and then shared a brief overview of my vaginal birth experience. When I left off, my vaginismus was still back in full swing but I had hope.

For an update... My sex drive was ZERO for several months after giving birth, not because of vaginismus but because hormones. For that reason, we didn't really give PIV a good try until around 5 months postpartum. And even though I was in the mood, we weren't able to get it in. We tried a few more times, each with no luck, and then decided to stop trying and start back at the beginning with 1 finger.

Over the next few months, we slowly worked our way up until.... Last night we had PIV!!!! It was sloooooow and a bit uncomfy so we still have some work to do, but we did it!! I am almost 10 months postpartum, so it took patience. I probably would have benefitted from pelvic floor therapy to help speed things along, but i haven't found a good one in my area and after pregnancy/birth I am honestly just done with medical bills for a while. Luckily I have the muscle memory from being cured in the past so just had to practice and overcome the mental block.

I am so happy to share this update. It took time, and it took more than a year of PIV away from us, but I have my wonderful son and I am on my way to being cured again!

We would like to have at least 1 more baby and I am not really sure how I would change anything. Like, could do more preventative PT or relaxation exercises or something to prepare next time?? Unsure. That will take more thinking. Luckily we dont plan to try for a couple more years, so for now we celebrate progress!