Finding Peace in Destin, FL: CAPPA Conference 2016

Welcome to Destin, Florida!!!!

This past October, my sister Kelly and I, made our way from sunny California to an even sunnier Florida to attend our annual conference with our certifying agency CAPPA (Childbirth & Postpartum Professional Association). One thing we can do to keep up our motivation to learn, expand our business, and prevent burnout, is to participate in our association conferences. Who wouldn’t want to do that in a place as beautiful as Sandestin Beach in Destin, FL?!!!!

Our adventure was not lacking in chaos as we traveled three flights where we encountered horrendous turbulence, a fake-out landing (you don’t even want to know), and an extremely entertaining taxi ride from a lady I can only describe as ‘feeling comfortable enough to tell us her ENTIRE life story!’. However, as we arrived at the Sandestin Beach & Golf Resort we felt right at home with our doula sisters, in a setting more peaceful that I can explain.

Our conference experience was pleasantly mixed with learning, socializing, networking, and experiencing Florida in true tourist fashion. We attended workshops on the impact of marijuana use by expecting and breastfeeding mothers, dynamic parenting education for millennial parents, perinatal addiction and neonatal abstinence, and much more! I had the pleasure of meeting my professional idol, Jan Tedder, the owner of HUG Your Baby, a program I recently certified in as a parent educator and an amazing education tool for parents and professionals alike.  We reconnected with our trainer/mentor and made many new friends and doula sisters. As a way to help build the bridge of friendship among all of us professionals -and as a way to allow us the ability to let it all go and enjoy ourselves for one night- CAPPA hosts a social get-together for us all to talk, dance, drink, and enjoy other like-minded professionals. This year our party theme was ‘tacky tourist’, a very fitting theme to the iconic Floridian tourist population. All of the ladies donned their best flamingo outfits, fanny packs, and wild hats; then spent the evening letting loose and shaking off all of our hard-work from the current year!

On our downtime, Kelly and I took advantage of the AMAZING beaches with sugar white sand, turquoise water, and beautiful people enjoying the sun. We were able to sneak away to Baytowne Warf- the cutest village town I’ve ever seen- and explore the rest of the magnificent resort property.

Unfortunately our trip came to an end. The conference wrapped up, doula sisters went their separate ways, and Kelly and I headed to the airport. While it is always sad to leave our conferences and head back to reality, there is also the exciting announcement of next years conference location. Soooooo…..we said goodbye to Destin, Florida and we will see everyone at CAPPA’s 2017 conference in Portland, Maine!!!!

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I was in heaven…

So what exactly is a ‘doula’? A labor/birth doula is a woman (I disagree and would like to give a shout out to some of the amazing Man-Doula’s we have out there!), who provides physical and emotional support to women and their families during labor and birth. A doula gives the families evidence-based information and resources to help them make informed choices and ‘she’ also helps advocate for their client. They are there to support the families’ choice in birth and to help ensure they have the most positive experience possible. Now for my definition: A doula is a support person who provides emotional and physical support during the prenatal period, labor and birth. ‘She’ is a friend, a companion, a shoulder to cry on, an anxiety reducer, a listening ear to vent too and often times a mediator.  ‘She’ is involved in an intimate part of their life; thus, making ‘her’ role an honorable one.

How does one train to become a labor doula? Well technically, formal training is not required in the United States; however, it is highly recommended. There are well established associations such as CAPPA (Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association) and DONA that are highly sought after for training. I trained with CAPPA and have not regretted my decision once! I attended the weekend in-person training in Avila Beach, CA with trainer/mentor, Terri Woods, CLD, (where I became ‘almost granola’) and then I was on my own (ok, not really, I had a ton of support from CAPPA and my peers) to continue my certification process. Some of the requirements for CAPPA certification are to observe three births and obtain positive evaluation forms from clients and caregivers, read a TON of books, attend breastfeeding and childbirth classes, pass an exam, essay questions and a few other steps. I immediately started tackling the reading and soon my entire world was consumed with pregnancy, birth and newborns…..I had found my place…. I was in heaven.