“Unbridled Mama Doula Services”. It is literally plastered across my business cards, Facebook/Instagram posts, and my website but what does it actually mean and why did I name my business that?
I feel like as a new-ish doula who is still breaking into the birthing world I owe my clients and the communities I serve, some background information on myself. Yes, my website gives you a pretty good idea about who I am but there’s more.
In two-thousand and eighteen after the birth of my second daughter, I began working as a freelance writer for an equestrian blog and I used the name “Unbridled Mama”. I have always been an avid equestrian and horses have played a major role in my life from the very beginning.
To me, the word unbridled captures everything that I feel is sacred. Unbridled is being free from restraints, free from outside opinions, and it allows you the space to find out who you truly are. An unbridled horse answers to absolutely no one but its own truest desires.
Then there’s mama. It’s pretty self-explanatory. In two-thousand and eighteen I had two lovely daughters who referred to me as Mama so I had been identifying as one ever since.
Now, let’s jump ahead. In the summer of two-thousand and twenty in the midst of a pandemic I was pregnant with my third daughter and just completed my first doula certification course. (To be honest, I have no idea what I was thinking when I decided to pursue my doula desires in the middle of a pandemic, but I did it and I’m sure happy I did. Maybe that will be a blog for a different day? Anyways!) And then it hit me. I needed a business name!
I knew I wanted to be inclusive to not only pregnant women but also to postpartum women, and women who were experiencing losses.. all the women! No woman left behind, right?! So I decided that the words unbridled and mama would still be incredibly fitting for how I wanted to be perceived in my community and the support I’d offer.
An Unbridled Mama, is a mother who knows exactly what she wants and how she wants it done. She is free from restraints, and outside opinions, and knows exactly who she is and what sets her soul on fire. Not only do I identify as an Unbridled Mama, but as a doula I want my clients to also feel like Unbridled Mamas. It is my job as their doula to allow them the space to find out who they are and what they want, and then I encourage it.
There is an incredible amount of power in knowing exactly what you want. Now imagine carrying that power over into your birthing, postpartum, or grieving space.
You can birth however you want. You can create your postpartum experience and set boundaries however you want. You can grieve an incredible loss however you want. You are not restrained to fit these personal life experiences into a tidy little box equipped with a perfect bow. YOU are an Unbridled Mama. Make that shit messy. Make it delectable. Make it fragile. Make it barbarous and free. Make it how you want it. That’s where your magic lies.
Now onto, Doula Services. As a doula, I identify as a full-spectrum doula so I knew from the beginning I didn’t want to limit myself. (Hello, unbridled energy. It’s been there all along!) My role as a full spectrum doula is to not only support your typical birthing and postpartum crowds, but also to support adoptions, surrogacy, abortions, and so much more!
My hope of adding, Doula Services, to my name was so that others would understand that I support so much more than just birth. Don’t get me wrong, births are absolutely marvelous and enchanting and quite possibly my favorite, but there’s so much more that women also need support though, and that’s what I’m here for.
When you put this all together, Unbridled Mama Doula Services is almost like my “doula philosophy” if you will. It’s a lens through which I serve my clients and offer support through.
I’m here to help birth women into Unbridled Mamas through many different avenues of love and support! Thank you for hanging out with me for this lengthy explanation and as always, remember that nothing outside of you has power over you.