#63 Family & Cultural Influences on Birth Stories with Arlene Lammy

In this episode we're talking with birth and postpartum doula Arlene Lammy of New Wave Perinatal Services (https://www.newwavedoula.com). Warning: this episode is full of beautiful stories and laughter! Arlene shares how she came to be invited to her nephew’s birth, the loss of her mother to breast cancer, the moment during her nephew’s birth which inspired her to start working in the birth world and the concept of mothering the mother in the birth room. She shares her fascination with placentas along with a funny story about her nephew’s placenta and her family culture of discussing the topic. Getting her period is also discussed because of how her West Indian culture influenced how her family approached that momentous event. She shares her mother’s birth experiences here in the US and how different those experiences were from her sister’s birth experience and why she felt to emboldened by that event. A discussion of induction comes up as well as prematurity and how her father was impacted by her nephew’s birth as a preemie. The thread of black maternal health starts to be seen as she talks about her sister’s prenatal care and the induction decision. We talk about how her background as an early childhood education teacher helped her prepare for helping her sister and becoming a doula. And she reflects on how helping her sister postpartum allowed her to look at her work as a daycare teacher differently and appreciate the parents of the babies and kids she was taking care of at work. She reflects on how her father being present for the early days of his grandson’s life was so important, especially because her mother wasn’t there but also because of how intergenerational Caribbean families so often are. This episode ends on the topic of breaking rules for good reasons. Be sure to listen to Episode 64 to continue listening to Arlene. To learn more about Arlene and her services, see https://www.newwavedoula.com