Doula Scholarship Guest Interview with Yvonne McCombs
Doula Scholarship Guest Interview with Yvonne McCombs
What led you to this career? What led me to this career was my experiencing 8 pregnancy losses. After experiencing them alone and learning about the positive impact doulas provide this inspired me.
What do you enjoy most about work?What I enjoy most about my work is being able to help heal, find her strength and hope while grieving.
If you are a parent, how was your birth and postpartum?I am a parent and my birth postpartum was difficult. I am a black mother and did not have the best medical team around me the majority of my pregnancy to assist in educating me about better health decisions, at one point I almost lost my uterus due to hemorrhaging. After realizing that if I was going to live I needed to fight for myself. I became educated on black maternal health and postpartum and got a doula, she was very instrumental in my healing, my care and providing needed resources.
What resources would you want parents to have? Resources I would like other parents to have are educational courses. Black maternal mortality is on a rise and if everyone was educated, perhaps more help can be offered.
What is one unique thing about your business that your customers/clients love? One unique thing about my business that my customers/clients love is my ability to relate to them on a personal level due to my loss.
What's one thing you think the world needs to do to improve the lives of new parents (or people living in our service area)? One thing I think the world needs to do to improve the lives of new parents is love. Love without limits. Love will move you to offer a helping hand. Whether it be providing a hot meal, running errands. Resources etc. Love moves you to make another's' life easier.
What do you think is the hardest part of expecting a baby or becoming a parent? I think the hardest part of expecting a baby or becoming a parent is lack of education and being ill informed.
How do you start each day? I start each day with prayer, scripture and devotional.
What's your favorite thing to do in DC? I have never been to the DC area, however, if I ever were to visit I’d make a trip to the white house and the National Museum of African American History.
Yvonne was our 2nd place winner to the World Doula Week scholarship essay contest in spring 2020.
To help us in supporting more aspiring doulas and birth workers please donate to our Grow the Professional fund: