In the quiet hush of the labor & delivery room, where the air is charged with anticipation and the scent of earthiness and birthyness, a new chapter in your life unfolds. The rhythmic cadence of your breath is mirrored by the gentle whispers of your doula, a reassuring presence in this oh so sacred moment. The culmination of nine months… maybe more, leads to this: the first hour with your newborn.
When I was selecting items for my baby registry, it was really important to me to not go overboard. As a doula of 14 years, I’ve seen families get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff in their homes and nurseries and I knew I wanted to keep things on the simpler side. I also wanted to be mindful of the impact on not only the environment, but also my baby’s microbiome - which meant finding a lot of eco-friendly products to keep waste down and keep our home as “low tox” as possible. Here you’ll find some of my favorite sustainable and most useful items that I registered for.
The Doulas of Orange County office phone rings.
I pick up. “Hello! Doulas of Orange County. Lauren speaking.”
A strained voice sounds relieved to hear me, and it sounds like she has been crying. She’s an exhausted new mom of 12-week old twins and a 20-month-old toddler (who won’t let her out of his sight). She’s drained from her twin pregnancy, a difficult birth, and breastfeeding challenges. She struggles to keep up with laundry and wash enough dishes to have plates for the next meal. Her partner has been trying to feed the baby at night, but she’s still waking up to pump for multiples and can’t help but feel guilty about how tired her partner will be at work the next day. She really needs a postpartum doula in Irvine, CA.
“Can you help me, even though my babies are so old?” She asks.
DOC is a doula matching service, providing prenatal, birth and newborn parenting support to families in Orange County, California. We have a wonderful team of dedicated Birth and Postpartum Doulas, Sleep Coaches, Newborn Care Specialists and Parent Educators who provide compassionate care through every step of our client's journey.
When life calls for a pivot, sometimes you’ve just got to listen and go with the flow.
That’s what we were called to do earlier this year when the laws around hiring independent contractors changed in California. If you haven’t read up on it (and the ramifications of it) we encourage you to do so because it’s affecting a lot of industries and a lot of people.
As a doula agency, all of our team members were ICs or independent contractors, which ultimately meant that we as the agency were in charge of booking the clients and then we’d contract the work out to doulas who applied to be a part of our team. This gave our doulas the freedom to accept or decline work as they chose, allowed them to set their own hours and schedule, and provided us the assurance that if our customers weren’t 100% satisfied, that as an agency we could find a solution to ensure their expectations and needs were being met.
But with the passing of AB5 we found ourselves unsure of how we could move forward. According to our attorney, the options were limited but we had to choose one where we were operating within constructs of the new law. One such option was making our doulas employees which we did strongly consider, but ultimately decided against. The reason being that there was no way we could guarantee a certain amount of work each week or month, we didn’t want to micro-manage how doulas provided their services and also because the costs associated with hiring employees would mean that we wouldn’t be able pay our doulas (or ourselves) enough to keep the business running or make it worth everyone’s time and energy.
If you’ve been around for a while, you know that we advocate for doulas charging their worth. Yes, even newly trained doulas. And it didn’t sit right with us to consider reducing wages or reducing the amount of work we could send them each calendar year (which maintaining them as independent contractors would force us to do).
After some brainstorming and more consultations with our incredible attorney, we came up with what we now see as the optimal solution - one that provides Orange County families incredible support and ensures that doulas are paid their worth!
With this new approach to care, the cornerstones of Doulas of Orange County have not changed. We still highly vet each team member to make sure they are professional and qualified. We still have the highest standards in the industry to enhance the quality of care you receive. We still mentor and encourage our doulas so they can balance the work-life load that comes with this career. We still strive to get to know the expecting or new parents that are looking for doula support so we can match them with doulas and specialists that meet their families needs.
The main difference in our new matching service and the doula agency is that instead of booking with Doulas of Orange County, we refer inquiries to qualified doulas based on the matching criteria they share with us. From there the inquiring families can choose which doula they want to hire! Each doula pays a membership and referral fee to be a part of our platform and is free to set their own schedule, their own pricing, services and more.
With the doulas setting their own pricing and offering specialty packages and services, we can also cater to a wider variety of budgets. Finances are always a big part of the equation when looking for a doula and with this matching service we can match you with someone within your price range.
Honestly, it is the best of all worlds and we’re so glad to have found this solution!
If you’re interested in being a part of our team, we encourage you to read more about how we operate and apply here.
And if you’re an expecting mom or dad or you just had a baby and are looking for birth and postpartum doulas in Orange County, Long Beach, San Diego or the Inland Empire we would be honored to match you with several amazing doulas or newborn care specialists to interview! We take care of all the vetting, including running background checks and verifying trainings to ensure that the matches you receive are top notch, professional doulas! To start the matching process, fill out our birth and postpartum care questionnaire.
Being forced to pivot isn’t the easiest thing, especially in the middle of an already hectic year (hello pandemic!), but in this case, it has truly been a positive development and one that we’re excited to see flourish. Thank you to our incredible team members who have been patient through this transition and to our badass attorney who guided us through the process.
We’re happy to have the opportunity to stick with doing what we love! Thank you for sticking with us too!
