Meet Tunisia Macklin of Peaceful Birthing Doula in Northwest Suburbs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tunisia Macklin.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Tunisia. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My story started when I was a young lady watching births on channel 11 with my Mom. My mother was a nurse and a Birth junky. When my Mother was pregnant it was a family experience. I so enjoyed every one of her pregnancies. My Mother would go in labor and no matter what I would spend time with her. She would labor in the tub, walk the halls and lay down. I would be there for her through the entire experience until it was time for her to go to the hospital. I loved Birth even then. I know many women would be afraid of birth and I just didn’t see it in that way. Birth is Beautiful.

After a while I had become the person who was asked by friends and family to support them while in labor. I never thought of it as a job and I definitely didn’t know what a Doula was at the time. I became a Massage therapist first and fell in love with assisting people in their journey in healing. It was great. I was so excited that people trusted me. I learned pretty quickly that therapeutic and sport massage were my passion. During that time I also learned that I wanted to teach and I became a massage instructor around 4 years after graduating.

I found out about a doula and what they do from a co-worker after telling her about a friend’s birth I attended. I had always had the impression that you can only have one passion. I now know that is not true. I was trained by Tikvah Wadley a DONA international certified trainer that was absolutely phenomenal. I completed the workshop and 2 weeks after I found out I was pregnant with my Husband and I rainbow baby. I couldn’t stay away from birth even while pregnant. I remember being in the Birth room with one of my clients, I was 2 weeks away from my estimated due date having some very random contractions while I was supporting my client. The Dr. at RPW noticed and he and the nurse became nervous. I recall him saying do we need to bring another bed in the room? My client and I laughed realizing how connected we had become and that I was responding to her labor.

Every family has impacted my life. Every Birth worker I have ever worked with has also impacted my life. As I continue to practice massage therapy I crave to work as a Doula & Placenta Encapsulator more as well.

Encouraging, Educating, supporting and serving woman and their families is a passion that continue to grow. Every woman deserves a Doula to assist them a having a beautiful Birth with as few to no interventions. I love helping woman who desire to have VBAC Births or need help as a New Mom nervous about what to expect in labor and birth. These women are who drive me to continue to grow as a Doula.

Since being a doula I have started to blog. My blog is http://peacefulbirthingdoulaservices.blogspot.com, I write about how I experienced my encounter with the family and experienced their birth. I want women to read my blog and understand there is more to birth than screaming and hard work. There is an experience in Birth. You make your Birth what it is no matter what the outcome is whether you have a vaginal birth, interventions or a C-section. Every woman story is different. One thing I would like them to walk away with is understand your Birth is your Birth enjoy it and own it.

Has it been a smooth road?
Building business in Birth work is not easy. While growing a business I have come to learn that every season is different. I have to remember every woman doesn’t understand the value and benefit of having a Doula, massage therapist and Placenta Encapsulator on their support team.

I am an introvert/extrovert and so approaching women in public has been tough and keeping up with marketing are difficult. Majority of what is necessary requires finances which are limited for me at the time,

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Peaceful Birthing Doula story. Tell us more about the business.
Peaceful Birthing Doula is a company that offers labor/Birth support, Placenta encapsulation services and Massage therapy. I specialize in Labor support and vaginal birth after C-section (VBAC support) and postpartum family preparation.

I am proud of the level of support I am able to provide for each family. Most of all I am passionate about Prenatal education and support. I love educating the families about things about the woman body, things to expect during changes, labor and birth and preparing for possible outcomes and how to process the information allowing them make sound decisions. I believe my family preparation is very detail for not just focusing on baby but also the relationship between the parents to keep family focusing on nurturing their relationship as well.

I don’t just support the labor and Birth I support the family.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The trend now appears to be Doula agencies. I believe the birthing industry is changing especially people I learning more about the benefit of midwives. Obstetrician are not the desired child birth support anymore. I believe as midwifery continues to bloom so will doula and placenta encapsulation. There is too much evidence proving that hiring a doula reduces your chances of having to experience induction, vacuum or forcep birth or epidural.

I also believe more hospital will start to be more welcoming to doula on staff. Many hospitals have bad reputations because they are known for keeping Mom’s on their back without movement, large epidural and C-section rates. Once they realize that more women are becoming more educated about Birth and their options they will offer doula services and encourage the nursing staff to be natural birth friendly.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.peacefulbirthingdoula.com
• Phone: 630-481-6079
• Email: peacefulbirthingdoula@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/peacefulbdoula
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/peacefulbirthingdoula
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/peacefulbdoula

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