Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Bernazza and Courtney Busha-Lopez.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Lauren: Hey y’all, I’m Lauren. I’m a Birth + Postpartum Doula, Twin Educator, Perinatal-Focused Yogi, and Mama to four wild children with my partner of 18 years, Tim. I entered birth work in 2017 after benefiting from amazing postpartum support with the birth of my second set of spontaneous twins. It was a wildly different experience from my first postpartum time and our whole family felt lifted and supported with a solid care plan in place. I knew that supporting families through this transition was the work I was meant to do. Like parenthood, birthwork has offered a monumental growth opportunity to me physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Being so close to the energetic portal of birth puts life in such a clear perspective! This work has led me to dive deep into my personal yoga practice, become a certified yoga teacher for prenatal and postpartum people, study energy healing and to find clarity through sobriety. So much gratitude!
Courtney: Hi, I’m Courtney! I’m a Birth + Postpartum Doula, Lamaze Childbirth Educator, and beginning my journey to be home birth midwife!
I have always felt the call to be in a nurturing role for others and work in maternal services. During my time studying to be a social worker, I was continually drawn to and curious about birth-work. After reading Ina May’s Spiritual Midwifery – I immediately booked my first training and dove headfirst into becoming a Doula.
I’ve learned so much in my five years of practice and now have a clear vision of how I can make substantial change by becoming a Midwife.
I am so lucky to share this passion with my husband Blas, who I often refer to as my COO and my personal “life Doula” – he has wholeheartedly encouraged me along this emotional journey.
This work has allowed me to tap into my power as an empath and become my truest self – diving deep into spirituality and emotional healing.
It is truly an honor to share such a powerful and vulnerable space with so many families!
Lauren: We started our partnership in the Summer of 2020, while hospitals were still closed to in person Doula support and we were both having to evaluate what our future as birth workers would look like after lockdown was lifted. We spent several months working behind the scenes on clarifying and manifesting our ideal clients and building a solid birth business that provided mindful, inclusive, and evidence-based support to Metro Atlanta families. Courtney and I have based our partnership on connection and communication and I really believe that all the love we’ve put into our business and friendship has brought us the most amazing clients in return.
We’ve been fortunate to work with so many amazing families over the past couple of years, and our abundance has only grown the more we’ve honed in on who our ideal client really is. When most doulas start out, we’re just so excited to be hired that we often have some not so great matches in our early career – we all learn from this! We’ve found our sweet spot is families looking for unmedicated hospital birth, home birth, and birth center experiences. We also support families through planned cesareans and inductions with lots of medical support – we’re just truly looking for the personal connection and trust with each family as our starting point. We also focus on supporting LGBTQ+ families and families of color through the birth and postpartum experience. Birthwork is inherently political and supporting families through a broken medical system is a form of activism. I aim to be humbly disobedient daily!
Courtney: We are both so passionate about inclusivity and shaking up the conversations – bringing up topics that are often avoided and maybe make you blush!
Looking forward, we’re so excited to continue building our diverse community and our unique offerings. We plan on expanding into all areas of reproductive health and education starting with menstruating youth and all the way through menopausal support.
By adding Midwifery into our practice – I’ll be able to provide a continuity of care that spans through each of life’s stages and physical/emotional changes. There is such a huge need for understanding and opening conversations about body awareness and autonomy, healthy sexual activity, intimacy beyond sex, and I am just so excited to be THAT Midwife.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Lauren: Our biggest business struggle is probably the same as most small business owners – you are every aspect of the business! We both got into this work because it’s a passion and a calling, not because we love balancing spreadsheets, building our web presence, and keeping client forms organized. Before we took our very first client together, we started using a client resource management software program called Dubsado that was SO MUCH WORK to set up but now allows us focus more on what we love…serving our clients. It also allows us to keep all client information, notes, and resources securely online where both we and our clients have access 24/7. It’s been a total game-changer for us and was the first big investment we made in our business.
Courtney: The fiery passion and love we have for this work makes it “easy.” But the highly emotionally charged atmosphere, lots of uncertain variables and working with such a variety of health care workers makes it very difficult at times. Personally, I have to take intentional time to rest and mentally recover afterwards. We sometimes experience our own kind of trauma as witnesses of these high-impact life events – and it can be hard to process. Having a supportive husband and a partner like Lauren keeps me balanced and focused when we have tough days. It’s pretty special when you have someone that can hold you after you’ve done the holding for another family – we’ve created a beautiful support system for one another that makes it feel safer.
It’s also safe to say that a lot of people who begin birth work are not necessarily professionals in business and finance. There was never a question of IF I wanted to do this work, but there were about 1000 questions of how the hell do I get a BUSINESS to work and be an active contributor to my household. Having a partner to learn all this with and be a guide has been absolutely invaluable.
We’ve been impressed with Doulas of ATL, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Lauren: Our business is Doulas of ATL and we offer support to families through birth and postpartum Doula services, personalized childbirth education, twin prep class, perinatal yoga, and birth blessing ceremony. We offer a mindful approach to birth and postpartum while providing evidence-based support to our clients.
An aspect of our business that sets us apart is that we practice in a partnership model where our clients have access to both of us throughout their entire pregnancy and postpartum time. Courtney and I offer a hive mind of our lived experiences and knowledge to our clients so they are always getting our very best combined support. WE ARE OUR BRAND and we love that clients feel like they already know us after visiting our website!
Courtney: Lauren and I have clear shared pillars of practice that we bring to our families: Postpartum preparation, mindful and intuitive connection, and empowered body autonomy. We really strive to connect with families that have not just an understanding about what this transition means – but passionate preparation about their labor or postpartum experience.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Courtney: This pandemic has affected every aspect of birthwork. Since it began the majority of hospitals have closed their doors to Doulas, leaving countless families without that specialized in-person support that we provide during a vulnerable time. So many people have a growing distrust of the misinformation in our current health care systems, which has led to more people hiring Doulas than ever before. More families were transferring to home births, taking more childbirth education courses, and utilizing postpartum Doula support. With so many people being separated and quarantined from their support systems, we were filling multiple roles in our client’s lives. It was challenging and massively rewarding at the same time to provide full-circle care.
This pandemic has heavily highlighted the DESPERATE need for more of an overall supportive health care system for birthing people, more evidence-based care, and the invaluable resources that Doulas provide both prenatal and postpartum.
It was very challenging to see so many lose their jobs and stability while our business flourished – but we turned to our community and supported those around us the best we could and continue to do so.
Lauren: I definitely agree with everything Courtney has shared. The isolation that so many worldwide have felt and are feeling still from the pandemic is what a regular postpartum experience feels like for so many new families. The comparison also lends itself to the bombardment of constantly changing guidelines and information that is hard to sort out.
A positive glimmer we’ve seen is that support systems are coming through now in different ways because they’ve had a recent reminder of how hard isolation can be. Meal trains can look like friends across the country sending you take out for dinner or ordering you groceries for porch drop off. We’ve had our postpartum services added to baby registries so family and friends can combine funding to get our clients in person support they can’t provide. Technology has allowed creative support options to shine.
Pricing:
- Birth Services Package – $1600
- Postpartum Support – $40-50/hr
- Twin Prep Course – $300
- Lamaze Childbirth Education- $375
- Birth Blessing Ceremony – $300+
Contact Info:
- Email: Doulasofatl@gmail.com
- Website: www.doulasofatl.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/doulasofatl?utm_medium=copy_link
Image Credits
Gabriela Isabel Photography https://instagram.com/gabriela.isabel.photography?utm_medium=copy_link
