![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seattle2018.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/erika_davis_photos_edited-1-1024x684.jpg\")
Erika Davis has helped birth over twenty babies over her six years as a doula. She\u2019s part of a growing movement to advocate for mothers and families before, during, and after the birthing process.<\/p><\/div>\n
Davis has been a doula<\/a> for six years and says she\u2019s helped more than 20 individuals and families give birth. A self-described \u201cblack, Jewish, dyke,\u201d her training started in Brooklyn, New York where she realized she didn\u2019t want to be a midwife. She decided instead to become a doula.<\/p>\n Doulas provide a wide range of pregnancy and childbirth support, which can include childbirth education, prenatal and postpartum care.<\/p>\n \u201cI like to say a doula is from the waist up, and a midwife is from the belly button down,\u201d Davis explains.<\/p>\n Though doulas are not medical professionals, some parents and moms are turning to midwives and doulas instead of traditional hospitals for more support during the birth process<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Davis warns they\u2019re not the magic wands to a perfect birth, she believes there\u2019s a doula for everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want an Asian doula, there are Asian doulas,\u201d Davis says. \u201cIf you want a free doula, there are tons of free doulas. If you want a trans person, there\u2019s trans doulas. There\u2019s literally a doula for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of Davis\u2019 appeal to clients is her intersectional identity as a black, gay, Jewish woman. She says she has shared the same experiences that queer parents face and recognizes the fears some women of color have about maternal health, which can make her clients feel safer.<\/p>\n She says she has shared the same experiences that queer parents face and recognizes the fears some women of color have about maternal health, which can make her clients feel safer. <\/span><\/p>\n It also means there\u2019s less time spent on questions about culture and understanding nuanced identities with her clients: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to explain it. It allows us to just get to work,\u201d Davis adds.<\/p>\n For first-time parents Nicole and Eddie Minkoff, they wanted someone they could feel safe with. Friends advised them if you could only afford birthing classes or a doula, get a doula.<\/p>\n Nicole Minkoff suffered from all-day sickness during her pregnancy which worried her about giving birth \u2014 would it be long? What if there were complications? But Minkoff says Davis alleviated her angst.<\/p>\n Eddie Minkoff holds his new baby and smiles at his wife Nicole while they talk about their experience with Erika Davis as their doula.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cI remember how safe and comfortable I felt with her,\u201d Nicole Minkoff says. She and her partner knew Erika Davis through the local Jewish community and decided to have her as both their birth and postpartum doula, a relationship that involved working together for five months.<\/p>\n In May, Nicole gave birth to a baby boy: six pounds, 12 ounces.<\/p>\n Eddie says whenever he got nervous during the birth, he would turn to Davis and she would respond with a giant grin.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was supportive, and also just like a rock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n New mom Nicole Minkoff holds her seven week old baby boy at home in Seattle.<\/p><\/div>\n Davis and her wife imagine having two kids, sometimes even four. But it\u2019s been a difficult process. Fibroids and other personal health issues have been a hurdle.<\/p>\n Two years ago, she walked into her doctor\u2019s office for a prenatal check up only to be told there was no heartbeat.<\/p>\n Doctors suggested waiting and letting her body process the miscarriage but Davis didn\u2019t want that. She had the fetus removed through a process known as D&C, dilation and curettage. The process ended up taking several visits because of complications.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the doctors saying there\u2019s no heartbeat to the end was the worst month of my life,\u201d Davis remembers. \u201cIt was awful.”<\/p>\n For Davis, the miscarriage was hard. No one seemed to be talking about it, despite research showing that miscarriage happens in one in four pregnancies<\/a>. But data is hard to pinpoint. Many times, women don\u2019t report their miscarriage and how data is collected varies by counties and states.<\/p>\n While Washington as a state has one of the better maternal outcomes<\/a> in the U.S., when the data is broken down by race, disparities appear.<\/p>\n According to a report<\/a> by the Washington Department of Health, African American and Native mothers have twice the infant mortality rate of their white counterparts. For every thousand births, nearly nine African American babies die. For American Indian and Native babies, that rate is 8.4. White babies have the lowest mortality rate in the state at 4.2 deaths.<\/p>\n Infant mortality rates in the state of Washington, broken down by county. Source: Data from Washington Department of Health, Infant Mortality Reduction Report, December 2017.<\/p><\/div>\n The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <\/a>also finds that nationally, black women have 3 to 4 times more pregnancy-related deaths than white women.<\/p>\n For Davis, those statistics are unacceptable. She wants to center her work around helping other black women bring babies into the world safely and respectfully. \u201cBeing a doula allows you to see their humanity,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Davis\u2019 services are booked straight through the year.<\/p>\n In fact, her doula bag is already packed and in her car. This weekend, she\u2019s waiting for the call \u2014 the one that says the baby is coming.<\/p>\n She\u2019s got all the essentials: massage rollers for aching muscles, aromatherapy oils to relax the senses, hair ties and a fan to cool off mom.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so nice to hold a fresh baby,\u201d Davis says with a laugh.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_team_member _builder_version=”3.6″ name=”By Esmy Jimenez” image_url=”https:\/\/seattle2018.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/Esmy_Jimenez-e1531244763429.jpg” \/][et_pb_audio _builder_version=”3.6″ title=”Listen to Erika Davis\u2019 doula story” image_url=”https:\/\/seattle2018.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/erika_davis_photos_edited-1-1080×721-1.jpg” audio=”https:\/\/seattle2018.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/Esmy_Doula.mp3″ \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.6″ disabled=”off” disabled_on=”||on”][et_pb_column type=”3_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.6″]<\/p>\n by Esmy Jimenez<\/em><\/p>\n Erika Davis loves making life grow.<\/p>\n Her front yard is covered with tall corn, sprawling kale and cucumbers. Inside her Tacoma home, green ivy falls along her bookshelves. She motions towards a corner of the house where a garden spider sits still.<\/p>\n \u201cShe keeps making her web there, so we just let her be,\u201d Davis says.<\/p>\n Erika Davis has helped birth over twenty babies over her six years as a doula. She\u2019s part of a growing movement to advocate for mothers and families before, during, and after the birthing process.<\/p><\/div>\n Davis has been a doula<\/a> for six years and says she\u2019s helped more than 20 individuals and families give birth. A self-described \u201cblack, Jewish, dyke,\u201d her training started in Brooklyn, New York where she realized she didn\u2019t want to be a midwife. She decided instead to become a doula.<\/p>\n Doulas provide a wide range of pregnancy and childbirth support, which can include childbirth education, prenatal and postpartum care.<\/p>\n \u201cI like to say a doula is from the waist up, and a midwife is from the belly button down,\u201d Davis explains.<\/p>\n Though doulas are not medical professionals, some parents and moms are turning to midwives and doulas instead of traditional hospitals for more support during the birth process<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Davis warns they\u2019re not the magic wands to a perfect birth, she believes there\u2019s a doula for everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want an Asian doula, there are Asian doulas,\u201d Davis says. \u201cIf you want a free doula, there are tons of free doulas. If you want a trans person, there\u2019s trans doulas. There\u2019s literally a doula for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of Davis\u2019 appeal to clients is her intersectional identity as a black, gay, Jewish woman. She says she has shared the same experiences that queer parents face and recognizes the fears some women of color have about maternal health, which can make her clients feel safer.<\/p>\n She says she has shared the same experiences that queer parents face and recognizes the fears some women of color have about maternal health, which can make her clients feel safer. <\/span><\/p>\n It also means there\u2019s less time spent on questions about culture and understanding nuanced identities with her clients: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to explain it. It allows us to just get to work,\u201d Davis adds.<\/p>\n For first-time parents Nicole and Eddie Minkoff, they wanted someone they could feel safe with. Friends advised them if you could only afford birthing classes or a doula, get a doula.<\/p>\n Nicole Minkoff suffered from all-day sickness during her pregnancy which worried her about giving birth \u2014 would it be long? What if there were complications? But Minkoff says Davis alleviated her angst.<\/p>\n Eddie Minkoff holds his new baby and smiles at his wife Nicole while they talk about their experience with Erika Davis as their doula.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cI remember how safe and comfortable I felt with her,\u201d Nicole Minkoff says. She and her partner knew Erika Davis through the local Jewish community and decided to have her as both their birth and postpartum doula, a relationship that involved working together for five months.<\/p>\n In May, Nicole gave birth to a baby boy: six pounds, 12 ounces.<\/p>\n Eddie says whenever he got nervous during the birth, he would turn to Davis and she would respond with a giant grin.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was supportive, and also just like a rock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n New mom Nicole Minkoff holds her seven week old baby boy at home in Seattle.<\/p><\/div>\n Davis and her wife imagine having two kids, sometimes even four. But it\u2019s been a difficult process. Fibroids and other personal health issues have been a hurdle.<\/p>\n Two years ago, she walked into her doctor\u2019s office for a prenatal check up only to be told there was no heartbeat.<\/p>\n Doctors suggested waiting and letting her body process the miscarriage but Davis didn\u2019t want that. She had the fetus removed through a process known as D&C, dilation and curettage. The process ended up taking several visits because of complications.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the doctors saying there\u2019s no heartbeat to the end was the worst month of my life,\u201d Davis remembers. \u201cIt was awful.”<\/p>\n For Davis, the miscarriage was hard. No one seemed to be talking about it, despite research showing that miscarriage happens in one in four pregnancies<\/a>. But data is hard to pinpoint. Many times, women don\u2019t report their miscarriage and how data is collected varies by counties and states.<\/p>\n While Washington as a state has one of the better maternal outcomes<\/a> in the U.S., when the data is broken down by race, disparities appear.<\/p>\n According to a report<\/a> by the Washington Department of Health, African American and Native mothers have twice the infant mortality rate of their white counterparts. For every thousand births, nearly nine African American babies die. For American Indian and Native babies, that rate is 8.4. White babies have the lowest mortality rate in the state at 4.2 deaths.<\/p>\n Infant mortality rates in the state of Washington, broken down by county. Source: Data from Washington Department of Health, Infant Mortality Reduction Report, December 2017.<\/p><\/div>\n The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <\/a>also finds that nationally, black women have 3 to 4 times more pregnancy-related deaths than white women.<\/p>\n For Davis, those statistics are unacceptable. She wants to center her work around helping other black women bring babies into the world safely and respectfully. \u201cBeing a doula allows you to see their humanity,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Davis\u2019 services are booked straight through the year.<\/p>\n In fact, her doula bag is already packed and in her car. This weekend, she\u2019s waiting for the call \u2014 the one that says the baby is coming.<\/p>\n She\u2019s got all the essentials: massage rollers for aching muscles, aromatherapy oils to relax the senses, hair ties and a fan to cool off mom.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so nice to hold a fresh baby,\u201d Davis says with a laugh.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_audio _builder_version=”3.6″ title=”Listen to Erika Davis\u2019 doula story” image_url=”https:\/\/seattle2018.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/erika_davis_photos_edited-1-1080×721-1.jpg” audio=”https:\/\/seattle2018.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/Esmy_Doula.mp3″ \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Erika Davis delivers hope for Puget Sound\u2019s marginalized mothers Erika Davis loves making life grow. Her front yard is covered with tall corn, sprawling kale and cucumbers. Inside her Tacoma home, green ivy falls along her bookshelves. She motions towards a corner of the house where a garden spider sits still. \u201cShe keeps making her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" Erika Davis loves making life grow.<\/p> Her front yard is covered with tall corn, sprawling kale and cucumbers. Inside her Tacoma home, green ivy falls along her bookshelves. She motions towards a corner of the house where a garden spider sits still.<\/p> \u201cShe keeps making her web there, so we just let her be,\u201d Davis says.<\/p>[caption id=\"attachment_333\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1024\"] Davis has been a doula<\/a> for six years and says she\u2019s helped more than 20 individuals and families give birth. A self-described \u201cblack, Jewish, dyke,\u201d her training started in Brooklyn, New York where she realized she didn\u2019t want to be a midwife. She decided instead to become a doula.<\/p> Doulas provide a wide range of pregnancy and childbirth support, which can include childbirth education, prenatal and postpartum care.<\/p> \u201cI like to say a doula is from the waist up, and a midwife is from the belly button down,\u201d Davis explains.<\/p> Though doulas are not medical professionals, some parents and moms are turning to midwives and doulas instead of traditional hospitals for more support during the birth process<\/a>.<\/p> While Davis warns they\u2019re not the magic wands to a perfect birth, she believes there\u2019s a doula for everyone.<\/p> \u201cIf you want an Asian doula, there are Asian doulas,\u201d Davis says. \u201cIf you want a free doula, there are tons of free doulas. If you want a trans person, there\u2019s trans doulas. There\u2019s literally a doula for everyone.\u201d<\/p> Part of Davis\u2019 appeal to clients is her intersectional identity as a black, gay, Jewish woman. She says she has shared the same experiences that queer parents face and recognizes the fears some women of color have about maternal health, which can make her clients feel safer.<\/p> She says she has shared the same experiences that queer parents face and recognizes the fears some women of color have about maternal health, which can make her clients feel safer. <\/span><\/p> It also means there\u2019s less time spent on questions about culture and understanding nuanced identities with her clients: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to explain it. It allows us to just get to work,\u201d Davis adds.<\/p> For first-time parents Nicole and Eddie Minkoff, they wanted someone they could feel safe with. Friends advised them if you could only afford birthing classes or a doula, get a doula.<\/p> Nicole Minkoff suffered from all-day sickness during her pregnancy which worried her about giving birth \u2014 would it be long? What if there were complications? But Minkoff says Davis alleviated her angst.<\/p>[caption id=\"attachment_201\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1024\"] \u201cI remember how safe and comfortable I felt with her,\u201d Nicole Minkoff says. She and her partner knew Erika Davis through the local Jewish community and decided to have her as both their birth and postpartum doula, a relationship that involved working together for five months.<\/p> In May, Nicole gave birth to a baby boy: six pounds, 12 ounces.<\/p> Eddie says whenever he got nervous during the birth, he would turn to Davis and she would respond with a giant grin.<\/p> \u201cShe was supportive, and also just like a rock,\u201d he said.<\/p>[caption id=\"attachment_200\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1024\"] Davis and her wife imagine having two kids, sometimes even four. But it\u2019s been a difficult process. Fibroids and other personal health issues have been a hurdle.<\/p> Two years ago, she walked into her doctor\u2019s office for a prenatal check up only to be told there was no heartbeat.<\/p> Doctors suggested waiting and letting her body process the miscarriage but Davis didn\u2019t want that. She had the fetus removed through a process known as D&C, dilation and curettage. The process ended up taking several visits because of complications.<\/p> \u201cFrom the doctors saying there\u2019s no heartbeat to the end was the worst month of my life,\u201d Davis remembers. \u201cIt was awful.\"<\/p> For Davis, the miscarriage was hard. No one seemed to be talking about it, despite research showing that miscarriage happens in one in four pregnancies<\/a>. But data is hard to pinpoint. Many times, women don\u2019t report their miscarriage and how data is collected varies by counties and states.<\/p> While Washington as a state has one of the better maternal outcomes<\/a> in the U.S., when the data is broken down by race, disparities appear.<\/p>6 Pounds, 12 Ounces<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seattle2018.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/esmy_photos_edited-1-1024x684.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seattle2018.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/esmy_photos_edited-2-1024x684.jpg\")
Baby Blues<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seattle2018.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/Screen-Shot-2018-07-13-at-11.13.51-AM-e1531509773599.png\")
Erika Davis delivers hope for Puget Sound\u2019s marginalized mothers<\/h1>\n
6 Pounds, 12 Ounces<\/h3>\n
Baby Blues<\/h3>\n
Erika Davis delivers hope for Puget Sound\u2019s marginalized mothers<\/h1>
Erika Davis has helped birth over twenty babies over her six years as a doula. She\u2019s part of a growing movement to advocate for mothers and families before, during, and after the birthing process.[\/caption]6 Pounds, 12 Ounces<\/h3>
Eddie Minkoff holds his new baby and smiles at his wife Nicole while they talk about their experience with Erika Davis as their doula.[\/caption] New mom Nicole Minkoff holds her seven week old baby boy at home in Seattle.[\/caption]Baby Blues<\/h3>
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seattle2018.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/Screen-Shot-2018-07-13-at-11.13.51-AM-1024x656.png\")
Infant mortality rates in the state of Washington, broken down by county. Source: Data from Washington Department of Health, Infant Mortality Reduction Report, December 2017.[\/caption]