What should you expect if you are a Black Muslim woman who is expecting? And how might a doula be able to help? On this episode, we discuss these questions and more with The DC Doula herself, Malika Hook Muhammad. Tune in to learn more about how the medical system fails women of color, how home births and birthing centers differ from a hospital setting and how to choose the right people to be by your side in the delivery room.
Guest: Malika Hook Muhammad, @dcdoula, trained to be a doula in 2008 with Debra Pascali-Bonoro, author of Orgasmic Birth. She spent several years working with the Philadelphia Alliance for Labor Support, providing childbirth education and support to families with limited financial resources. Malika moved to the DC Area in 2011 and began providing DC doula services to parents throughout DC, Maryland, and Virginia. You can read more about her work at https://www.thedcdoula.com/
- Meet our interns Ayah and Hibba! [1:25]
- Checking in with Ikhlas on her pregnancy and journey into parenthood [7:10]
- What does a doula do? Malika breaks down the doula’s role as an advocate and support system for the expectant family [16:04]
- The unique challenges Black women face navigating the medial system [20:56]
- The spiritual component of birth work and accepting your higher calling [31:46]
- Advice for expectant fathers [45:51]
A good acronym to remember is BRAIN in any circumstance in life but specifically in birth. Think of the benefits, the risks, the alternatives, what your intuition says and what happens if we do nothing. If you can answer all those questions you can get the information you need to make a decision.
