hey there everybody I am here with my trusty birth companion it is what I have brought to every birth
for the last nine years out of the 13 years that I have been doing doula work and that is my trusty
birth companion my doula bag so this backpack has been amazing it's been a great size it's been very
sturdy and reliable but it's really in need of a makeover now the reason I know it's in need of a
makeover is because it's unorganized inside and I found myself unzipping and zipping the pockets
and rifling around and making a lot of noise at my last few births and I realized that really what I
want out of a doula bag is a bag that's organized where I open it up I know exactly where things are
and not anything extra or any trash accumulating just everything put together and organized so it's
time for this girl to get a makeover okay before I start I really have to show you something funny
from my last from the current status of my back as I was cleaning it out I'm not going to show
you the weird trash and honey sticks that should have been thrown away but I have a few funny
things that I want to show two things actually one sometimes if there is something that's unused
that is a that's a medical product that's unused I will put it in my bag to be used later make me
to be shown in childbirth class or something like that so I have a strap from a fetal monitor that
was brand new never touched and they were gonna put it in medical waste and I picked it up and
put in my bag totally okay just kind of funny but I never did take it to the childbirth class
like I was going to so now I know I cleaned it out and I can bring it to class okay the other
funny thing in my bag is what accumulated so have you ever found yourself wondering like I
hope that's in my bag that's what happened with me with my battery-operated candle the tea lights in
particular I for some reason was always worried that they would burn out so sometimes my wind of
birth I would grab another grass next row and just put it in my bag so I found that at the bottom of
my dog I had a lot of extra tea lights that would just accumulate because I had this fear that they
were gonna burn out so - funny I wonder if you guys have anything like that that's accumulating
in your back so keep everything organized in the bag I'm using the strategy of using smaller bags
that will hold different items that have some kind of common theme so that way when I'm packing and
unpacking I can remember oh that's in this themed bag or that thing back so let me show you what
I've got I'm starting with five zipper pouches so these zipper pouches are from your doula bag
I've got two of the smaller sized pouches so one size side has the small I'm the doula one
has the other are the small size pouches and then I have three of the larger sized pouches two of
this style and one with the doula world fabric so these are going to be my themed pouches that
I will use to organize and put inside my back so let's get started with these little bags now
each of them I said that they have a theme and I also gave them a name just to keep them in my
head and keep them straight when I'm repacking and packing now the little zipper pouches I have two
of the same fabric for the pouches and so I put a button on the one that is my stay fresh pouch
so I'm starting with this one because to me it's critical that I have this at a birth so all of
these items are items to keep myself feeling good and feeling fresh so I have things like unscented
hand lotion I think as we don't want to how many extra smells with uh set of birth I have a travel
sized toothbrush and a travel sized toothpaste use it almost every single birth I like to stop by the
bathroom use the restroom and brush my teeth if I'm meeting them at the hospital or if I have a
quick second before I go into the hospital room if I don't have any time or access to a sink I
like to keep these a little wisp Colgate wisp many toothbrushes that are disposable to brush
my teeth sometimes I'll do it in the car because I do definitely caffeinate myself have coffee on
the way to a birth no matter what time it is I'm a coffee lover deodorant I like to have this no
explanation necessary and then also a lip balm for myself I try to throw an extra in there for
my client if they don't have one just you know as a spare that's unopened but this one's for me and
then these two things you might not have a need for but I wear contacts daily wear and if it is
a long extended birth I like to make sure that I have an extra pair and I also try to remember to
throw my glasses into this pouch before I leave so that I can take my contacts out sometime
during the night and then put in a fresh pair of contacts the next morning and then I'm not someone
who takes a lot of pain medication but I do have this medication which is benadryl and I found out
the hard way that I should keep this in my bag so if I'm ever with clients that have cats and
I'm supporting them at home then I need to have benadryl around because I have a pretty strong
cat allergy and it's not pretty I don't have it the benadryl so that is my stay fresh pouch and
it's really critical and an important one it has the button on it so I should be able to go right
to it grab it put my hands on it maybe even take it into the bathroom with me on a bathroom break
and freshen up that's okay number two which my quick-change pouch so this is the one the only
one in the doula world fabric so I can easily spot it and this is going to be my extra spare set of
clothes so in my spare set of clothes I keep extra socks I keep scrub pants and then I keep
a spare doula shirt now this doula shirt is not my favorite but it's extra so I keep it in there
and the pants are not my favorite but they're on a quick change only if I need to and then
the socks you can't see right now but they're not actually matching socks I'll show you ones green
ones pink but I thought that I can put them in here because who really cares by matching if I
get splashed with some kind of fluids or from the shower and I put on my outfit that's just really
not my favorite but it's still workable it's much better than being in wet clothes not shown is
extra sports bra and underwear again my second my least favorites that I can just keep in there and
they can live in there now what I always have to remember is if I use my quick change clothes at
a birth that I have to take my dirty clothes and put them in the wash along with my quick change so
I can always keep this kind and ready to go so that's bag number two bag number three is what
I'm calling my start hair back so I have two of these this style bag and I actually put a little
uterus keychain on this bag to denote start here now what's inside my start here bag and why I gave
it that name is because when I get to a hospital I like to set up a battery operated candles so I
have two battery operated candles in this bag and I like to put them in the bathroom as one
of the first things that I do when I get there I also take out my raposo which is in my bag as
well now this probably doesn't look like a rebozo typical Mexican rebozo to you but it is a woven
wrap that I used as a mom and it's it really works great as a repose oh and it just it has a lot of
meaning to me and makes me happy in you know we need a little bit of happiness and support when
we are working with a client too so I take this out and put it on the counter and it's ready to go
and then the last thing that I throw in the start here that are these cones so comas for acupressure
um I would say to my clients try them out see if they work maybe they'll at least be a distraction
if they don't actually help with pain management in labor but those are all three in my start here
back so that's my first bag to go to when I am at a hospital with a client so the fourth bag that I
want to show you is my lots of tools bag so this is my main bag of typical sort of tools that I
would use to support a client and labor now but most the one that I use the most I'll show you
first and that is this portable ice bin so the portable ice bin is a little cooler and when I
get there I put ice and water and wash cloths in there it doesn't leak and I keep it on the
counter so then when my client might need a fresh cool washcloth it's ready to go that is used at
every birth the next thing that I use a lot is my hand fan so my hand fan is used at so many births
I'm sure if you guys have done this and then your arm gets tired so then you have to switch to your
other side and I'm just not as coordinated that way I'm getting better though so the plastic hand
fan is super helpful I have a rice sock so that is used I use that sometimes more on clients home
at the hospital these days but a good rice sock is nice to have a tennis ball of course can be great
for massage for pressure points you guys know how helpful those are and then my two reference guides
that I bring along one is my labor progress handbook now this puppy has been with me for
a long time this is my original flavor progress handbook I bought right after my doula training
so it is old it has been well loved but I've used some of the pages it looks like it got wet along
the way some of the pages are dog-eared and I just can't part with it I know that I need the
new version penny sempkin but I don't have it yet because I just love this one so much so but it is
like the doula Bible I have looked up positions and shown them to midwives and Obie's and
nurses and said how about we try this right here something about showing it in a book it just makes
it more legitimate right and then I have my other reference piece that I bring is the limp and loose
and Labour note card so these are just little drawings of how to stay limp and loose and relaxed
I like to just throw it out and clients can look at it we can go through them and try them out and
it's fun for us all the partner and the laboring woman and myself to use the different techniques
so that is my fourth bag which I call my lots of tools back now the fifth bag is very important I
didn't mean to leave it last but it is the nourish bag so in the nourish bag it's my snacks right
snack bag and of course it's the same size as the stay fresh bag doesn't have a pin on it but it I
have some of my favorite snacks packs I love to have a power bar and usually I try to have a fun
power bar like chocolate chip peppermint stick and then chocolate brownies because it's kind of
like protein and fun chocolate at the same time I love these almond butter packets these Justinian's
Allman Brothers butter packets I also love nuts so these are almonds little almond snacks if we
have any walnuts in the house I will pack a little Tupperware bin and throw them in here or a little
ziplock and put them in here too because I love walnuts they just seem to be like the perfect
thing for birth it almost like a little treat for me and then the other two things I use her myself
and offer to clients so we've got some honey six and dum dum lollipops so those are for me or for
clients are for partners or for visitors the rest of these though I keep very close and if
I am heading out of the room for maybe a bathroom break or a five minute break instead of walking
out holding a snack I just can grab my whole snack bag and I'm very excited to have all my
dogs all my snacks kind of centrally located like that so in addition to the five zipper pouches my
backpack itself has a few pockets that I utilize to organize things so it has two side pockets
and then it has a two main front pockets I use so the first of the side pockets right here is where
I keep my water bottle and a spare pump I usually bring a ball with me and labor so that if it needs
to be pumped up I'm ready to go this second side pocket is a zipper pocket and in this one I like
to keep a couple things that are important which is an extra phone charger and earbuds now ideally
I have a spare set of both of these that I keep in my doula bag but right now I don't have a spare
set so it's something I need to remember because I really like to have both of those when I'm with my
clients especially the charger right and then this is where I keep my packet of the men and hygiene
products so the front pockets on the top front pocket of this backpack I have a little padded
compartment I'm not sure if you guys can see that it's a padded compartment so this is where that
I've been really good at keeping the same thing in here for years and years and years and that is my
essential oils so I keep peppermint and lavender that I've use not topically but I will put on
maybe a little paper towel just mom change mood and then these puppies so I do not steal these
from the hospital however if my client has one out right and she hasn't closed five and she's ready
to use them and then at the end of the labor she never uses them they go into medical waste or they
can go into so that's where these have accumulated over the years they have come in really handy I
like to keep them up top ready to go if we get somewhere where I don't have access to these
than I do in my barracks and I got a lot of points one year when we had just walked into the hospital
room my client felt sick I opened it up I remember taking and throwing it to the partner he put his
hand and opened it up handed it over and she got sick so I felt like me we felt like such great
support people okay and then this in the bottom pocket is a zipper and in here is a little place
for me to put my keys and I do make it a habit of putting that there because when you've been up all
night and you haven't had sleep you need to know how to find your keys pretty easily of course if
you can't find them easily it probably shouldn't Drive but put them here I also keep my business
cards in this business card holder this does stay in my doula bag because there's nothing worse than
having a OB or Midwife ask you for business cards and you don't have them right so gotta have those
right there now this front section right here sometimes I use and sometimes I don't right now
I have extra business cards but those are really important sections of my backpack too and a
great place to keep things organized so we've gone through the inside of the doula bag the inside has
had a makeover I feel really good I feel like it will help me and really achieve my goals of being
able to put my hands on something and not disturb my clients the outside needs a makeover though
too and maybe it needs a little bit of flair maybe not necessarily 15 pieces of flair but maybe a few
so I thought I you have my hundred percent doula button but I thought I might add my I'm the doula
button and maybe a dual life button and maybe I might even put a little uterus pin right just to
add a little something make it kind of fun now if you enjoyed this video please don't hesitate to
give it a thumbs up if you liked watching doula videos and you were all about learning about
doulas and seeing how everybody works subscribe to the channel because I have a lot of extra videos
that cover different topics also if you're curious about the first video that I did with this doula
bag I can't believe I'm talking about it because it's kind of cringy to me but I will put the link
below in the comments so that you can look at it also link to the blog that has more information
about how the bag is set up and links to anything that's in the bag I will try to keep those all and
put them in there below the video so that you can check it out more and leave a comment I'd
love to know what am I missing is there something that seems like I'm glaringly missing that you
use in your doula bag don't hesitate to leave a comment let me know ok guys have a great day bye