Maicah Habana offers a unique service that helps empower families while they bring their children into the world.
The birth doula owns and operates Apired Mama Birth Services, providing physical, emotional, informational, and spiritual support throughout pregnancy, labour, birth, and portpartum. Based on individual needs, she is able to prepare mothers and their loved ones as they go through pregnancy and child birth.
Habana was inspired to help mothers through their journey after she met a doula for the birth of her now five-year-old. She felt that having a doula by her side helped put her mind at ease, and informed her about all of the changes that were going to happen to her physically and spiritually during pregnancy and birth. After the birth of her own child, Habana had many conversations with friends, family, and parenting groups. She kept hearing that mothers and parents didn’t feel supported, and generally had bad experiences during their childbirth.
“I just wanted to assist other families who needed support,” Habana said, adding that she first started out with assisting young mothers, single mothers, and low income families.
After training in Red Deer and working as a doula there, she considered the move to Golden for similar reasons so many other young people move here. With an interest in outdoor activities, she began her research to see if she could offer her doula services in town. What she found out convinced her to make the move. There are around 100 pregnancies in Golden annually, and the doula who lived here previously had recently moved. She contacted the hospital, and had discussions with a few nurses, who helped her realize there was a high interest in doula services.
So far, she has assisted two mothers with their childbirth, and expects there will be many more to come.
“You’re helping families in a very vulnerable time in their lives,” she said. “Having them more educated makes them feel more supported.”
From the beginning, Habana meets with the families to see if they will all be a good fit. Then, depending on the services they want, she will visit with them during pregnancy, help them understand the childbirth process, and see what they envision for their big day. She can offer labour support, birth support, postpartum visits, and many spiritual supports.
Overall, Habana wants women and their loved ones to have the most supportive birth in the way they want it. To find out more about what she does, visit www.facebook.com/aspiredmama, e-mail aspiredmama@gmail.com, or give her a call at 403-352-5206.
