Why Baby Bee or What's in a name?

First posted on Baby Bee Doula's website January 31, 2014

I chose the name Baby Bee for my business soon after completing my DONA training in 2011. I needed a name for my business and after trying several on my friends and family, Baby Bee is what stuck. The name is at least in part related to the book “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd, which I absolutely loved and read during a vacation to Arizona in 2008, a few years before I moved here. It’s the story of a young heroine, Lily, who escapes her abusive father and finds herself a new home amongst three strong, intelligent, and loving mothers.

To me, this brings up the idea of community, which certainly exists in the bee world, and is an important part of my world as well. As a doula, I am part of a larger community of women, mothers, birth workers, and families. And much like Lily found new mothers to nurture her in the absence of her own mother, during my pregnancy in 2012, I was nurtured by many mothers, my own mother (who lives on the east coast), mother-in-law, two wonderful work supervisors, my OB and midwife at Blossom Birth Center, and my lactation consultant. There were also other mothers that came along side me during my pregnancy to share words of wisdom, advice, and encouragement. They were mothers from my own family, friends, and passers-by.

As a doula, your doula perhaps, I aim to be one of the mothers that comes along side you to provide the same warmth, compassion, assistance, encouragement, and empowerment my mothers gave to me during my pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. I remember crying to my lactation consultant when my newborn was losing more weight than our caregivers were comfortable with, “I am just waiting for a mother to come here and take control of this situation and fix it”, to which she responded in the most empowering and compassionate way you can imagine “You are the mother, so take control!”

During your labor and postpartum you’ll be the Queen Bee, having the baby, and I’ll be the worker bee, making sure you and baby have all you need. Because, much like bees, we as women need a community of women surrounding us, caring for us, lifting us up. Some of us have been taught to be strong and independent, but I propose “interdependence” instead, because who amongst us does not thrive in the loving arms of a community of mothers (and aunties) who will care for us when we need it most, when we are most vulnerable.