Birth And Postpartum Doula With Decades Of Experience
Doula Interview with Julie-Anne Mauno
In this episode, we are joined by an experienced birth and postpartum doula, Julie-Anne Mauno from Canada. Julie-Anne has been supporting women and their families throughout pregnancy, birth and postpartum for almost 20 years. During that time, she had seven precious babies of her own. Shortly after becoming a mother, Julie knew that she needed to join other professionals trying to bridge the gap in support that so many mothers experience.
Julie-Anne’s training includes formal midwifery studies, midwifery workshops and a doula training certification. She cultivates a gentle and nurturing style of support and a wealth of up to date knowledge to the table to help her clients build confidence. Tune in to learn more on this and other exciting topics!
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About Julie-Anne
Julie-Anne Mauno is a Perinatal Support Worker, Doula, Holistic Postpartum Practitioner and mother of seven. She has dedicated the last 20 years to helping women have a positive experience with their pregnancy, birth and postpartum. She recently decided to focus on postpartum support in her business and offers holistic postpartum care to mothers and their families during the first 40 days after birth and beyond. She is currently working on creating a postpartum collective with a team of holistic professionals that will offer in-home postpartum recovery food, body work and support.
Reach out to Julie-Anne here: http://www.positivebirthservices.ca/
We explore the following questions:
How did you know that you needed to make the shift from birth to postpartum work?
What steps did you take once you realised you wanted to focus more on postpartum care?
How did taking the collective course impact your approach to postpartum support?
Can you describe the difference between being an expert and supporting mothers to trust their own intuition?
What does a typical week look like for you as a postpartum doula?
How do you balance your work as a postpartum doula with your responsibilities at home, especially with having seven children?
What are some of the most rewarding aspects of postpartum work for you?
How do you ensure that your clients feel empowered and confident in their own abilities?
What are your top tips for others who want to become postpartum professionals?
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Transcript
Julia Jones:
Today on the podcast we have Julie from Canada. Now, Julie, I will let you introduce yourself, but I just wanted to say that Julie is one of our students in the collective, and she is very experienced as a doula, but has changed courses recently and been absolutely amazing at sharing her story in a very vulnerable and honest way, and consistently supporting other people who are going through similar things. So I really wanted to invite Julie onto the podcast to share a little bit more of her story with everyone. So Julie, do you want to introduce yourself?
Julie-Anne Mauno:
Yeah, sure. Thanks, Julia. So I'm Julie and I have been a doula for 20 years now. I started out as a birth doula, and it's just really in the last year that I have shifted my focus to doing more and more postpartum support. So I still do some birth work, but I'm really loving the postpartum work. So yeah, that's me.
Julia Jones:
And how did you know that you needed to make that shift from birth to postpartum? What happened? What made you realise that?
Julie-Anne Mauno:
What made me realise that actually was I had taken another course just through a college in my area, and they wanted us to do some postpartum in-home support as well as some birth support. So I was just upgrading my qualifications for our area, and I remember thinking, well, that's nice and I'll do it because those are the requirements, but I'm a birth worker, I'm a birth doula, and that's what I do and that's what I love to do. And I would say it didn't take long, really by the second home visit that I did in the postpartum doula role, I was hooked. I loved it. I could right away see the impact that I could have for new families. And yeah, it was pretty instant.
Julia Jones:
And so what did you do next when you realised that you wanted to do more postpartum work? What next steps did you take?
Julie-Anne Mauno:
So really the next step that I took was I started to really devour information that I could find on supporting women and their families during the postpartum period. So I did read a couple of books, but the biggest thing that I did actually was sign up for the collective course. I had seen your emails and your Facebook posts, and I was already part of your email list and your community, but I remember just having such a hunger to learn more. And so that's when I sort of became interested because originally I thought, oh, I really like this Julia girl, and I thought, I really like what she has to say, but I'm a birth doula.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
So anyway, now that I was really hooked on doing the postpartum work and really interested in it, and it just really awakened something within me. It felt like I had come home. It felt like I knew that I was in the right field, but I think it's like I finally found the focus that it was just such a perfect fit for me. And so I signed up for the collective course and I devoured it in one weekend or something crazy like that. I don't know if you remember, but I went through it so fast. And what I loved was your philosophy. And I was so drawn to the idea of postpartum being a transformational time for families. And so the courses that I had done really talked about postpartum support as just very, like, you show up, you do a little bit of breastfeeding support, you position yourself as an expert.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
That gives advice. And that was fine, but that didn't really light me up, it just didn't. And so when I went into people's homes as a postpartum doula, I thought, yes, there's something here. And I just had this curiosity. And then when I just remembered that I had seen your staff, and so I went out and I looked for you and I thought, yes, this is the next progression in this work because I wanted it so much to be, I wanted to be able to bring some transformation and I wanted to have other tools. So that's it.
Julia Jones:
Yeah, and I do remember you graduating from the course very quickly. I think some people get through the whole thing in a week or 10 days. We have quite a few people who do that. Most people take a bit longer, but we do have a bunch who just love it and devour it like you
Julie-Anne Mauno:
Did.
Julia Jones:
And I remember that being a big transformation. And I remember you sharing about that quite vulnerably, that shift from being an expert to being much more a, I dunno what you would call the role, but a supporter of the woman as an expert and drawing out her own inner wisdom and intuition. So I don't know if you want to talk anymore about that, because I remember that being a huge cycle bulb moment.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
Yeah, I'd love to chat about that because basically when I found your course, I was still doing my required hours for this perinatal support worker programme that I had taken through a college here in our province. And I remember just thinking, this is different from the approach that I've always learned and from a lot of things that I've heard, but I thought, I'm going to try it. So with one of my clients, I decided to listen more and talk less and really just encourage her that she had the answers. And then, yeah, it was an amazing, it was amazing.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
I think we were talking about breastfeeding positions and she was asking me these questions and instead of giving her the answer, I thought, okay, I'm going to listen and acknowledge and ask her questions. And in the end, she knew the answer and she was so excited to have figured it out. And I could see how empowering that was, and I thought, this is what I wanted it to feel like. This is the impact that I want to have on mothers is I want to really build their confidence and I want to be able to walk away having them feel like they are capable, and they're not necessarily relying on me to plug in all the answers. Obviously, there's times where they genuinely need some information and we can provide that to them, but this is more about them trusting themselves and women are so capable and smart and dedicated, and so really it's just to draw that out of them and help them to realise that they have everything they need inside of them. So that was a game changer, and I just thought then I was really hooked because I thought this is amazing.
Julia Jones:
And so now it's been, what, maybe six or nine months? Can't remember how long.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
Joined
Julia Jones:
Almost a year.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
Yeah, I think I took the course in May or June, and then I joined the Mastermind in August I believe, or maybe it was more like July. But anyways, it was somewhere in the summer. So we're getting close to a year since I did the collective course.
Julia Jones:
And so now in your work as a postpartum doula, and I know you're still doing births as well, but what would a regular week look like for you? Because a lot of people when they start out on this journey, they have this same passion as you, but they can't picture where it's going to get them. Where are they going to end up? So could you tell us what you do in a regular week as a doula?
Julie-Anne Mauno:
Absolutely. And before I do that, I just want to say that one of the things too that encouraged me to do postpartum work was I remember hearing you say, Julia, that you did daytime work. And definitely when I did the perinatal support worker course or other studies that I'd done about postpartum doulas, there was a lot of talk about night support, and I thought, that's not going to fit with my life and my family's needs. And so I started to explore what would it look like if I came to someone's house during the day for maybe three or four hours, and what could I do for them and that kind of thing. So basically what a week would look like for me is I typically would have, on a really busy week, I might have three clients, and then I probably spend between three and four hours at their home. It's usually daytime hours again, because I realised that I could do that, and I really, so I really structured my services around daytime hours.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
So I will usually come to their house. We'll usually have booked pre-booked a time. I'll come to their house and then I'll walk in and we'll say hello and how are you doing? And we'll chat. And usually I sit down and I'll ask my client, how are you doing? And I always ask, what is your biggest challenge right now? And so we troubleshoot that. And usually, again, it's just a matter of asking her questions back so that she can know that she has the answer. Sometimes I'll make a few suggestions if I think it's relevant, but most of the time they've already figured it out. They just need a bit of encouragement.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
And then we talk about what we're going to do today. So sometimes if mom is really tired, today is going to look like I'm going to spend some time with her baby while she naps. I usually always prepare some food. And so usually what happens with my clients is I have use dub sodo. And so they'll have an intake process where they go through and they'll answer questionnaires about what their goals are, what their vision is, if it's a postpartum only client, what was their birth like, that kind of thing. And then along with those questionnaires is a recipe selection. And those recipes are really created based or chosen based on their nutritional and healing properties for a newborn mom, as you would call them, like a postpartum mother who and her postpartum body, so the sluggish digestive system and all of that. So she's chosen all of that ahead of time.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
So it's really great because it means that when I come to her place, when I come to her home, I already know what her goals are and I know what recipes she wants. I've sent her a grocery list already, so she's bought the ingredients. So I will cook right in her home. So I usually do a bit of cooking. I usually always bring her tea. If I'm there over a mealtime just before supper or over lunch, I will serve her lunch. And then the number one thing that my clients do want to do is have time to go have a shower. So I'll hang out with baby while that happens. And I tend to focus on the first six weeks after baby is born. So that's when I really concentrate my services. Although I do work with moms who have older babies, but what that means is often babies are quite easy at that time.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
They're sleeping a lot, so I am able to supervise their baby while they shower, but also maybe mix a batch of healthy muffins for them or something. At the same time. I don't do a lot of housework. It's not really in my scope of practise. I'm not really a housekeeper, but I'll certainly clean the kitchen after I cook for them or those types of things. But a lot of it is talking, and I've done some really fun things with clients. I had a client who had a birthday within a week after she had the baby, so she picked out a recipe and asked me to bake her cake. So I baked her a birthday cake, and she was so thrilled and that I had helped another couple get ready for their Valentine's Day at home dinner, and she like, what should we do? And so help them kind of figure out how they could stay home. And so they did takeout. It was really cute. And then the birthday mom, I actually painted her toenails too, and that was really great. The only thing she really wanted for her birthday. So I mean, obviously those are not necessarily the things I would put on my list of services, but I think it's just anything that you can do to help moms like Julia, you always say what brings you peace and joy? So I ask them of that a lot. So if it's painting your toenails, you know
Julia Jones:
You'll do. Yeah, absolutely. I love it. It's sort of like having a big sister or a best friend or something. I would love that service myself, someone to just come and do whatever's going to make me feel nourished and whole and loved and supported, whatever it is on that day. And often it isn't what we expect.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
Right, exactly. So I've done foot rubs. I usually moms insist that I eat a little bit of something with them, and I usually have my own food with me, but sometimes I think they just, sometimes I'll eat my own food with them and sit with them, but I think they just want the interaction. There's this bonding that happens over a meal, that kind of thing. Yeah, so that's mainly it. We do a lot of talking and a lot, I do a lot of listening really, and then I'm careful not to step out of my scope. So whenever there's anything that makes me feel like they could use a talk with a counsellor or something like that, I will definitely refer them out. But a lot of it is just they're working things through and it's nice to have another adult that they trust that they can talk out loud, talk it through with.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
So a lot of it is that definitely moments of tears and just comforting moms that are frustrated if they're having challenges with breastfeeding, that kind of thing, and trying to refer them to other professionals that can help, and just really maybe trying to be part of a team in the community and bring people together to help them whenever I can. Yeah, it would be two to three client visits in a week is a lot for me. And that week might include a presentation at a prenatal class, or I try to do a lot of different presentations or workshops, and I'm trying to think what else would happen during the week. And then, yeah, you know what, a lot of just spending time on the client portals, reading questionnaire answers and interacting with people. There's a little bit of texting back and forth that happens with my clients, but not a lot. So there'll be only if they have a pressing question or something, or if we're working on something and they've forgotten what I said or that kind of thing, but I leave and I leave recipes for them and things like that.
Julia Jones:
Oh, I love it. And how do you feel that you get paid for this? Because everything you've just described to me, I would love doing that work. I do love doing that work, and I bet there's a lot of people listening at home who think, wow, that just sounds like a dream job. Surely that's not a real thing that you can get paid for.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
Oh, it's amazing. I didn't even break even before when I used to do my birth work. And now that I've had the courage to really charge prices that reflect my time and my effort, my training, my expenses, it's more rewarding I find, because it just feels like I'm valuing them by doing the work that I do in investing my life in this career, if you want to call it that, or this calling. And they're valuing me by compensating me for it. So it feels like a good exchange, for sure. Yeah, it's amazing to get paid for it. Yeah.
Julia Jones:
And I know that's been a big shift for you over the last year as well. It
Julie-Anne Mauno:
Has it, yes. And I would always feel just so depleted, just charging very minimally and feeling frustrated and having trouble making ends meet within my own business. And now that I've raised my prices to a place where I feel I'm comfortable and it reflects the value of my services, it's so much better. My business is way more enjoyable, and I've been able to invest in systems and things that I really desperately needed to simplify the work. So it's been good, and I think it's been really fun and really interesting to see how people who get it and really value what I do, they're just happy to pay me the fee. And it feels like, again, it feels like a fair exchange and they don't feel taken advantage of, I don't feel taken advantage of. So it's great.
Julia Jones:
And the only other thing I think might be interesting for listeners to know is that you have seven children, so that's a lot. And so you've still managed to fit this in around them, and you've talked a lot about creating work for yourself that is sustainable. So yeah, could you talk a little bit about how that's also been part of your journey?
Julie-Anne Mauno:
So that's part of doing the work during the daytime is because I want to be home in the evenings and overnight for my kids. And I mean, that is really a side benefit of shifting my focus to postpartum work because it is a bit easier on families than being on call. And yeah, I've just learned to create some pretty clear boundaries within my business in terms of how many clients I want or can take in terms of when I'm available for clients. And then there's days where I block off that I'm just home because I know that that's a really busy day for a family, or that I haven't seen my kids in a couple of days very much, and I need to be home. And so really even that's where the systems come in. I'm able to book in advance these days off, and it's been good.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
So I have five at home and two that are adults and live on their own, but they still call home and still need to chat with moms. So it is a lot to juggle. And I think, oh, the other thing too is reaching out for support for myself. So practising what I preach. So I hired a cleaning lady who is also a friend, and that's been amazing. And just asking people for help and learning to ask for help myself has been really helpful. I just kind of repeating myself, but it's been amazing because I've learned to practise what I preach, right?
Julie-Anne Mauno:
And it's allowed me to be more present for my own family and to still do the work, but still be a mom. And sometimes it's messy, but it's worth the effort. And you know what? It's worth the effort. And in valuing myself enough and saying, you know what? I'm worth helping out and supporting so that I can do all these things that I feel called to do. Motherhood, postpartum, doula work, that kind of thing. I think it's really important to live out your message, and that's what I'm telling other moms, ask for help and you are worth it, your worth helping and supporting through this transitional time. So I think that's been key is for me to live that out. So yeah,
Julia Jones:
I love it. I love it. So if there's anyone listening at home thinking, oh my gosh, how does Julie do this? And I want to do this too, what are your top tips for other people who are or want to be postpartum professionals?
Julie-Anne Mauno:
So top tips would include definitely I invest in some systems, some business systems because they are major time savers and so helpful. And then the other tip, which is something I just mentioned would be to definitely, if you need cleaning help, definitely reach out and ask for the help and support that you need so that you are not running ragged. It's never ever worked well for me when I was spread too thin to actually support other people because I never felt like I did it well because I didn't have enough, I wasn't full enough. And so you definitely ask for help. So those would be my tips. And don't get discouraged when your client list changes and you've got busy seasons and slow seasons because it's all part of the journey and it doesn't reflect the value of what you're offering, and it doesn't have anything to do with your value as a postpartum doula. So that's what I
Julia Jones:
Love, that there are inevitable ups and downs in life, aren't they? So being able to ride that wave and stay calm and focused and on track, it's essential. Great. Thank you so much, Julie. I don't know if you have anything else you want to add.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
Just thank you so much for having me on, Julia, and I'm just really, I always love sharing about this journey and you're a big part of my beginning story into this work, so I really appreciate that and I really appreciate you.
Julia Jones:
Thank you, Julia. I've absolutely loved working with you over the past year, and I'm sure that a lot of people listening to this will have found it so insightful and helpful, nourishing, inspiring. So thank you so much for sharing your story, and thank you for being part of Newborn Mothers Collective.
Julie-Anne Mauno:
Okay, great. Thanks.
Julia Jones:
Thanks. Bye bye.
