Former Accountant Turned Birth Doula/Someday Therapist...What??
If you’re new around here, pull up a chair, and let me introduce myself. My name is Jeri Jones, and I am the owner and specialist here at Breath of Life. I am a Tulsa-area native and currently reside in Owasso with my husband, Chris; two sons, Finley and Oliver (who are almost 5 and 9 years old, respectively); three cats - Kross, Cinderella, and Xena; and a hamster named Hashbrown. I am a retired corporate accountant and now a full-time birth worker and part-time graduate student. I know that last line left you with questions, so let’s get into it. How did my career shift so drastically? And why do I do this work?
About two years into my accounting career, I began feeling dissatisfied in my work and wanting something more. My job felt meaningless and uninspiring, and I wanted to be part of something that was bigger than myself. I even felt a calling to “ministry”, yet I had no idea what that meant, what kind of ministry that could be, or how on earth someone like me could be qualified for anything that remotely resembled ministry. So I pressed on in my career, trying to shake this idea that I had made a mistake, but in the next 10 years - TEN YEARS - that feeling never went away. I knew I was not where I belonged.
In 2013, four years into my career, I gave birth to my first child. As a Type A perfectionista, I had my plan for this natural birth nailed down to a T, and I fully expected to execute said plan without flaw. After all. birth is a natural thing, right? How little did I know. Literally nothing went according to plan, right down to the unwanted, but truly necessary cesarean delivery after 21 hours. At 7:51 a.m. on March 22nd, which also happened to be my 27th birthday, my entire world changed forever. Not immediately, but after some time had passed and I began processing the whirlwind of what I had just been through, I became devastated by my birth experience. I didn’t recognize my trauma for what it was until several years later, as well as giving a name to the grief I felt over the loss of what could have, should have been.
As many do after negative birth experiences, I started seeking answers to the questions I had about why certain things happened the way they did and what could have been done differently. I knew I wanted more children, and I was already determined to “right the wrongs” in the next birth, so I started proactively planning ahead. In my seeking and planning, I learned about ICAN, the International Cesarean Awareness Network, and I connected with ICAN of Tulsa’s private Facebook group for cesarean moms (now open to all birthing people). This group was a source of knowledge and support for me, as well as a community when it felt like no one in my personal life understood what I had been through or how I felt. And really, I credit this group as my inspiration for getting into birth work. Until I found this group, I felt so alone, and I wondered what was wrong with me that I couldn’t just appreciate what I had and move past the experience of how it came to be. Through this community, I learned that there were so many others just like me, and I started seeing the ways that our maternal health system is flawed and the ways in which birthing people are at a disadvantage the second they become pregnant. And that is what sparked a fire within me and fueled my passion for birth and birthing people.
In 2016, after supporting other group members for more than two years, I trained as a birth doula and childbirth educator, and I have committed myself to ongoing education in this field, with dozens of high-quality trainings now under my belt and my sights set on more to come. In March 2021, I walked away from the corporate world forever after getting accepted into graduate school, and I now have the privilege of exclusively doing work that I love, as well as continuing to learn and grow as a professional. My graduate studies are in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. I am aspiring to become a Licensed Professional Counselor to work with people who have experienced birth trauma, grief or loss in birth, and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. This subject is near and dear to my heart because of my own experiences with birth trauma and undiagnosed, and therefore untreated, postpartum mental illness and the lasting effects these can have on the person going through it, as well as the entire family. I also know, through my lived experience, how healing personal therapy can be with a trained and experienced counselor.
My desire is to see new families thrive, and I believe with my whole heart that this starts with the person giving birth. There is so much that can be done in pregnancy to stack the cards in your favor for a smoother birth and postpartum experience, and with the right support, you can have a seamless transition from pregnancy, through birth and postpartum, and into your happily ever after as a newly expanded family.
This is my ministry.
Love and Blessings,
Jeri Jones