Mothers Care Doula

MothersCare Doula Services is owned and operated by two friends, Sheila Marley and Susan Keeney. It began in 1993, but its beginning actually occurred with the birth of Susan’s twins in November of 1992. These babies were the fourth and fifth for Susan.

She writes: My pregnancy was unexpected and overwhelming. I knew that even for me, a woman who could juggle quite a bit, that these babies on top of my other three might just send me over the edge. I didn’t realize this until years later but when I had my oldest son at 19 years old, I had a doula. She wasn’t called a doula, but that is what she was. She was my mother. And like her mother before her, when a daughter had a baby, you went and quietly guided the transition, made meals, cleaned, kept the laundry going and did whatever was needed so your daughter could heal and adjust to her new baby. My mother showed me how to give the baby a bath, answered by nursing questions, and just gave me this quiet reassurance that it was all going to be fine.

With baby number two, my mother had become ill and I was living below my closest friend. My closest friend became my doula and made us meals, did our laundry and helped me rest so I could take on my new life as a mother of two...