Why pay for support (especially when you could get by on your own)

​This is a touchy topic. And something that comes up semi-regularly in birthy groups that I'm in.

Do I NEED to have a doula for my birth?

Do I really need to pay for support?

And then when we talk about paying for support for VBAC planning.... But I can totally do that myself!

And hell yes you can... You are powerful, educated, and have access to the internet.  But stay with me here...

There are some solid reasons why you might like to consider paying for support for your VBAC planning and preparation journey (and a whole set of other reasons why you might like to pay for a doula to support you during birth....but that's another blog post!)


Background story

I recently paid for a content coach. In the mastermind that she ran she helped me put together a system for creating my blog posts.

I have also recently engaged a money coach to help me get my budget and spending plan all sorted.

Now... I have previously been known as the blogging queen. I have a bank of well over 100 published blog posts, some with well over 10K views. And they were impactful enough that I still get women requesting re-shares of posts from 5 years ago.

As for money coaching...Hello previous life as a finance officer for several different government departments. I have previously been responsible for balancing budgets, creating projections, and managing finance systems across multiple cost centres and account codes.



I don't share these stories to brag. I share them because -


Just because you CAN do something by yourself doesn't mean that you have to.


Why make the journey harder than it needs to be?


My content coach has helped me refine my process and make the whole journey a bit easier and definitely more fun. She helped me feel more confident in my message and processes. She provided tips to help me do things the easy way. And also - as a solopreneur it was nice to have someone to talk things through with. 

Same with my money coach - I love crunching numbers as much as any finance geek, but seriously having someone else to hold my hand through the process, do the checking, and set up my systems has saved me a lot of headaches.


Engaging an expert in VBAC planning and preparation can help you find options that you didn't know existed, send you in the direction of useful research, and raise questions you hadn't even thought of. This saves you time, energy and headspace so that you can focus on what you really need to focus on (hint: it's not working out whether your OB is withholding options from you....). In a maternity care culture with a VBAC rate of only about 13% and a very high rate of bait and switch, obstetric violence, and birth trauma having someone on your team who is there ONLY for you and has a good bit of knowledge of birth and the system is insanely helpful.


The journey can totally be fun!

We chat, laugh, and have a great time together. There's a reason that "study buddies" is a thing - research goes better when you have someone to hang with while you do it. Even VBAC research.


Calling you out on your own bullshit.

In my opinion this is the biggest benefit. Having someone who can check your cultural conditioning, biases, and false beliefs is invaluable and something that it is VERY hard to get anywhere else. An outside perspective on your various relationship dynamics, decision making processes, and journey is also very valuable.


Want some extra support for your journey? Send me an email at: sproutbirthing@hotmail.com.au and we can set up a time to check if my support is right for your journey.


Much love, Lizzie.
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PS: Come check out my facebook page: Lizzie Carroll doula and hypnobirthing service for more awesome support.