Interviews

Romy Finbow

Romy Finbow

"I first read the word doula in an article in Vogue in my mid-20s when I was working in the fashion industry as a creative events producer. At the heart of the interactions that I was experiencing at that time – both at work and in my social life – was an underlying desire for humanity, community and ritual, so I was instantly captivated by the notion of walking alongside pregnant and birthing people towards the power, confidence, sacredness and deep respect that this rite of passage has always, and will always, merit. In 2017 I began training as a doula. Several months later I was diagnosed with a rare cancer that threatened my own fertility."

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Óttar Martin Norðfjörð

Óttar Martin Norðfjörð

"Personally, I think life’s purpose is to find happiness, whatever that means to you. For some, it’s having a child, for others, it’s something completely different. And I don’t think either one is wrong or right, it just depends on the person. But to be totally honest, I actually disagree with parents who find their life’s purpose in their child. Not only does it put an unhealthy burden on the child, in my opinion, but it also kind of diminishes the lives of all those who don’t have children for whatever reason, like their lives don’t have the same meaning or purpose. In a way, that’s the subtext of our culture, and having been childless for a long time and experienced this on my own skin, I find that mentality pretty annoying."
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Erika Sánchez

Erika Sánchez

"In the first place, as a queer couple it is not easy to get pregnant, obviously. We had to talk about it. That was an easy decision, because I always knew I wanted to gestate, give birth and breastfeed. That was something Doreen didn’t have the need to go through. Then you need to decide the method. We tried home insemination, because we thought that would be the most intimate way. It was very nice, but didn’t work. Later we tried 3 IUI intrauterine insemination in a clinic in Berlin. Unfortunately, they didn’t work neither. IVF was the next step. We decided to try reciprocal IVF, which meant that they would take Doreen's eggs and inseminate them in me. I would carry, gestate and give birth to the babies. The procedure was done in Spain, because in Germany it was not legal. All in all, it felt like a lot to consider and so many choices to make."
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Yasmine Ganley

Yasmine Ganley

"Going from having one kid to having two was a huge jump. Any spare time I used to have is now gone and I feel some days I really crave solitude. I am an introvert and I recharge on my own. Sometimes it can be days before this happens. Currently, this is what I am struggling with the most. Especially because I have started to dip my toes back into work again, so the pressure can build on me and I can crumble. And then there are days when we thrive, like I will catch Emily helping James down from the couch when they are playing or I watch James figure out how to peel a banana. I erupt with reassurance and a little pride. Every day is different, I try to embrace that. I teach them and they teach me, that’s something I try to remember too."
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Philipp Langenheim

Philipp Langenheim

"My parents were quite surprised and none of my friends were expecting this. By far I was the youngest father of all of them and until today there are only a few friends of mine who have one child at all. I am still the youngest father in our kinder garden, while our oldest daughter is starting school this year. It was always a dream of mine to have children at a young age and I would recommend everyone to do so."
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Nadine Richter

Nadine Richter

"Authenticity is freedom. The more free a woman is, the more powerful she becomes. There is nothing more exciting and beautiful than a free woman. That is why I think it is so important for us to find our authentic self. It is through my own growth that I have come to truly understand how necessary it is for women to reclaim their power. I am still breaking out of layers, one after the other. It’s like I have been wearing glasses all my life and I am removing the filters through which I have lived my childhood and early adult life. Gender inequality, the depth of the patriarchy, the pain of women in this world, white privilege, western world privilege, the superficiality of consumerism, the role models we are force fed through the media. Like a loud speaker in my mind. Lowering the volume and opening my senses and my heart to my inner world have taken me on a truth seeking journey."
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Shanay Rocker

Shanay Rocker

"Iylas birth made me love all things: the birth and my doula in NYC. I just thought this is such a magic job. Not knowing what it really takes until I became one, how hard working in this field is and how sacrificing. Also a lot of people I was surrounded by spoke negative about birth and I wanted to question why. Why are women so afraid of birth? Why do women always choose hospital over home-birth? I just got into exploring the whole evolution of birth. Once you explore the doula world, you find so many inspiring women that you think Wow, yes, this is where I’m meant to be. Being a single mother, I had to make this work." 
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Marta Vargas

Marta Vargas

"I got pregnant at the end of April. It is still hard for me to believe it. It was indeed a premeditated decision. My fiancé and I had been trying to conceive for over a year and a half and we had actually decided to do IVF. Five days before starting the IVF treatment I felt a bit sick and we realised my period was late, so we decided to do a pregnancy test. Not in a million years could we have imagined that it was going to be positive."
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