Today we’d like to introduce you to Monique Wade.
Hi Monique, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Today, I’m a 29 year old divorced, single mother of two children and I’m a Certified Birth and Postpartum Doula who serves women and their families all over DFW. Years ago, I gave birth to my first child at the age of 21 and birthed my second child at 23 years old. I remember going through those experiences feeling alone, unsupported, and most of all- uneducated. While my labors and births were safe, uneventful, and resulted in perfectly healthy babies, I knew that I was still missing something. Support! With my second child, I learned what a doula was and really wanted to hire one but, we couldn’t afford one so, I went through another birth with no help. With both of my experiences, the hospital staff wasn’t exactly hands-on in showing me how to get through childbirth, neither were they very communicative about what was happening to me or what they were doing for me and my babies. I barely remember them asking questions about what I wanted and it more so felt like birth was happening to me rather than me being a willing participant. However, today we know that some Labor and Delivery units can struggle with being understaffed, overworked, and busy sometimes- especially depending on the different circumstances each patient is dealing with at any given moment. Still, the fallout of that system shouldn’t put laboring women in a position of receiving poor care. Fast forward to postpartum and I had no guidance at all. I had to learn how to breastfeed and care for a newborn all on my own! And when it came to self-care, that wasn’t even a thought! I was completely overwhelmed but powered through every single day. It wasn’t long before I began experiencing postpartum depression and anxiety- with both babies. What made it worse was the isolation and not having anyone to relate to. See, I’m not originally from Texas. I’m from Jackson, Mississippi and graduated from Murrah High School in 2014. I went on to attend the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi where I got pregnant sophomore year, got married, and dropped out of school. After the birth of my son, all I did was work, care for him, and stay home. 23 months later, I birthed my daughter and my ex-husband then moved us out here to Dallas, Texas. So here I was, a 24 year old stay-at-home mother here in Dallas with no friends in the city and 400 miles away from my family. The isolation was intense and really fueled my depression even more. Then, my decision to divorce liberated me. After the dust settled, I started working in corporate for a Civil Engineering & Architectural consulting firm. While my role offered me stability, it didn’t feed my soul. I felt like I was living on auto pilot and for someone else. I decided that I wanted to take my life back, contribute meaningful work, and just overall make life work for me and my children. That’s when I knew that I had to figure out a way to work in my passion of serving prenatal and postnatal women. My experiences with childbirth and motherhood had been difficult and I knew that I didn’t deserve that and that it did not have to be difficult. So I thought back to the kind of support I desperately needed when I had my second child- doula support! I needed to become a doula. And I did. While working full time and being a mom, I obtained my birth and postpartum doula certifications, found a few mentors, and networked with other doulas and birth workers here in DFW. I started attending births as a back up doula and eventually served a few clients of my own. Since I wanted to practice independently, I sat down and wrote out my entire business plan and worked on it for months. I learned how to build my own website and got it up and running. I used Instagram to my advantage to help with my marketing. My mentor and now sister doula, Lauren, showed me tools to help with streamlining everything from receiving inquiries, booking consultations, and creating digital portals for clients to use. Finally, in May 2023, Mama Aura Birth Services was born. To date, I’ve had the honor of serving over 60 women in childbirth across DFW in various hospitals, birth centers, or in their homes. I’ve supported a dozen families through postpartum, including multiple families with twins. Birth work is my full-time career now. I spend my days guiding mothers through pregnancy as they prepare to birth their babies and become mothers. We go to OB and midwife appointments together. I teach them childbirth education and newborn care. In labor, I’m up with them for hours or days at a time offering a calm, steady presence, advocating for their rights, needs, and wants, wiping away sweat and tears, keeping their bodies nourished and fueled, physically supporting their bodies as they labor and push, going in the OR if she and baby need a cesarean, and most importantly- holding their hands. No woman deserves to go through birth without the proper support and the same remains true for postpartum. Doula support is so unique- so special and, I managed to do what once seemed impossible- create and foster a business that empowers me and other women to do meaningful work and make life work for us!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road to entrepreneurship as doula has not been a smooth road by any means. Doula work is unique in that you often lead with your heart. However, with owning a business, there is a completely different set of skills required. With the business, you have to be regimented, organized, and careful with how you use your time. It can be challenging to merge this with the actual role of doula care since the action of being a doula can be very time consuming. For me, I view the birth space as a very special and sacred space, one that requires safety and familiarity. With that, I make sure that I meet with my clients, and their families, prenatally, multiple times. Once a client is in labor, I get to her as soon as possible, often early, to establish that safety and support and so the continuity or support in labor can be felt for when we depart to my client’s desired birth location. Some labors are only a few hours and some are days long and, after baby is born, I remain with my clients for at least two hours immediately postpartum. So, with having multiple clients a month, you can imagine that things can get busy quickly, especially on the business management side. All the while, I’m still being a mom and trying to carve out time for myself to rest and recover. Moreover, this business has taught me that birth is not linear. Have you heard the saying “Every pregnancy, birth, and baby are different.”? This is very true! For example, I could have a client that did everything “right’ in her pregnancy. She ate well, exercised, went to every appointment, stayed stress free, followed her labor prep routines perfectly, and she and baby were overall just perfectly healthy. Then, her labor starts and everything is going well and suddenly everything changes and next thing you know she has to have an emergency cesarean. Or maybe she hemorrhages after the birth, or baby has shoulder dystocia, or mom suddenly develops preeclampsia, or her OB violates her, or her baby isn’t born breathing. Anything could happen and DOES happen in labor. The pretty pictures online don’t always tell the full story of what women go through when giving life. These past three years of doula work have shown me just that and reaffirms just how much doulas are needed in the birth space. While a doula is not a medical professional or provider, doulas can offer women a safe place to land when things don’t go as planned. Doulas can explain what’s happening and what to expect when it comes to the risks and benefits of certain interventions, some of which are life-saving. While women are physically giving birth and being cared for by a medical team, we know that women are also going through a mental transformation as well. That too requires care. It’s so important to have a doula that is aware of that and can show up for mothers to get them through such an empowering yet vulnerable experience.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Mama Aura Birth Services ?
Mama Aura Birth Services is ran by me, Monique Wade, and I am a Certified Birth and Postpartum Doula.
I work independently and serve clients in hospitals, birth centers, and their homes, all across DFW. I serve clients in Dallas, Fort Worth, Richardson, Plano, McKinney, Frisco, Allen, Mansfield, Irving, Forney, Garland, Arlington, Denton, Lewisville, Aubrey, Lancaster, DeSoto, Mesquite, Rowlett, and pretty much every other city in and around Dallas-Fort Worth.
As a doula, I offer informational, emotional, and physical support to women prenatally, in labor and birth, and during the postpartum period. During pregnancy, I go to my clients’ homes and teach them childbirth education, different labor positions, comfort measures, basic newborn care, and multiple ways to prepare their minds and bodies for labor. During labor, I remain with my clients to be her advocate, encourage her to speak up and make her own decisions, and care for her physically and emotionally.
What sets me apart from others is that I meet my clients where they are in their journey and tailor my serves to exactly what their needs are- thereby making my services client-led. In knowing that every woman, pregnancy, labor and birth, and baby are different, I do not have a particular mold in which I put my clients in. I listen to my clients, observe their circumstances, assess what it is that they need, and tailor my services to help them obtain their birth goal by having me as their doula.
When it comes to my brand, I am most proud off my name- Mama Aura Birth Services. I chose the phrase ‘Mama Aura’ because it exudes strength. There is a particular aura that a woman has once she becomes a mother and that aura is completely unique to her. Who you are as a mom and the spirit you embody and exude is completely unique to you. Your aura is your strength. It is your power. It has gotten you through your birth, guided you in your decision making as a mom, and is another facet of who you are as a woman. A woman’s “Mama Aura” is something we’re going to acknowledge and celebrate over here at Mama Aura Birth Services!
If you or someone who know is expecting a baby, please look into hiring a doula! It is never too early or too late to look for one and, we are all different! DFW has a thriving doula community and we are available and open to serving mothers. Please reach out, book consultations, and ask questions! If you’d like to learn more about Mama Aura Birth Services, I encourage you to visit my website www.mamaaurabirthservices.com or check out my Instagram @mamaauradoula to learn more about my services and to book a consultation. My 2026 calendar is currently open for expectant mothers! I look forward to continuing to serve mothers all across the city!
Please know, doula care is a necessity and is affordable! The sooner you fit the cost of doula services into your budget, the better! Additionally, look into the benefits that your employer offers. some employers over reimbursement for doula services.
What are your plans for the future?
When I look ahead, I see myself continuing to serve mothers and their families. It is truly a labor of love and I have enjoyed serving each and every one of my clients over these past few years. They have all impacted me in beautiful ways and I can’t thank them enough for inviting me into their lives to support them through something so special as childbirth. Because of them, I am open to so many ideas of how Mama Aura Birth Services can expand and even collaborate with other industries of the human experience. Birth is something that we as people have all experienced, literally. If you’re alive at this very moment, you’ve been through childbirth. So, why is it that it’s something we don’t talk about that much when it impacts us all? With Mama Aura Birth Services, I’d love to create a space in which people are able to talk about their own personal birth experiences and birth in general.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mamaaurabirthservices.com/home
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mamaauradoula/
Image Credits
Tyana Danae, Whitney Williams, Samantha Tollison, Ollie Girl Birth Photography.
please let me know if you all need me to match the names to the photos.
