Alia Heise is a young orthodox woman who is a doula, breastfeeding counselor, mother, and artist. In an Orthodox Biz member profile, we get to know Alia, her art, and her work with women and children.

Click the thumbnails to see full size images.

OB: Could you please explain what a doula is, and what your role is during all stages of the child birthing process?

Alia: A mother needs support whether she is having her first baby or her fifth. With a doula you can have an extra support person during the birth of your baby and afterwards, too. Whether you want to have a medicated birth or a natural one, a birth doula can be an advocate for your care and help you feel more comfortable in your surroundings. A doula helps develop a birth plan and answers questions prenataly. She joins you in early labor and stays with you through the birth to support your birth plan. Then the doula stays about an hour postpartum to help the mother and baby get comfortable before slipping away and letting the new family become a unit.

OB: Why did you get interested in this work?

Alia: I helped a neighbor - a mother in need - a year before I had my first child. She was a young mother in an abusive relationship and had no support lined up, outside of unfamiliar hospital staff, during the birth of her child. She asked me if I would be with her, and I supported her through natural birth. I didn't know it at the time, but I was acting as a doula for her. That planted a seed that fully sprouted after my second child was born. That is when I actively started pursuing mother-to-mother support.

OB: How did you prepare to enter this career? Is there schooling or on-the-job training?

Alia: I am certified through an doula organization; DONA. It requires a training program, written essays, reading, a certain number of births attended, ect. DONA also makes sure their doula's keep up on things to by requiring a re-cert every three years. I am separately certified as a Certified Lactation Counselor and am in private practice as a breastfeeding consultant, as well as working for WIC as a breastfeeding counselor.

OB: What is your ideal client? What sort of families should be interested in having a doula? Is it for everyone?

Alia: Every woman birthing in a culture of western medicine should have a doula, a certified doula is best, but every woman needs to have some kind of continuous support from someone knowledgeable in childbirth and this does not happen automatically in our country. Studies show that births attended by doula are faster, easier and require less interventions. Hospital nurses and sometimes even midwives are in and out of a room while a mother is laboring. A doctor doesn't sometimes even show up until the actual delivery. Women are left alone to labor everyday in our country, monitored by machines sending information out to a nurse's station. It is frightening for a laboring mother to have her birth managed in this way. A doula is continuous support for a mother and her partner. That is key.

OB: What role does your Orthodox faith play in the practice of your business?

Alia: I have yet to have an Orthodox client, and though my faith was a very big part of the birth of my own children, not everyone sees a strong connection between faith and childbirth. So my role of prayer and thanksgiving during clients' births remains a subtle one.

OB: Tell me about your artwork. What is the primary inspiration for it? Do you find inspiration in iconography, for example the icons of Mary nursing the baby Jesus?

Alia: My inspiration for my artwork was solely based on my experiences in the field of labor and breastfeeding support. I find iconography much too spiritual to base modern art on. I did find inspiration during the birth of my own children from the icon of the birth of the Theotokos. It is the only icon I have found (though I am far from being familiar with all of the icons out there) that depicts birth, with the midwife present and the Theotokos' mother still in the birthing bed.

OB: What medium do you normally work in (oil, water color)?

Alia: This set of painting was rather serendipitous and spontaneous. My base for this
particular series is actually only tempera paints. My children were set up painting
and I spontaneously picked up a brush and created the base for the art. I then scanned
them into my computer and worked digitally with them to achieve the final product.

OB: What do you hope to accomplish through your art? Are you conveying a special message?

Alia: My main goal is to give women inspiration in childbirth. Some of my pieces send a gentle natural birth vibe but that is not their main purpose. I envision some women using them as focal points during their prenatal period and in labor and birth. I hope the pieces are empowering to women, reminding women the beauty and nature in birth.

OB: Do you feel like there is an increase in popularity of this approach to birthing? Is it a trend linked, in your opinion, to the growing popularity of homeschooling (parents wishing to assert more autonomy)?

Alia: I support women no matter what kind of birth they plan. But women who want a natural birth do hire doulas more than their counter parts and I do not think it is a trend in the least. The United States maternal death rate is increasing. Studies show it is due to unnecessary interventions in hospital birth. I think women are slowly realizing that birth is not an illness and does not need high tech management. Woman are taking back birth as a natural occurrence. There is a quote:

Having an Obstetrician Surgeon attend a low risk birth is the same as hiring a Pediatric Surgeon to baby-sit a healthy two year old.

Visit Alia's business listing, her profile page (and sign her guestbook), and her onine shop.

Click here to view the images in this article as a slideshow, and send them to friends as eCards!

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 [Interview with Alia Heise - Birth Doula and Artist]

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