Northwest graduates bond in doula work
SUBMITTED PHOTO
As birth doulas, Graycen Martin, Redeeming Birth owner, and Kylie Lemrick, Graceful Arrivals owner, provide prenatal, labor and postpartum support for new mothers and their partners.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — While attending Northwest Missouri State University, Graycen Martin and Kylie Lemrick bonded over their passion for helping others.
This passion led them to pursue human services degrees at Northwest. Today, Martin runs Redeeming Birth and Lemrick operates Graceful Arrivals, two birth doula businesses.
“We would often dream together of different things to do with our degree, and we’d find ourselves landing on the topics of women’s health, children and families,” Lemrick told The Forum.
Doulas address each of these topics by providing continuous support to new mothers and families.
Martin mentioned she was traveling when a doula mentored her. This mentorship sparked her interest in becoming a doula.
After this experience, Martin and Lemrick began to research different services offered to women during pregnancy, labor and after giving birth. They soon became interested in the physical, emotional and informational support doulas provide throughout these stages.
Their research and their desire to help others led the two to obtain training through DONA International, the world’s first and largest doula certifying organization.
“We both did research and decided together to go through doula training. Every moment during training, our passion grew,” the women said in a news release. “After training, we immediately knew that we wanted to set up our businesses and begin providing this support locally.”
Since starting their businesses in February, both women have seen positive responses to the services they provide.
As doulas, the two offer individualized support in order to build close relationships with their clients.
Their services include preparing couples for labor through relaxation techniques, providing virtual or in-person support, being on-call around estimated due dates, advocating for resources and more.
Martin and Lemrick each serve as the other’s backup doula. However, they own two different businesses.
“Throughout the whole startup process, we have been in partnership with each other but have chosen to pursue separate businesses because we want to take them with us wherever we go,” Lemrick said.
Both women currently serve Maryville and surrounding counties. They will travel a maximum of two hours for in-person appointments.
“As I progress in my business, I plan to expand opportunities for virtual support for families outside of our region,” Martin said. “I plan to stay in Maryville for at least a few more years, if not long term.”
Lemrick plans to move away from Maryville and service other communities in the future.
“As I learn and grow more as a doula, I wish to expand my services and become a postpartum doula and a breastfeeding counselor,” Lemrick said. “(Martin and I) value continuing education, pursuing certification and expanding the types of services we offer.”
