Wenda Clinard – Certified Birth Doula

Sally Gupton Photography

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 The word “doula” is an ancient one meaning “woman’s servant” in Greek. However, as a modern day profession in Winston-Salem, doulas are more rare than ancient. “This area has come along slowly,” Wenda said of the small percentage of doulas in the city. What a doula actuallydoes is provide educational, physical, and emotional support for the mother and father throughout the birth process. “There’s a saying that we ‘motherthe mother,’” she said. A supporter of natural birth, Wenda realizes the importance of instinct in the birth process. “Women just don’t realize they know how to birth. They think they have to go to the hospital to let the baby out, when the whole process of birth is a kind of dance between mom and babe. I try to put that instinct back in women.” For more information on doulas in the Triad, visit padanc.org.