Hello wonderful community,
I hope you are all doing well, stay healthy, safe, and resilient.
I have a family who has an estimated due date of Oct 24, 2021 and is in need of support. I would like to share their story with you and if you have the capacity to contribute to their financial need we would greatly appreciate it. They are needing $1,500+ to cover for their postpartum doula care services from myself, Itzpapalolt Jasmin of Oxomohco Birth and Body Work. You can submit your donation via venmo @ Oxomohco.
Anything additional to that will go directly to her partner staying home for as long as possible once the baby has arrived. Any funds not used or accepted by the family will go towards the next family which is in need of support.
I have been working with this family since early in their pregnancy and I recently received a text from them saying, "The closer we get to receiving our baby, the more we are realizing we can not afford your services. I hope you understand."
It does not sit well with my heart to leave this family and not support them due to financial hardships. I do this work because it is important for families to receive the care and support they deserve. The cultural and traditional importance of the care being provided supports in bringing their experience full circle. In addition, this would not be morally or ethically correct of me to just walk away knowing I could have supported and what their situation was and is.
The birthing person has not been able to work due to COVID and severe allergies. She broke 2 fingers and her health was starting to plummet when she and her partner decided it would be safest for her to stay home. Her father had a major back surgery in April 2021 to reconstruct his lower spine. He fell shortly after his surgery and a tumor was found in his pancreas. It has now been 1 month since the removal of the benign tumor as well as his duodenum, gallbladder and most of his pancreas. He is now fighting an active infection in his incision sight and has been in and out of the hospital making his partner (birthing person's mother) his primary care giver. This means, her mother who they thought would be able to stay with her and support her during her cuarentena is no longer available and she feels alone and unsupported. The only other local family she has is her sister who unfortunately recently got COVID and has 2 young children. The birthing person had to care for her sister's children for the time her sister was in the hospital recovering from COVID. The family was very worried she was not coming home as she had fallen severely ill. She is luckily now home with her children but this has now made her availability to support postpartumlly limited. All of these things have happened in the past few weeks and have created a financial strain on this family.
Her partner has been the only one able to work during their pregnancy and has not been able to catch up. He also fell ill with COVID shortly after her sister did, causing them to fall even further behind financially. During these COVID outbreaks within the family, the birthing person was the only person available to care for her loved ones putting her health and her babies health at risk as well. Luckily everyone has recovered from COVID and her partner is back at work. He has been able to save up his PTO and will have enough to stay home for 2 weeks once the baby has arrived but will have to go back to working full time.
They are reaching out to the community in need of support but would like to do so anonymously. They are pregnant with their first baby and have had a difficult pregnancy. If you or anyone you know is able to contribute to their postpartum care, they would greatly appreciate it. They have pledged to pay it forward as soon as they are financially able to do so. If you are not able to contribute monetarily, can you please share this email, post on your social media or forward to your community. Each member of their family would greatly appreciate your support in making their postpartum experience a better one from their pregnancy. This work is not only important to me personally, but these families make this work even more important. A supported family is a thriving family. I appreciate your time and support. Thank you Itzpapalotl Jasmin Olvera Dena 831-756-0383 www.oxomohco.com
