How giving birth changed Lauren's life

“I didn’t even know about doulas, and I certainly didn’t think the world of childbirth would hold any appeal for me,” Lauren Fernandez (Classical Liberal Arts, ‘17) said. But after having her firstborn in 2020, birth was more meaningful than she expected. And three years later, she started accepting clients for her business, Doula Wren Birth.  

Before being a doula had crossed her mind, Fernandez entered PHC in 2013 as an undeclared major. She considered the Political Theory track of Government but eventually changed her mind. “The more I evaluated why I liked Political Theory, it was actually the cultural element of political theory that I liked, especially the arts.” She decided to major in Classical Liberal Arts (CLA) and minor in music, as she enjoyed piano lessons with Dr. Kristina Tanner.
Fernandez’s junior year became one of her busiest. Not only did she have a heavy course load, but she also got engaged to her husband Christian (English, '16). They married that summer and lived in Dr. Mark Mitchell’s carriage apartment. She started noticing unmarried friends still involved in student life, chapel, and extracurriculars, and she felt guilty. “Did I leave the community too soon?” Fernandez thought. Because PHC has a tight-knit community, she said that exaggerated her feelings of being outside it. 

But after she graduated, she and her husband moved to Staunton, Virginia, where they established their own pattern of life. People knew them more as newlyweds than students, and she didn’t wrestle with guilt as much. She worked in several administrative positions at Mary Baldwin University where Christian attended graduate school.

Then, in 2020, Fernandez’s life changed when she gave birth to her first child, Peter. Throughout pregnancy, she became interested in the physiology of birth and how women’s bodies are designed for it. That interest stayed with her even after Peter's birth.

Fernandez also realized the influence of a doula—someone who provides physical, emotional, and informational support through pregnancy and birth. “Giving birth made me realize that it can be such a special moment for a woman but also such a vulnerable moment as well,” she said. “Having someone there who can provide emotional comfort and reassurance so you can feel grounded again can really transform the experience for someone.” 

After a little research, Fernandez started online training through Childbirth International. The most challenging part of being a doula is knowing when to say something and when not to. Rather than giving advice, doulas help parents figure out their priorities and present options accordingly. “It’s been a long journey, but it’s been fun to continue learning about birth and learning about how I can help other people understand what they want to know about birth and what would be most empowering to them,” she said.

She wrestled with deciding to start a doula business, especially when it came to investing money. But she eventually hired people to design a website, take photos, and design her brand, and she started posting on social media. “That was the step of faith for me,” she said. Her goal is to accept one client a month to make sure she has time for her own kids—Peter (3) and Leonore (1). “One of the challenges with being a doula is that you never know when you’re going to be called to a birth,” she said. “Most of the births I’ve been to have been in the middle of the night.”

Fernandez’s kids have helped her connect more with the PHC graduate community because she can invite other families to join her for activities. In addition to the doula business, Fernandez works as a virtual administrative assistant for a company that fundraises for Christian ministries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Even though this is not a common path for CLA majors, Lauren says that PHC has still prepared her well. For one, it helped her develop the habit of thinking deeply. “When you’ve formed the habit for 4 years of trying to find, ‘what is the underlying philosophy? where did that thought come from?’ you just start to do it a little more habitually with whatever ideas you encounter.”

PHC also inspired her to continue learning. “It’s easier to get out of the habit of reading, thinking about things, and writing regularly. But when you’ve had that experience and you know what it’s like to really digest different ideas, it inspires you to come back to it at some point.” 

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 Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.