From Student to Teacher: How A Doula’s Guide to Labor Positions Became a Doula Training Resource
- Cheyenne Williamson
- Sep 17
- 3 min read
When I began my doula training, I created a resource to help myself understand the flow of labor and the power of movement. I needed something visual. Something practical. Something I could hold in my hands when birth started to feel overwhelming or unknown.
What I needed didn’t exist in one place—so I started building it.
Page by page, I shaped A Doula’s Guide to Labor Positions into something that could be practical, visual, and easy to reference when everything else felt overwhelming. I made it for me.
At the time, I held onto a quiet hope that maybe—just maybe—it could help others too.
Today, that quiet hope is something I’m much MUCH louder about.
Because now, it’s not just helping. It’s teaching. It’s training. It’s growing.
A Full-Circle Moment
Rosy, a doula educator and founder of Blooming Bellies 3D, recently added A Doula’s Guide to Labor Positions to her certified doula training program. Each of her students now receives a copy of the book as part of their learning, and she uses the 99 Pregnancy Positions Poster to guide in-person teaching about movement in labor.
Seeing that photo for the first time—students gathered, learning, with the book and poster front and center—stopped me in the best way. This resource was something I created to make sense of birth during my own training. And now, it’s supporting others at the very start of theirs.
That feeling is hard to put into words, but what rises most is gratitude.
Why This Book Belongs in Doula Training
A Doula’s Guide to Labor Positions was designed with new doulas in mind. It explains why a position might help, when to use it, what it supports, and how to adjust depending on the birth setting. Every page was created to serve as a visual and emotional anchor for birthworkers navigating the wide range of what labor can look like.
But over time, the guide has also become a helpful companion for experienced doulas, midwives, nurses, and childbirth educators. Because no matter how many births you’ve attended, there’s value in returning to tools that ground us in choice, movement, and physiology.
No matter how long you’ve been doing this work, it helps to have resources that are clear, visual, and made with birthworkers in mind.
That’s always been my goal—to create something that’s flexible and useful no matter where you are in your journey.
Seeing the Impact Up Close
This wasn’t a big announcement. There was no launch or feature. Just a message from Rosy, letting me know she’d added the book to her course and a small bulk order for her current students.
It all unfolded slowly and gently, but the impact stayed with me.
This book was something I needed as a student. Now, it’s helping train students of their own.
That’s the kind of full-circle I never want to take for granted.
A Path Forward
If you’re building a doula training program, teaching others about birth, or simply want your students or clients to feel more supported—these tools were created for that exact purpose:
And if you’re just beginning your own journey as a doula, consider the amazing Birth Doula Certification Program created by Rocio Sabido (RDMS,CD,CPES, ST Midwife). It’s thorough, supportive, and built for real life—just like the people who will one day walk into birth spaces with it. Her approach balances evidence-based education with heart, preparing doulas to show up with both knowledge and compassion.
This guide started as something I made to help me feel more grounded in this work.
Now, it’s finding its way into the hands of others at the very beginning of their own journeys.
That’s not just encouraging—it’s a reminder of what’s possible when we create with care.
I’m truly honored to be part of the learning that shapes how someone shows up for birth.
And I’m hopeful for where it might go next.
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