Community Highlights: Meet Micah Lively of Doula Collective California

Today we’d like to introduce you to Micah Lively

Hi Micah, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My journey towards advocating for women’s birthing rights began with my own traumatic experiences. Uninformed and unsupported during my first pregnancy at 20, I ended up with a C-section, feeling powerless. With my second, despite my desire for a VBAC, I succumbed to pressure from my doctor and the fear propaganda she fed me and had another C-section. This pattern repeated with four subsequent pregnancies, leaving me feeling trapped in a system that prioritized convenience over my autonomy.

Determined to reclaim control, I educated myself on birthing options and connected with midwives and doulas who shared my vision of holistic birth. Despite facing resistance and ridicule, I persisted in seeking a VBAC for my fifth pregnancy. Rejected by numerous doctors and midwives, I finally found a supportive provider willing to allow me a trial of labor in a hospital surrounded by medical staff and professionals. However, at my 36 week appointment, my doctor told me that someone within his practice found out about him allowing me a trial of labor after four C-Sections and reported him to the CEO of the hospital. The hospital threatened that if he did not drop me as a patient then he would lose his medical license. My doctor, fearing repercussions, was forced to drop me from his care, leaving me without medical support.

At 38 weeks pregnant, after searching for weeks for someone to support me in my labor, I found a brave and accomplished midwife seven hours from my home who agreed to take me as a client. I traveled to Texas to work with this amazing woman who believed in my right to choose how I birthed my child.

I chose to give birth at a casita on her property where she saw clients. I was 41 weeks when my baby girl decided to make her debut. I went into labor around 3:00 AM and labored for 17 hours before feeling the urge to push. After 45 minutes of intense pushing, I delivered my 9lbs 3 oz baby girl! She and I were perfectly healthy and beyond grateful for a team of empowering and bold women who surrounded us and cared for us.

This transformative experience left me empowered and determined to advocate for women’s birthing rights. No woman should feel forced into unnecessary medical interventions or denied the opportunity to birth in the way that feels right for her. Through education, support, and community, I hope to empower others to reclaim their birthing experiences and embrace the beauty and strength of natural birth. This is also what fueled my decision to begin Midwifery School. I look forward to advocating for women as a doula and a future midwife.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I would say, “NO! My life journey has been anything but smooth.” I say that with a smile on my face. From a deeply religious and traumatizing childhood, getting married at 18 as a way to escape my toxic family, over the years going through my wild birth stories, learning how to be a mom to five little humans, experiencing a painful divorce, coming out as a late to life lesbian, meeting my soul mate, almost losing one of my son’s due to fentanyl overdose in 2021, overcoming his miraculous recovery with him, changing careers in my 40’s, to allowing myself to “fail,” self discover, and reinvent my life and life’s purpose…I wouldn’t describe that as a “smooth” journey:) I have zero regrets, though. It is only through the hard, only through the pain, and only through the fire that we grow and evolve. I am thankful for my bumps and bruises along the way because they have driven me to greater capacities of love and compassion. Within that is my life’s purpose. We all experience pain, work, and uncertainty while here, so buckle up, Buttercup! It’s a wild ride, and, as I share with my birthing clients, the only way out is through, and the easiest way through is to surrender to the process. Let it wash over you like a wave, and allow it to do its work in you. It will go faster and move smoother if you surrender to it. Resisting only keeps you stuck and prolongs the process.

As you know, we’re big fans of Doula Collective California. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I founded Doula Collective California in February of 2024 to meet the ever-present needs of parents who need birth, postpartum, and lactation support. Over the past 22 years, as I’ve walked this parenthood/womanhood/birthing rights path, I not only see the deep need for woman-to-woman support, but I see the ever-increasing need for doulas to be supported and championed as well. Most doulas have a keen knowledge of how to bring support to parents, surrogates, and guardians but often need help with the business side of this industry. This business can also be very isolating, and burnout comes at a high rate. I founded my collective to address all of these needs from each angle: the needs of the client AND the doula.

Doula Collective California offers its doulas high levels of community, mental health support, mentorship, and empowerment, coupled with providing steady work and matching them with clients with whom they often develop long-lasting friendships. There are several agencies and collectives who are just in it to make money off of doulas who frequently lack the business savvy or desire to run the back end of a doula business. In these cases, doulas get taken advantage of and are left disillusioned, frustrated, and defeated. To help mitigate this, I’m building and growing my collective.

What sets Doula Collective California apart from other agencies is honestly (and I mean this in the sincerest form of modesty) me. I genuinely care for my client’s needs; being a parent myself and having very little support, having gone through traumatic births, severe postpartum depression and anxiety multiple times, and understanding the intricacies of having someone in your home helping to care for your baby’s needs can feel overwhelming. I work hard to choose only highly qualified doulas with the highest compassion and knowledge to best support our clients. I am also on the other end of things as a doula myself. I see what is involved in the day-to-day work and know what it takes to keep myself and others healthy and balanced. It is very selfless work and requires unique skills that also call for a strong support network. These are the reasons the collective has been successful. Compassion and care go a long way in this industry.

Another unique aspect of Doula Collective California is my deep desire to make our services accessible to as many parents as possible. This is why I keep our rates on a sliding scale. I do have a minimum for each support service to protect my doula’s bottom line, as they have bills to pay too, and I work diligently to create a level of affordability for clients of all backgrounds.

Doula Collective California has a strong resource network that has proven incredibly valuable to our clients and doulas. Our primary focus is birth support, newborn care/postpartum doula support, and lactation support.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Humble, sincere compassion and empathy, coupled with a bull-headed determination to leave this life better than when I arrived.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.DoulaCollectiveCalifornia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/