Odyssey of Life Birth Services | Meet Doula & Birth Educator Matteah Cruz

I had the opportunity to meet and chat with the owner of Odyssey of Life Birth Services, Matteah Cruz!

Meeting Teah from Odyssey of Life Birth Services was a great experience! She comes up to you completely bubbly and happy. She’s ready to assist at a moment’s notice. With a very welcoming demeanor, Matteah makes everyone feel at home. Even in my own home, she made me feel very welcome! I would imagine having her helping me through labor would be a fabulous experience too.

I had the pleasure of asking Matteah to go more in depth with her journey to birth work. Read ahead to learn all about her!

What drew you to being a doula? What made you know that helping other women through their pregnancy was your calling?

I was drawn to Birth support when my brother was born when I was 8. Watching my single mothers strength really spoke to me. Eight years later I found myself in a single mom situation. I started doing research and stumbled upon a midwife teaching a birth prep class for free, at Grace House in Weatherford. I don’t know if she saw my passion for the field. Or if she was just curious to see how far this awkward teenager would go, but she took me under her wing. I will never forget my first birth with her. Seeing a mothers strength, a fathers devotion, children gone in a blink of an eye, replaced by parents. The love, the fear, the bond that now encapsulated this new family. This split moment left me in awe. Over a decade later and every Birth still leave me in awe. There is always at least one moment that is so inspiring, its never the same, different for every birther & experience. It is that moment is what has drawn me to birth work.

After losing my first pregnancy I had to pull away from birth work. At least on a professional standpoint. My life experiences always seemed to lead me back to birth work. A calling to assist families – especially the young, underprivileged, disadvantaged. Between My children’s births and my losses, I assisted friends family acquittances along their birth and parenting journeys. Always finding my deepest joy in serving them. When covid hit and my now teens  no longer needed my undivided attention. I opened Odyssey of Life Birth Services to fulfill my lifelong passion of birth work as a Doula and Childbirth educator. 

Where is Odyssey of Life Birth Services located? Do you have an office or do you exclusively travel?

I’m located in Hood county though I serve the greater DFW area including Wise, Denton, Parker, Tarrant, Somerville, Erath counties. I travel to the clients for both doula support and classes are held privately in clients home. I do host group classes as well when available, hosted in locally owned businesses. 

How long have you been a doula? What kind of experience have you gained in this field?

I have been in birth work since 2006. Birth work became my full time career and I became fully certified in 2020. Though I work as a solo practice at this time, I have partnered with The Inked Doula as back up support to ensure our clients have support at all times. We work alongside many birth workers in the DFW area who have decided to work together as a community, instead of competition, to provide a complete support network in the DFW area for clients.

What is your philosophy on coaching support during labor?

My birth philosophy is “you do you boo” I believe that you know your body better than anyone. That birth is a natural act. Not to be feared but to be respected. I also believe that knowledge is power and that without knowing your options you don’t truly have any. I focus my care on expanding my clients knowledge and confidence within themselves. They are almighty, my job is to give them unbiased, evidence based information for them to make their choice and for me to support that choice, so they achieve their positive birth experience. 

Do you have children of your own? If so, what were their birth stories?

I do have children myself. I have experienced everything from emergency’s cesarean’s to home birth and lots of the in-betweens. I have 4 children that are the fruit of my loins. A teenage daughter, twin preteen boys, and a tween son. I also have an adopted 26 year old. (My brother became my oldest at 6 years old) I have 9 children waiting for us when this life passes. My parenting journey has had its up and down as life’s odysseys commonly do. You can read more about my pregnancies and births on my blog. Though my website and socials don’t highlight my experiences because I am focused on your future experience not my past. 

When I’m not teaching classes or serving at a birth. I’m loving/ embarrassing my kiddos with my weirdness and goofy side. I’m loving on my fur babies (all 12 of them!), or the fam I are going on whatever adventure we can find. 

Love Matteah and want to connect with her and Odyssey of Life Birth Services?

Find Matteah and Odyssey of Life Birth Services on their website, on Facebook and follow her on Instagram.

Don’t forget along your birthing journey that you document your Maternity and Newborn photos! It’s incredible how long your pregnancy seems to drag on for, but then all of a sudden you have your baby in your arms, then they’re going to Kindergarten! Take all the pictures. Take them all. From one mother to another, your baby will grow up in what feels like a blink.

Until next time, may your day be happy and your coffee be strong!

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