Meet Jazman, Psy.D., CFHC, CD, CPNE, CPME
Certified Fertility Health Coach | Certified Fertility Doula | Certified Doula (GBC) | Certified Perinatal Nutrition Educator | Certified Perinatal Minerals Expert | Certified Breastfeeding Specialist | PAILAdvocate | Certified Body Ready Method Pro®
As a kindergartner God had already given me knowledge of the calling that He had crafted for my life. It was exhibited in my fascination with the miracle of birth and babies at such an early age. I was 5-or 6-years-old playing “house” with my younger sister while pretending that I had just given birth to a hand-me-down Cabbage Patch doll (back when I thought babies came out of your belly button) when I resolutely declared in my mind, "When I grow up I want to help mommies have babies!" Now, I am living in my calling...the dream God gave me. Whether that be journeying with couples-in-waiting to overcome infertility and cradle their victory babies or supporting pregnant mamas through labor. I help mamas (and daddies) have babies!
My Background
As a young adolescent, I could often be found glued to the television watching Birth Day and A Baby Story on TLC. My earliest experiences of providing postpartum care began in middle school as I voluntarily supported my older sister and her husband after the birth of their first child. I absolutely loved anticipating their needs and serving them. In my late teens, I helped support an acquaintance of my younger sister who became pregnant as a teen, and it was such an honor to walk through that journey with her. The first birth I ever attended was at 18-years-old, when my older sister gave birth to her third child. My heart swelled as I witnessed my sister delve into the depths of her motherliness to birth my precious nephew. God’s intricate design for my life began taking shape in my heart, however, it took some years before it came to fruition.
Although my journey to birth work was unconventional, I have always worked with young children and families. I have a doctoral degree in clinical psychology with an emphasis in child and adolescent psychology. I completed my predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship in infant and early childhood mental health. During my internship I co-lead a mother-baby group that addressed perinatal mental health issues for mamas living in an addiction recovery program with their infants. I also provided individual mother-baby therapy for mamas processing birth trauma, struggling with postpartum depression, and those desiring to parent better. Hearing these mother’s stories gripped me and drew my heart to them. One day during internship, a doula presented about her work at a staff training. It was at that moment as I sat on that faded red couch listening to her speak that Holy Spirit whispered to my heart that doula work was my calling. It would take another year and a half, but I finally trusted God and stepped out on faith. I could no longer delay what my soul already knew...birth work was undeniably my calling! Although my calling did not unfold in the way I had imagined, I have gained invaluable knowledge and experiences that further prove how much God knew the plans that He had for me (Jeremiah 29:11) and was working everything out for my good (Romans 8:28).
I now hold a deepened understanding of how prenatal, birth, and early relational experiences impact the earliest of development. As a doula, I utilize my background to support birthing women and their families in identifying challenges early and in applying Biblical principles to heal. Addressing challenges early helps to promote positive bonding and attachment experiences between infants and their caregivers. It also promotes overall well-being and healthy transitions once baby is born. I support mothers in lovingly connecting with themselves and their babies while they are still being formed in the womb. I am very passionate about my work and see it not only as my calling, but my ministry. My hope is for a mother to carry in her heart a lullaby of rejoicing over her baby, just as God rejoices over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17).
Our Fertility Journey
I remember feeling like no one fully understood the weight of our struggle, our hurting, our agony. Feeling forgotten by loved ones and utterly invisible to the church made for an incredibly isolating journey. Outwardly, I learned to accentuate a plastic smile with the hottest color lipstick for that season while internally, my screams were imprisoned within the depths of my bones and silenced by my will to appear "normal." The gravity of our struggle rendered our future forever changed. I constantly faced this internal battle of wanting someone to ask, to check-in, to bear my grief with me, yet also resisting to voluntarily overburden them with my heaviness, so I kept silent and relegated my tears to the secrecy of our home. On the occasions that I did share, I tempered my heartache because being transparently raw felt risky because my pain had been diminished and forgotten in the past.
Over the years I have learned that there is nothing anyone can say that makes the pain immediately disappear; however, having someone compassionately bear witness to your experience as much as needed is healing. The sting of not having support and feeling unseen within the church birthed an intense desire within me to support other couples journeying to overcome subfertility/infertility. Instead of becoming embittered, I embraced the Lord's sovereignty in our journey, which has allowed me to serve the body of Christ by filling an immense need for those silently struggling beneath the weight of trying to conceive. Nothing is wasted with God. He uses it all! Knowing that, I can say that this journey is worth it. The Lord is taking us on a unique path to our victory babies, and I am excited to share with you all in the future!
One day it occurred to me that there was no term for babies born to parents who had never conceived before and overcame infertility. As my spirit stirred, I sought the Lord because it mattered to me that couples enduring this journey have a term for their babies that represents all that they had to withstand to have them. Approximately one week later, Holy Spirit whispered to my heart, "victory baby." In Christ, we have all the victory, and these babies are the personification and declaration of victory over subfertility/infertility! Together, we can overcome infertility and redeem birth!
Certifications & Affiliations
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