Meet Caren Nugent | Childbirth Educator & Birth, Bereavement, and Postpartum Doula

We had the good fortune of connecting with Caren Nugent and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Caren, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
After the birth of my children, I realized that there was so much information about birth that just wasn’t known to “every day people”. I wanted to help educate expecting families on pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I am the owner of Arlington Birth Services. I am a childbirth educator and doula. What that means is that I help families have amazing birth experiences…whatever that means to them. I want them to feel well educated and informed about their birthing decisions and, whatever the outcome of their birth, I want them to feel empowered and proud of themselves.

I love the little “light bulb moments”. When I’m teaching expecting families and I present something that they haven’t considered and that light bulb goes on…it’s my favorite! I also really love watching couples work together to bring their babies earthside. It’s magical.

I think any business success is not easy. It’s a constant up and down of success and failures. Highs and lows. But the biggest thing is grit and perseverance. Birth work can be a pretty high turn over career because of how demanding it is. But sticking it out through the hard parts is what makes the successes so beautiful.

Starting out, I wanted everyone to be my client. I wanted to attend every birth. It was hard and exhausting on me and my family. Once I started to scale back, figure out who my target client was, and started focusing more on my personal health, I started to become more successful. I was not as burned out as I was in the beginning. I was able to find a healthy work/life balance and set boundaries.

What I want people to know about me is that I don’t care what kind of birth you choose to have. I just want you to make decisions based on education and not on fear, bullying, or coercion. Educate yourself, be bold and assertive with your care provider, and have an amazing birth. That doesn’t always mean that an amazing birth is a natural one in your backyard surrounded by stars and the moon. Sometimes, an amazing birth means in an operation room, or in the hospital, or at a birth center on the stairs because you couldn’t make it to the birthing suite. An amazing birth is going to look different for everyone.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We love taking our out of town guests (especially international guests) to a Texas Rangers game. They always find it interesting.

If they have never been to Texas before, then Downtown Fort Worth area is such a fun surprise to them. I think it gives them the classic, stereotypical scene of Texas with the cattle drive and stockyards.

As far as food goes, we love Thai Texas in Arlington. It’s probably one of our favorites. But we also love Texas Roadhouse.

Honestly, we are pretty basic. We have lived here our entire lives and sometimes, I think, that can get in the way of our adventuring out around town because the novelty wears off.

However, if they are visiting us on a weekend, we absolutely invite them to attend church with us. We attend City on a Hill in East Fort Worth and it’s such a wonderful church community. That’s probably my favorite place to take people.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband, Ryan, has been my biggest supporter with my career. He has encouraged me to jump right in and pursue my passion. He accepts my weirdness and even embraces it! My job is an on call one. But he never complains about the last minute change of plans or the middle of the night births that can derail our lives.

Also, our children. They have been such troopers when Mommy has to go to work. It was extremely difficult when they were little, but now that they are older, they actually really love my job.

Website: www.arlingtonbirthservices.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/arlingtonbirthservices

Facebook: www.facebook.com/arlingtonbirthservices

Other: TikTok: @arlingtonbirthservices

Image Credits
Erin Beth Photography