Becoming a Postpartum Doula....WHAT???

I was wasting time on the computer like I often do, and went to craigslist jobs and searched for "doula". I couldn't believe my eyes when an add came up for the local birth center, looking for a postpartum doula. It said that all training was done on the job, and didn't require any certification or anything - but a love for natural parenting and experience with that type of stuff was helpful. I whipped up a resume and cover letter and sent it out. What the heck right? It sounded like a dream job to me, so I applied. I had nothing to loose.

To my surprise the emailed me back!!! The email said that after reviewing my resume she wanted me to come in for an interview. I seriously almost fell out of my chair. Could this really be happening?

The interview was amazing. The birth center is amazing. It is basically this big old Victorian house that has been re-modeled on the inside. It's two stories, has a kitchen on each level, and currently has 3 birthing rooms, although they are currently adding a 4th room. The rooms are BEAUTIFUL. Hardwood floors, each room has a giant bathtub, beautiful furniture etc. AND the job means working around midwifes all of the time! There are something like 12 midwifes that work there. They do home births, and for people that don't want to be home, but don't want to be in the hospital, they have the birth center. Here is a link if you want to see pictures! If you click on the photos, they will bring up a slide show.
The job entails taking care of the house, cleaning and laundry, and most importantly taking care of the mama and baby after birth until they go home. You are trained on taking vital signs, and do things like help with breastfeeding, holding baby if mother wants to sleep and baby doesn't, cooking up herbs for sitz baths, ordering organic food from the local grocery store to keep the house stocked etc... The hard part is that you are on call for 12 hour shifts 9-9. So if you are on call on a night shift than you may be called to come in the middle of the night. But the schedule sounds very flexible, and I may be able to just sign up for one or two call shifts a week (day or night) and see how it goes.....

I won't hear until next week if I get the job. They are hiring 3 people, but I'm sure they are swamped with applications, as this really is a dream job. The pay is not great, but about what I make babysitting, so I can't complain. If I DO get the job the questions will be - what about being a birth doula...do I still want to pursue that? And what about the hours, would it be better to work in the day so I can sleep at night? The problem is that Adelaide goes to bed at 7 - so that means that I wouldn't see her ALL DAY! Not sure if that will work. But working at night means needing to sleep in the day...does that really work? I can't imagine it working well. And what about time with Myles. We already don't get a lot of time together, so I would have to be sure this wouldn't hurt our relationship as well.

I am just leaving it up to fate at this point. I would LOVE this job more than anything else I can imagine, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for it yet. We will just have to see what happens!