'Doula Dad' Devale Ellis Shares Delivery Scare That Made Him A Better Father And Husband

Essence Content

It’s Black Maternal Health Week so, we of course, are amplifying stories of Black women when it comes to childbirth. But Black women aren’t the only ones impacted by traumatic birthing experiences.  Devale and Khadeen Ellis are parents to four children and have gone through delivery multiple times now. Devale recently did an In The Comments With ESSENCE segment, and touched on a health scare his wife had during labor with their firstborn son Jackson that changed the way he approached his role during Khadeen’s subsequent pregnancies. He is now a proud daddy doula.

Transcript

00:00All right, this is one thing I learned while being a doula dad because I've dedicated my

00:06life to being involved in my wife's pregnancies. After we almost lost Kay during childbirth with

00:11Jackson, I made it a purpose to be involved in everything. And doing research, I've learned that

00:16as you talk to your children while in utero and the entire time from conception, I've been talking

00:22to that stomach, they get to learn your voice. And it's funny and amazing to watch as I step

00:28into a room where Dakota is, he's in. And as soon as I step in the room and start talking

00:33his head from the time he was born, just be like, I know that voice. That's my dad. So

00:44he's so invested because he's used to hearing my loud mouth all the time. And I also made

00:49it a point to try to make Kay laugh as much as possible while pregnant, because I know

00:54that's a rough 10 months. So I just wanted her to smile and laugh. So I spent a lot of time

00:58joking, picking that phone up and recording it. So he came out just knowing what I sound

01:02like. And I'm proud to say that all of my boys, after Jackson, you know, we went through

01:08the same thing. So Dakota Conversations, we're Kaz Conversations, we're Cairo Conversations.

01:13And shout out to Jackson for making me a better father and Kadeem for making me a better husband

01:17because we're all learning and building together.

01:19We're all learning and building together.

01:20We're all learning and building together.

01:21We're all learning and building together.

01:22We're all learning and building together.

01:23We're all learning and building together.

01:24We're all learning and building together.

01:25We're all learning and building together.

01:26We're all learning and building together.

01:27We're all learning and building together.

01:28We're all learning and building together.

01:29We're all learning and building together.

01:30We're all learning and building together.

01:31We're all learning and building together.

01:32We're all learning and building together.

01:36We're all learning and building together.

01:37We're all learning and building together.

01:38We're all learning and building together.

01:39We're all learning and building together.

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