Annaiah Walker
Hello all!
My name is Annaiah, pronounced a variety of ways
including, but not limited to, “on-nay-uh”,
“on-knee-yuh”, and “on-yah”. It has kind of shifted
over the years. I am seventeen and the middle child
of five, ranging from twenty-two to twelve and a
half. I currently live in Virginia, in historic
Colonial Williamsburg. I have lived here (though in
two different houses) for the last eight and a half
years of my life. However, all that is changing now.
Come early March most of my family will be moving
to…we don’t know!!! There are a couple different
options at the moment, the most likely being
Michigan. The next year or two will likely be full
of hop, skipping, and jumping across the United
States for us. I would appreciate prayer in this
area for me as I love the idea of just settling down
in one area, especially Michigan or Virginia (we
have close family in both spots). Please pray that
my heart will be in the right spot and I will be
open handed to wherever God plans to take us.
Since most of you don’t know me I thought I would
give you some random facts about me to hold on to so
that you have a little better an idea of the kind of
person I am. So here goes…
- I’m an introvert so I have a love/hate
relationship with parties (the idea of them is nice,
but then in reality they’re very difficult for me).
- My favorite color is blue.
- I have peanut allergies, but only for the last
year and a half.
- I love dressing up all fancy, but then I love
being able to go home and get in my comfy pajamas.
- Piano is the instrument for me…I can’t play it
(although I’m working on that) but I could listen to
it all day. When I hear someone playing piano I
automatically start looking around for the piano and
then I just stand there like a creep, watching
whoever it is play.
- I love swimming, but only in swimming pools or the
Great Lakes.
- Most of the time I think winter is my favorite
season, and then there are random days where I
decide that it’s spring instead. And then the next
day I am right back to loving winter. Not sure what
happens there in my mind :/
- I love organization, but I struggle to keep my
room clean.
- I am very straight forward and literal. This means
I am often the last one to get a joke…which makes
for a lot of laughter, and sarcasm just plain
doesn’t work with me…because I will believe it. Like
if someone is actually talking about how little
money they have, but instead they say something like
“yeah, I just carry about a thousand dollars in my
back pocket all the time” I will take them quite
seriously, and then figure out when they start
laughing that they were joking…I’ve learned to just
laugh along.
- Speaking of laughter…I get HICCUPS!!! No joke.
Sometimes they last just 5-10 minutes...but then
there are times where I have had them for 2 and ½
days, straight through the night even. Well…that
only happened once, but I seriously thought I was
going to crack a rib at some point. Thankfully that
didn’t happen…I was just really, really sore
afterwards. Hiccups for a whole day are not uncommon
though.
So, there you go…I hope that helped to give you a
little bit of a picture of who I am.
You might be wondering how a crazy girl like me
joined Charis...well it’s a long story. So maybe
grab a cup of tea and a blanket and curl up on a
couch to enjoy the journey I have travelled.
This story starts back in 1994, when my Mama was
pregnant with my older brother and she was choosing
her care provider. God put the right people in her
life at this time, and it led her to finding a
wonderful midwife. With a little bit of information,
she quickly became passionate about natural
childbirth and she wound up with a beautiful home
birth. Although she loved her homebirth, because of
some life circumstances, she chose to give birth to
her next baby with Nurse Midwives at a hospital
birth center. That is where my older sister was
born. They loved the experience so much that my
parents chose to go back for my birth. My birth was
also a wonderful experience, but again, because of
some life circumstance, a homebirth was chosen for
my younger brother. He was only thirteen months
younger than me so I have no memories of that day.
And that was our little family…or so we thought.
Four years and six days after my little brother was
born, on June 13th, 2004…we added our sweet princess
to our family. I was five by then and God planted a
seed in my heart that day. I know the date and
approximately the time that the birth work was
planted in my heart, although I had no idea that
such a beautiful flower had just been planted. Mama
delivered in a different hospital birth center and
when I went to visit my new little sister, I walked
into the room and there was this most beautiful
woman, standing strong, tall, and oh so proud of my
Mama and little sister. I had no idea how
influential this woman would be in my life… since
she is part of this story I think she needs a name.
I’m going to call her Companion, since that is what
her beautiful name means. While I was waiting my
turn to snuggle the new baby…I became interested in
what Companion was doing. And I watched…she must
have noticed because she asked if I wanted to see
around. She took me about the room and showed me so
much…I remember the umbilical clips, the gloves, the
scissors, the baby scale, the shower for soothing
Mama (that’s what she called it), and so much more.
She became my Companion that day…I have no idea if
she saw the potential in me or if she just did that
with all the kids that visited. It doesn’t really
matter… she put something there in my heart that was
only to grow bigger. That day, I remember staring
into her big, beautiful, gentle eyes…holding her
hand…listening to her lovely voice explaining things
to me, answering my many questions…and I thought
“wouldn’t it be amazing to do a job like this. Maybe
I want to be like her someday…” But as I hugged her
good-bye that day…I had no idea I was hugging
someone still very dear to me twelve years later. I
haven’t seen my companion friend since that day, but
I still have hopes of seeing her again.
So, life continued like normal, and although I
didn’t realize I was doing this…there was an
increasing number of times I played the
midwife/doctor/nurse while playing what my siblings
and I called “imaginary”. Several years passed…our
family moved out of state from the only state we had
ever lived in and began an adventure in a new place.
A place that unknown to me would be crucial in
building a huge part in my life. I fought so hard…I
didn’t want to move away from the life I had always
known and I didn’t want to like the new place or
think that it had anything good. Although I’ve never
felt completely settled here, I did get to a point
where I recognized God’s goodness in bringing my
family and I to Hampton Roads, Virginia and I was
happy to be here as long as I needed to be.
During this shift in our life, I started helping
Mama with cooking dinners, menu planning, and
grocery shopping. While out on one of these shopping
trips on a rainy day sometime in the fall of 2009, I
told Mama that I was frustrated because I wanted to
be a midwife but I didn’t want to go to college (at
this point in time I had been told that was the only
option). I was scared of the responsibility of
taking care of moms and babies. The legalities of
midwifery scared me too. It was then that Mama
encouraged me and said there were other options to
consider. She told me about doulas…who they were,
what they did, and what their schooling involved.
All of a sudden, a whole new world was opened up to
me and I had an option that fit my hopes.
For the next several years, I read as many books
about pregnancy and birth that I could get my hands
on. Somewhere during this time, I noticed a paper on
the bulletin board at the library that said “meet
the doulas”. Mama and I both decided to go and see
if I could get any more information. It turned out
to be one meeting out of many that I attended on a
regular basis with a group that talks about
pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding options in the
area and also lots of stories. I was fascinated and
convinced that being a doula was for me. But Mama
wanted me to do one more thing before I fully
committed to becoming a doula…she asked me to wait
until I had attended a birth before jumping
completely in. The opportunity came when I was
thirteen. A friend of mine was having her 10th baby
at home and asked Mama, my sister, and I if we
wanted to come. I was so excited. The birth was
beautiful and after that I was more determined than
ever. Mama completely supported me and encouraged me
to pursue the path I was taking and helped me in any
way she could.
Later that year another friend of mine was pregnant
and she invited me not only to her birth, but also
to all her midwife appointments. The midwives took
me under their wings and taught me to find the
baby’s heartbeat, measure the fundal height, and
find the baby’s position. I loved these visits and
this was the first time I had a thought of MAYBE I
would become a midwife FAR in the future. About two
weeks before the baby was born it was decided I
would be the one to deliver the baby. I was so
excited about this opportunity…and I had no idea
what was waiting just ahead for me. As it turns out
I wound up being the only one attending the birth.
The midwives didn’t make it in time and the dad was
walking into the kitchen from work when he heard the
baby cry. I was on such a birth high for days. To
this day, I have a very special bond with that
baby…actually now she’s a toddler.
Holding the sweet baby girl that I
caught three years ago.
I attended one more birth a year later. This was my
first hospital birth experience…and I struggled to
understand why there was such a difference in what
the homebirths I attended were like and what this
birth was like. The way it all turned out left me
uncertain of how I should proceed, because I knew
for sure I wanted to work with births, but I
struggled with feelings of helplessness afterwards.
My friend didn’t have the birth she had hoped for
and I wasn’t able to do anything about it. I
struggled because I knew it could have been
different…
I chose to continue forward with becoming a doula
because I was positive I wasn’t meant to be a
midwife, at least not any time soon. My sister,
Zipporah, was also looking into becoming a doula by
this time. She and I started looking into options
for certification and one day she found Charis
Childbirth. We prayed together and with our parents
about getting our certification through Charis.
After long hours of prayer and talking it was
decided we should apply. In August of 2015 we both
signed our applications and sent them off in the
mail. Mama actually sent one in too, but she chose
not to continue so she could spend time focusing on
my little brother and sister. That October we
started our coursework and have been continuing
together since then.
Spending time with my wonderful
Charis coach, Rachel Thompson.
Since beginning Charis I have attended five more
births. After two homebirths, two hospital
deliveries, and one hospital ABC birth, I have
learned so much about birth and about myself.
Through these births, I have discovered that in all
reality I’m meant to go beyond being a doula and
become a homebirth midwife. God has placed so many
different things in my path to point me in that
direction. It took a long time for me to stop
pushing against it, but once I decided to accept it
I actually got really excited!
Although I thoroughly believe I am meant to be a
midwife I am planning on finishing my doula
certification. My hope is to practice as a doula for
a little while to earn money for schooling and then
proceed on to midwifery training.
So, that is my story so far. I can’t wait to see
what is up ahead for me! In April I will be
graduating high school so hopefully that will free
me up to really dive fully into Charis and get this
certification complete…dual crediting through high
school has been a challenge, but totally worth it! I
wouldn’t change a thing. This journey has helped me
grow in so many ways, including my relationship with
God.
Thank you for taking probably quite a bit of time
out of your day to get to know me a little better.
Blessings to you,
Annaiah Walker
Enjoy a little pictorial journey of
myself and my family. :)
Levi, Zipporah, and I on the way
to a ball. I'm the one hugging Levi.
On the ferry with my sweet mum =)
Mama and I, enjoying the outdoors.
My family at my cousin's wedding.
Left to Right: Levi, Elita, Me, Zipporah, our cousin
and her new hubby, Papa, Mama, and Benjamin.
My Sisters, Elita, Zipporah and I.
Elita, Zipporah, and I cooking in
the kitchen.
Just chillin' with Elita.
