As a doula, I can:
- encourage you to find and utilize your voice to advocate for yourself and your child
-provide you with evidence-based information about pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period and walk you through creating a birth plan; I even create a formal PDF copy for you or I to take to the hospital after our thorough discussions! :)
- provide physical and emotional support throughout our time together through appointments, phone, and text check ins
-locate and connect you to local resources to help bridge needs, find compassionate and patient-centered care, and keep you up to date on local family events and programs
-give tips on comfort during pregnancy, birth ball demonstrations, breastfeeding education and postpartum lactation (including pumping and flange fitting) text, phone, and in person support and assistance
-play the role of a pregnancy companion; text me how your provider appointments went! I want to know! :) Yes, I want to know the gender, and YES I want to know when you’re feeling down and lonely! Feel comfortable telling me about the stress of returning to work or the stress of affording food this week. Let me be the person who says, “Okay, so how can I help?!”
-and soooo much more!
With personalized services geared towards education, perinatal medical advocacy, and physical and emotional preparation, and the goal of preparation for childbirth and caring for both your new baby and postpartum body. Although our birth plan may not go EXACTLY as planned, I do believe every birthing person should feel heard, respected, and in control of their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum period. With that, I will always go the extra mile if that mile is within my reach, to ensure that happens for each of my client families.
My birth experiences may not have gone exactly the way I imagined it would.. But the end result always came out even better than I could have dreamed! I am the lucky parent of 2 beautiful children who, as CLICHE as it is, are the absolute light of my life! I have a 3 year old son who melts hearts for a living (Ha! He knows he’s a little ham), and a very intelligent 11 year old daughter who loves art, kittens, and peace and quiet away from her brother (we are your typical American family you can say lol..). I have a wonderful significant other named Brandon who has helped me to be able to support my client families and community. Every time I take off for a birth, he says “Take your time with them, babe! Your clients need and deserve it!” Brandon also supported the growth of our family when we decided to introduce two cats to our household earlier this year! Felix is a super friendly kitty who gives strange, but satisfying human-like hugs and Doula (yes, I did think this was hilarious at the time lol) is a total sweetie who is always ready for love! Shortly after we adopted our final family member, Clyde, a super relaxed bearded dragon who quickly learned that if he acted EXTRA cute I would probably offer him an extra bug instead of making him eat ALL of his fruit and veggie salad.
As IRONIC as it is, in the experiences of creating and bringing up my family, life has shaped me into a person with a passion in serving other people who are bringing up their own growing families. As someone with the experience of a teenage mother, I am transparent of the fact that pregnancy, birth, and parenting can be a scary road to navigate if you are doing it without support, guidance, or knowledge of “how all this works.” I have a passion for what I do because I believe every current and expecting mother deserves to have someone they can turn to without judgement and biases in a time that can be an excruciatingly vulnerable time for a lot of us.
