Meet the Doula

As a doula, I have based my practice around certain convictions, which I call my Pillars of Service. 

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Pillar 1 | I believe in providing both birth and postpartum planning support in all of my services.

Whether it's my class options, doula support options, or even in my framework for birth documentation, I believe that women, babies, dads, and families as a whole benefit from a more comprehensive focus when getting ready for baby that involves both birth planning and postpartum planning. The birth experience significantly impacts postpartum experiences, and what someone expects they may need in their postpartum season may influence their vision for birth. It can be easy to be swept up in the plans and preparation for labor and a new baby's (or babies') entrance through birth; but postpartum is the next big season of maternal healing, newborn care, family integration, and the journey of parenthood. My goal is to help families alleviate the stresses of underpreparing for their postpartum season while preparing them to have as satisfying of a birth experience as possible.

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Pillar 2 | I am a doula to moms and dads.

It's been my observation that men as partners and fathers are often underestimated and/or overlooked in the birth space. I have talked to many dads who said they felt "useless" to help their spouse or partner during birth and how there was very little encouragement for them to feel like they had an important role in the birth room. As a doula, it has been my joy to counter these false notions and to help couples work together to find a shared birth vision, pursue education together, work through challenges that may arise, and become mighty advocates in their birth and postpartum experiences. It brings me joy to hear from dads who felt that they were also "doula-ed" along the way, and thus felt more prepared and more engaged in such an important moment for them and their families. Moms, too, frequently describe appreciating this aspect of my care, as being family focused and centered. If a woman is journeying through her pregnancy without a partner present, it's my honor to come alongside and be a support to them as a doula. I don't desire that anyone should feel alone in their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journeys.

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Pillar 3 | Education helps to ground a vision, and Advocacy helps to obtain it.

I love to share that I often watch as my clients' preparation "unfolds" in the birth room. This unfolding, however, does not happen by chance. It is the result of clients taking advantage of prenatal education about birth and postpartum experiences and being willing to take ownership over their birth and postpartum journeys. It is my goal not only to educate my clients and prepare them well for these experiences, but also to help them find confidence in their vision and values and to know how to advocate for those to their medical team and village. I am also there journeying beside them to help field questions and experiences that may arise, and if I do not immediately know an answer, I am willing to work to find it. I am also there to be an additional set of eyes and ears, and when needed, another voice to back up my clients' wishes and desires. I want my clients to have the dignity of being informed consumers and to know their rights in the birth space.

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Pillar 4 | I believe in providing service that is attentive to spirit, soul, and body.

My signature often includes the verse that says, "Beloved, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers" (3 John 2). It is my conviction that birth is more than just an event, but it really is a journey that invites incredible transformation on emotional, spiritual, physical, and overall personal levels. Rather than treating birth as just an event, I welcome my clients to talk through what they are experiencing on those levels, and I am happy to try to meet them where they are and to encourage them towards prospering and being in health, even as their soul prospers. My prayers are with my clients, and it's my joy to serve each one of them as I would hope to be served.