Services Provided:

Prenatal, Birth & Postpartum Services:

• free initial consultation
• 2-3 prenatal visits, as needed/desired
• assistance in developing a birth plan
• unlimited email & phone (9 a.m. to 10 p.m.) support throughout pregnancy
• on-call beginning two weeks before your expected due date
• supportive presence (emotional, physical and informational) throughout labor and birth, and immediately after
• 1 postpartum visit
• breastfeeding assistance & support
• sliding scale

Personal Statement:

Where to begin? I have had an enduring interest in childbirth since my own two wonderful daughters were born. Having had fulfilling, uncomplicated pregnancies and unmedicated births at a time when personalized, non-medical pregnancy and labor support was virtually nonexistent, I consider myself fortunate to have had the birth experiences I'd hoped for.

Over the years, I kept abreast of changes in the childbirth field through reading and discussion with other mothers. But, it wasn't until 2007 when my younger daughter decided to get a master's in public health with an emphasis on women's reproductive health that I thought seriously about finding a role for myself in the field. I decided to be trained as a birth doula.

Having majored in a scientific field, I am partial to an empirical approach in my work as a doula. I am also knowledgeable of a variety of traditional techniques that have been effective in childbirth through the ages, and I am always open to trying "whatever works" or is desired by a particular woman.

I believe that an effective doula's greatest assets are an abundance of compassion for a birthing woman, a deep respect for the natural process of birth, and an appreciation of the value of teamwork in a medical environment. Each of us has a distinct function in assisting and supporting the process of birth.

To me, pregnancy and childbirth are arguably the most significant, dramatic and transformative experiences life offers to women and their partners, and I consider it an honor to be allowed to play a supportive role during this important time in their lives. My goals are to increase a woman's confidence as she enters this period and to facilitate as comfortable and uncomplicated a birth experience as is possible for each woman, given her respective circumstances, beliefs and desires. I would like nothing more than for her to look back many years later, as I do, and know that she had the best possible birth.