My journey towards becoming a doula began after years of infertility treatment, miscarriages and then finally, the births of my lovely daughters. During infertility treatment, I became very intrigued with the whole process of bringing a new life into the world. After experiencing the very artificial process of infertility treatment, I began to focus on the experience of birth once we had finally conceived. The more research I did, the more convinced I became that birth was a natural process. I selected a group of midwives to work with for each of my births. I assumed that my midwife would stay with me and support me throughout my births, however I found that hospital midwives often have other patients,just like OB's, and can not stay with you throughout your labor experience. Thankfully, my birth experiences were quick and were acheived naturally. I am still happy with my choice to use midwives, but I definetly saw a gap in the process.

After my own birth experiences, I saw how the support of a doula could be invaluable during the birth process. While doctors, midwives and nurses change shifts, the doula stays with the laboring woman throughout her whole childbirth experience providing a continuity of care the other providers are unable to provide.

The doula's role is to provide care to the laboring woman by supporting her emotional and physical needs throughout the often unpredictable process of childbirth. During the prenatal and postnatal visits, the doula can provide information and educational support about the birth process and care of the newborn. I have experience in supporting the hypnobirthing mother, waterbirth and natural childbirth methods.

I feel that women are stronger than they are often given credit for. I think that women, given useful and unbiased information, are capable of making positive decisions for their own birth experiences and feel less anxiety when changes are needed during the birth experience. I support each woman's personal choices for a positive childbirth experience as she defines it. I am a certified doula with DONA International and a certified childbirth educator with CAPPA. I offer additional training and education as a certified CPR/First Aid instructor with the American Heart Association. I enjoy supporting women through the most challenging and rewarding experience that they will ever have.