As your birth doula, I will guide and educate you about evidence-based practices, ensuring you can make the most informed decision for your birth; then, I help you advocate for that plan in labor. I walk you through a full continuum of birth prep from birth envisioning sessions to postpartum care that are essential for a healthy and empowering birth and recovery.

Meeting you at the level of support you would find most helpful, I offer virtual and in-person services that will holistically equip you to have a birth that is shorter, less painful and full of confidence and courage – a truly positive birth! 

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The 9 months of my first pregnancy were hard. I had so many painful emotions I had to face, feel, and grieve. I also had this intense ambition arise within me. I will have a different story. How? I just have to get over my fear! Easy enough, right? So, I went on a mad nine-month hunt to overcome my fear. I was relentless. I devoured so many books. Took courses. Researched and interviewed countless providers. I had a head full of knowledge. A long list of coping techniques. A group of supportive professionals. I was ready! Except there was one little problem -- all this knowledge, preparation, and planning didn’t help me get over the one thing that sent me on this journey in the first place. My FEAR! It was still there: palpable, unwavering, consistent. FEAR!

Mother nature didn’t care about my fear, it wasn’t going to wait for me to reach a peaceful, calm, centered self before labor started. When the time came for me to give birth, I mustered up all the courage I could and did my very best to manage through a very long, and painful 24-hour birth. Some of my planning and prepping helped. But most of the time, my mind was trying to outsmart my body, and attempt to get out of the situation -- an impossible task, I know, but that didn’t stop my mind from trying. The battle between mind, body, and heart was perhaps more painful than the actual physical pains of each contraction.

With the support of my husband and midwife team, I somehow made it to the finish line and gave birth to a beautiful 8lb 6 ounce baby boy. That moment I had him in my arms for the first time was one of the most surreal, wondrous, and magical moments of my life. “I did it, I actually gave birth to my baby.” Something I had doubted I could do the entire time. The ecstasy of that moment I will never forget. Tears rolling down my face and so much pride, strength, and confidence welled up in my heart. Something changed in me that day. I discovered I was stronger, more capable, more resilient, more tenacious than I could have ever imagined. I felt beyond empowered. 

Two years later, I became pregnant with my second baby. Now, you’re probably thinking, I was ready to face this second birth full-force after the empowering birth experience I had with my first. To my surprise, those same fearful feelings re-emerged. So much so, that I felt I couldn’t give birth in the same birthing center or with the same provider. I found a different provider who I felt like I could be open, honest, and vulnerable with, someone I felt safe with. It was a game changer. She was able to help me understand that the goal was not so much getting OVER my fear but going through birth DESPITE my fears. She encouraged me to find helpful coping techniques that I could use when those fears flared up. I learned that in labor I need to expect and anticipate the fears rather than try to run from them. This was the exact mind shift I desperately needed to have a different type of birth. Just thinking about birth in this way helped me relax and not feel this urgent pressure to ‘get over my fear.’ Rather lean into it, acknowledge it, accept it as part of my story.

It makes complete sense that I would be afraid, my mom died after childbirth. It gave me the courage and permission I needed to own my story, to embrace and accept it, to stop running, to stop the mad hunt of escaping my fears. To be present in my experience and in my body. 

When labor day arrived, I took this anchoring mindset of acceptance, being present, trusting my body and entered in. I stopped fighting against my body. I leaned into all the raw emotions I was feeling, I allowed myself to have them, to be present with myself in those extremely intense moments. To relinquish control, to accept the reality that my body was doing this -- with or without my mind's permission. I had a completely revolutionary, transforming, and healing experience giving birth to my beautiful daughter. She taught me what it means to step out of fear into freedom. To this day she embodies creative expression and freedom in her whole being -- it’s who she is. 

I didn’t think ANYTHING could match my second birth. I was blown away with the freedom I found in learning to be entune with my body and present in my birth. To trust the process, to trust my body, to feel safe and secure. Anticipating my third birth was easier than the first two. I had this calm reassurance in myself. I was confident, I was empowered, I was strong. I thought I had coping techniques, mental presentness, and emotional aptitude mastered. I was planning to just coast through this the third time. But life is full of magnificent surprises and my third birth was certainly that. I discovered there was more: something beyond the freedom I experienced with my second birth. I was able to reach the transition phase (which tends to be the most intense and painful part of labor) and be fully relaxed, fully present, fully in-tune with my body, so much so that I did not feel pain. It was unreal. I read about orgasmic births or ecstasy births, but I thought it was crazy, and certainly not for the fearful birther, like myself. Someone else's story, maybe. And even if it's true, it's not my story. But truthfully, it's a REAL thing, and I experienced it. 

After these three amazing experiences, I couldn’t help myself. I expressed my positive perspective of birth with everyone I encountered. Every pregnant mom, every family member, friend, neighbor and stranger I could find. 

I began supporting women with their own births 10+ years ago. I became trained & certified with the International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA) and continue to stay abreast with current birth practices. 

I am so glad you’re here; I would love to share the joy and freedom I found in birth with you! Your story could be one full of confidence and courage too.