What Birth Work Means to Me

What I love most about working with women and families through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum is quite simple: you. You, the pregnant mom, and the spouse, and the partner, and the best friend, sister, grandmother — you women, you families, you communities, you enter into highly and wonderfully diverse, but universally wise and thoughtful, experiences through matrescence (becoming a mother; more generally, becoming a parent). You ask fascinating questions and share deep thoughts on what value peace and presence, or even pain, could hold within the birth space. Of course you are uncomfortable — physically, emotionally — whether it be your changing body, heartburn, contractions, or sleepless nights with your newborn. This is where the magic lives — you shift a little. You enlist a helper. You lean on another human — physically, emotionally. You change positions, challenge yourself to experiment with new perspectives. And these shifts, these micro-movements — physical, emotional — not only bring relief, but bring change, and change is often the forward motion we seek. A little more open. A little more unselfconscious. A little more free. I have felt these shifts myself, as I conceived, miscarried, birthed, fostered, and began parenting children. One day I woke up with two beautiful children and realized, “I’m not at all the same person I was five years ago, and that is fascinating!” As a doula, I am immersed in your small, daily transformations. I am the listening ear on the other end of the line during late-night phone calls. I am the woman holding you as you labor.

Every pregnancy, birth, and postpartum pathway is different, because every woman is unique. I don’t need to know every data point about pregnancy, birth, and postpartum to know you, and you are the center of your journey (not your complications, not your diagnoses, not your risks). As a doula, I provide physical, emotional, informational, and spiritual support during your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum transition — the best way I know how to do that is to know you — your unique story. After all, there is no magic formula, no right way, to birth. Every pregnancy, birth, and postpartum wants and needs different kinds of support. It’s my first and foremost goal, then, to know you. I hope we can connect — I’d love to hear these first few pieces of your story.