About Me
My journey to birth work started when I was 10 and began accompanying my mother to provide support when my sisters had babies. I loved caring for my sisters and their babies.
When I went to college, I studied family life and human development and it was there that my passion for learning about reproductive health began. The more I learned, the more I felt a deeper connection to my body. I wanted to become a doula and planned to do my training right after graduation.
During that time, I was married and became pregnant with my first child. Unsure of how to prepare, I chose to have my baby in a birth center, thinking if I was in a place that honored birth instead of treating it like an emergency, then it would be the beautiful experience I had envisioned. 56 hours of labor and a transfer to the hospital later, I had my baby. I was traumatized and didn't feel listened to or in control of anything. I thought it was because I just wasn't good at birth and that translated into feeling that I wasn't a good mother. After that, I wanted nothing more to do with birth work.
I completed my degree and had a second baby. This time, rather than risk repeating the trauma of my first birth, I decided to go straight to the hospital. Additionally, I researched all I could, taught myself some coping strategies, and had a plan for each stage of labor. Overall, though some parts of that birth didn't go how I wanted, it went exponentially better. I left feeling reassured about myself and about birth in general.
Getting to my third birth was hard. I struggled with infertility and had a miscarriage. When I finally became pregnant again, I wanted to have birth fully on my terms. I found a home birth midwife and took a much more comprehensive childbirth education class. I had a doula and I prepared both my body and mind with prenatal exercises. That birth was everything I needed it to be. I knew exactly what my body was doing and I felt powerful and in control the whole time. It was the most incredible experience of my life.
After that, I was ready to pursue birth work again and started looking for a doula training course. Meanwhile, to my joy, I became pregnant again. I used the same home birth midwife. The birth was long and much harder than anticipated. It didn't follow any of the patterns I had come to recognize in my previous births. But unlike the struggle I had during my long first birth, this time I was prepared and knew that labor is unpredictable. With support around me and a midwife who respected my autonomy, I came out of that birth knowing I am capable of doing incredibly difficult things.
I chose In Joy Birth for my training at the recommendation of my own doula who did the same training. I really wanted a training that would teach me how to support all kinds of birth. From blissful unmedicated births to challenging high risk births.
I want to be the doula that I needed, but more than that, I want to be the doula that you need.
I believe that everyone in every kind of birth deserves support. Birth seldom goes the way we think it will. With knowledge of what is happening, the skills to get through it, and a support team that respects your autonomy, it can be an empowering and transformational journey.
A Little More About Me
Before becoming a doula, I was a certified literary braille transcriber and one of only a few certified braille music transcibers in the world.
I am conversational in American Sign Language. I love music and dancing and feel at peace being in nature and doing calm and creative activities, like sewing and knitting.