Los Angeles Based Birth and Postpartum Doula

What Does a Birth Doula Do?

I came into my work as a doula two decades ago with a few opinions, and the first few years of that was a beautiful and humbling experience of unlearning those.

These days, I begin my work with the question, “What does this person need in order to prepare for their birth?” The answer is different each time. From there, I shape my offerings around each family’s values as we learn more about what kinds of coping techniques resonate, what information, research and decisions are compelling, and what tools might be most helpful.

I offer Childbirth Education in the form of small group classes that explore coping techniques, the physiological needs of a laboring person and baby, effective partner support, breath work, body balancing and fetal positioning. My hope is that people leave my class feeling prepared, not overwhelmed with more information than they could possibly retain. We explore decision making alongside the common trauma responses that can make advocacy challenging in the moment, and we discuss how to navigate making decisions when options aren’t presented as such.

I offer a workshop centered on Lactation and Postpartum healing where we discuss ways to prepare for breastfeeding for those planning on doing so. We talk about the most common newborn cues that can be the most confusing, how to soothe an overly tired or over-stimulated baby, and come up with a postpartum care plan that prioritizes the mental and emotional wellbeing of new parents.

When my clients feel ready for hands-on support in labor, I offer hands-on labor support that includes massage, counter-pressure, breath work and fetal positioning techniques amongst other tools. I often support families in their home before moving to their birth location.

After birth, I offer assistance with breastfeeding or bottle feeding. I am there to fully support each family’s preferences in regards to their goals around sleep and parenting techniques, and for those who want support in either safely co-sleeping or in gentle sleep conditioning, I’m well versed in both ends of the spectrum. Through the years I’ve witnessed everything work for someone and nothing work universally, and this is true both in birth and in parenthood.

There are really only a few things that still feel black and white:

  1. You deserve current research based information and straightforward answers in order to make fully informed decisions

  2. You deserve to feel fully autonomous over your decisions and supported by your entire birth team in choosing what feels right for you

  3. Birth is not just a physical event but an emotional and psychological transformation, though understanding the true physiological needs of a laboring person is a great place to start.

My Training:

With doula and midwife sister-in-law as my first mentor, I assisted my first home birth in 2001. I took the DONA International birth doula and postpartum doula certifications and learned assistant midwifery skills under the renowned midwives Ina May Gaskin and Pamela Hunt at The Farm in Tennessee, and with Orgasmic Birth author Elizabeth Davis in California. I am trained in Childbirth Education through DTI and completed the Hypnobabies teacher training as well as the Hypnobabies doula training. I completed the Echo Parenting 10-week trauma informed parenting workshop in 2018 in 2020. For several years I have benefitted from an apprenticeship with Transformed by Birth author Britta Bushnell in Los Angeles, and have incorporated so much of her wisdom into my work in childbirth education. I’m certified by the American Red Cross in CPR. The most intense training I’ve undertaken was birthing my own daughter in 2013 and parenting her. I’m still learning every day.