I am first and foremost a child of God committing to answering my calling from God to give comfort.  This was revealed to me after much prayer of whether I should pursue this passion of mine while reading in 2 Corinthians.

I am a wife of a very loving and supportive husband, Joe; we have been married for over 5 years and looking forward to long life together.  I am also a mother of 2 wonderful children.  Jacob is 5 and enjoys telling people that his mom helps women have babies (since that is all we will tell him for now).  Jordyn is 2 ½.  She loves babies in general, when we tell her that it is time for mommy to go to be with a laboring mom, she says that she wants the baby.  

 I am a stay at home mom that has a passion for pregnancy and mothers of infants and preschoolers.  This being said, I am also a coordinator of a local chapter of MOPS (Mother of Preschoolers) that celebrates and offers moms a chance to sit and discuss topics or just chat with other moms going through the same season of life.  Not being isolated during this time period is very important; I believe that this organization has put together a great program that makes it easy for moms to connect to each other.

My first peek into childbirth came when I was 16 years old and then again at 18 when I attended my sister’s deliveries of my nephews.  I was intrigued and cried at the miracle of life.  I then had my own children where I learned that support is not continuous from the staff like I anticipated and in turn slid down a slippery slope to a cesarean with Jacob and then a second cesarean with Jordyn with refusals of a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean).  This is when educating and supporting others became so important to me.

 I began attending births soon thereafter but did not actively begin my official doula training until November of 2006.  I have since become certified through DONA (Doulas of North America). I have attended several births including; first time moms, vaginal births after cesareans, twins, post-date pregnancy and cesareans.   I have worked with moms using several birthing techniques including Bradley, Hypnobirthing, Hypnobabies, Lamaze and others.