After receiving my B.S. in Exercise and Sport Science from Iowa State University
in 2000 and beginning my career in fitness, I quickly found my passion of
working with pregnant and postpartum clients. In 2002, I completed my
massage therapy certification with a specialization in prenatal massage. It was
then that I first learned the term 'doula'. I attended a training workshop through
n ALACE but had also decided to go back to school for my masters in public health
so I did not have the time to begin attending births. In 2006, I received my
M.P.H. in Community Public Health with an emphasis on Maternal and Child Health
from New York University. I completed another doula training through DONA in 2007 and, shortly after, I had the honor of attending my first birth as a doula for a
very good friend.
Through years of educating myself on pregnancy and birth and realizing how
few women are really prepared for the birth of their child with proper nutrition,
physical fitness, stress reduction and, most of all, childbirth education and knowing
their birth options, it became clear to me that this is the work I want to do. Every
woman should be prepared for her marathon of labor and should have an
empowering birth experience, respectful that her body knows how to birth. Not only can a positive birth experience have a profound effect on a woman's self-esteem, but it also begins her journey into motherhood with an extreme confidence and the ability to bond with her child right from the beginning.
