Brainerd Lakes Doulas

09/09/2025

A simple change in movement can make all the differences during your birthing time.

07/27/2025

05/19/2025

Have you ever considered Placenta Encapsulation?

It's a natural way to support the fourth trimester!

Utilizing your placenta postpartum may increase milk production, help with hormone and mood stabilization, pain relief, promote faster healing, provide an energy boost, aid iron restoration and growth of hair and nails.

Brainerd Lakes Doulas is excited to provide this service to any expectant mom in the Brainerd Lakes area!

Please contact Dawn Mudgett at dawn_mudgett@hotmail.com with questions and price quotes!


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05/11/2025

What an honor it is to work with such incredible mamas. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas!

04/10/2025

Our breath has such power in our labor and delivery experience!

03/29/2025

Use the “Count the Kicks” App to track and record your baby’s movement.

01/20/2025

2025 promises to be a transformative year, marked by two empowering VBAC success stories that will inspire countless women! Reach out to Dawn to schedule a consultation and unlock your full potential for a truly empowering birthing experience!

dawnmudgett@hotmail.com

12/06/2024

Last but certainly not least we have our incredible doula Dawn.

Hello! My name is Dawn and I’m a certified Birth Doula through DONA International (Doula’s of North America).

After years in banking and a short time in Orthopedic surgery, I feel I’ve finally found my true calling as a Doula. Supporting families during the birth process will never get old. I learn something new every time and am humbled to be welcomed into such a personal/wonderful experience.

Although I’d love to give each mama their desired birth, my plan is to help you be mentally and physically prepared for whatever decisions come your way and I’ll support YOU in making evidenced based decisions for your birth in real time. I’ll also encourage the birth partner to be as involved as they’d like to be, helping with positioning, encouraging and support. I believe the whole family dynamic is strengthened during birth when all feel included and appreciated.

During my down time, I enjoy researching anything birth related, spending time with my family and dogs and thrift shopping for vintage gas station advertising.

I am a certified Hypnobabies Doula and a certified Placenta Encapsulation Specialist. I am trained in the use of TENS unit for Childbirth, enrolled with Minnesota Department of Health and am contracted with Everyday Miracles Core Doula Program, which enables me to accept MA supported insurance – everyday-miracles.org

I’d be honored to help you and your birth partner experience birth as it was meant to be.

dawn_mudgett@hotmail.com
218.251.5936

11/30/2024

Have you ever considered Placenta Encapsulation?

It's a natural way to support the fourth trimester!

Utilizing your placenta postpartum may increase milk production, help with hormone and mood stabilization, pain relief, promote faster healing, provide an energy boost, aid iron restoration and growth of hair and nails.

Brainerd Lakes Doulas is excited to provide this service to any expectant mom in the Brainerd Lakes area!

Please contact Dawn Mudgett at dawn_mudgett@hotmail.com with questions and price quotes!

11/29/2024

This Thanksgiving we are thankful for one of our founders, Elaine.

Elaine Lamon is a native of the Brainerd area, has lived in different Minnesota locations, and now she and her husband Jerry call Backus home. She has three adult kids that were natural births in a hospital with midwives. She is enjoying the grandparenting season. Her interests are gardening and healthy foods, natural medicine and living life simply. As a Doula she loves to help women do the important work of having their babies in the way that best suits them and their families. She has been told that she brings encouragement and peace to her work. Her experience includes working with doctors, nurses and midwives at birth centers, hospitals and home births. She is certified with DONA (Doulas of North America). Elaine is no longer taking clients, but would love to help you with any questions you have as you welcome your new little one.

erlamon@tds.net
763.229.7407

11/21/2024

Today we’d like to highlight one of the founders of Brainerd Lakes Doulas!

Kathy Gaalswyk has always loved the birth process and has had opportunities to assist family and friends for many years. After helping with an unexpected backseat birth, she decided to become a Doula and completed her certification with DONA (Doulas of North America). When she retired from a 40 year career in philanthropy and economic development she expanded her Doula practice. She works with the Minnesota Prison Doula Project, and supports the Lakes Area Pregnancy Support Center. Kathy and her husband Neal have three adult children and seven grandchildren. They are part-time staff with Josiah Venture, a Christian missions organization in central and eastern Europe. She grew up in southern California but has spent all of her adult life in rural Minnesota.

kathygaalswyk@gmail.com
218.820.2138

11/14/2024

This week we’d like to introduce another one of our doulas!

As a wife and mother to eight you can usually find me juggling playing Barbie’s and football with my kids or gulping down on a thrice-microwaved cup of coffee. For the past six years I have lived in the Brainerd Lakes Area but was born and raised in a suburb of the Twin Cities. When I gave birth to my firstborn back in 2018, I became as we call it in the birth working space, “a birth nerd.” I believe in a woman’s innate and God-given ability to birth. My passion is to bring beauty, truth, and goodness back into the birth space. I am professionally trained and certified through DONA (Doulas of North America). Birth is one of the most pivotal moments in a woman’s life and I want her to see that it doesn’t need to be steeped in fear but rather approached with excitement, confidence, and joy! I look forward to working with mamas and helping them uncover their strength and have the birth they envision.

analaighdoulaco@gmail.com
651.434.0686