Postmodern Doula

05/24/2023

So honored to be featured in the summer Kids VT Family Newspaper. You can find it as an insert in Seven Days or via the link.

A few days after Aisha Mueller gave birth to her second child, a familiar feeling of anxiety crept up on her. She recognized the unwelcome...

05/23/2023

Shameless selfie in celebration of a baby being born!

Excuse me as I attempt to keep my eyes open and look normal. I am was mildly and running on that good-good birth high. for the win!

I love this quilt art at our local hospital because it reminds me of all the pieces that come together to help a baby earth-side. Birth humbles me every. Single. Time.

Whenever I leave a birth I feel a little thrill of knowing something so exciting just occurred. As a cruse around the grocery store after, trying to act totally normal, I want to grab the first person I see and exclaim “a baby was just born today”.

What else could make me smile so hard it wrinkles my eyes and makes my jaw hurt.

05/07/2023

My first group childbirth education class!

I am so thankful for the families that signed up and came out and for the folks at Lakeside Pediatrics opening their doors to us.

I got into my car after and cried hot, happy tears for the luck I have come into in my life.

I am perpetually in awe that folks welcome me into such a transformational time in their lives. I, too, am growing with them. 

So much of what I taught in class is informed by the parents, doulas, midwives, OBs, IBCLCs, and babies that have come into my world. 

Thank you all for being my teachers! 

It’s an honor to begin teaching others in this way. 

More classes coming up on: 

-August 11th & 12th 
-September 9th & 10th

More info available on my website. Tell all your pregnant friends 😉!

03/07/2023

Doulas make a difference. The amazing doulas at Washington County Mental Health are invaluable to birthing families.

"Because the memory of their birth experience is one they will replay over and over throughout their life, we have a moral obligation to birthing people to help this memory be as positive as possible," Capone said. "I have seen over and over how, when a person's rights are upheld in the birth space, that is a powerful experience of self-agency that helps them be stronger, more confident parents and have better mental health outcomes later on."

Montpelier resident Allie Perline had never considered using a doula during her pregnancy, in part because of the expense — which is not typically covered...

02/19/2020

Why did I become a doula? I get this question all the time. So here are the cliff notes.

I have wanted to be a doula since I was 16 years old. I saw a documentary with really empowering images and footage of birth, and I got hooked.

Flash forward a few years: The rigamarole of life and pressure to choose a career got the best of me. I went to college. First, to be a research scientist than to work in healthcare leadership and administration. Both didn't really feel like the right fit for me.

I FINALLY had a 'bathtub epiphany' in my last semester of college. I realized I could not do the fluorescent lights and 9-5 job I had gone to school for. I decided I would give the doula thing a whirl after all.

So I started with the typical route. I went to a doula training to get certified. I found some kind souls open enough to let me support their labor’s. Then I started taking births more seriously. And I fell in LOVE.

Not romantic love - this is not that kind of story. I fell in love with birth. With the labor process. With the families. With joy.

So that's my story. Now here I am — a doula. (My teenage dream was right, after all.)

PHOTO BY:

02/10/2020

01/30/2020

Dynamic doula duo alert. Amy 802baby and I have been working together for a full year now. Happy anniversary to us! Please send champagne 🥂.
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We work as what I must admit is a pretty rad team supporting birthing families. At the beginning of 2020, we started sharing all of the births we do together, which means that we partner in all the education, prenatal time, and communication leading up to people's births.
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Then on the big day -- also known as baby day. Amy or I support the family through birth. Even better! Sometimes we both go.
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Working in a team has allowed us to give better and more rounded care to families. PLUS, I get to hang out with Amy, who has become one of my best friends. Honestly, we are sisters now. Hashtag matching Vans fam.
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If you want to get to know Amy and how much of a badass she is. (Trust me, you do!) Click on over to my website (link in the bio) and read all about her.
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PHOTO BY Lucky Strike Studio
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01/22/2020

"We don’t know what we deserve most of the time, but I’m telling you, you deserve better. Get louder, get bigger and surround yourself with extraordinary love when choosing your birth team."

-Domino Kirke

https://parenting.nytimes.com/pregnancy/domino-kirke-doula?action=click&module=recirc&rank=1

01/14/2020

Love that we have more options for folxs who feed their babes human milk now that Vermont Donor Milk Center is open.

One of the most rewarding client interactions I’ve had recently as a Lactation provider has been…wait for it... on the phone. With a mom who was adopting a baby girl many states away from her. I...

01/12/2020

I’m not crying, you are crying 😢.

In the world of birth photos, one of my favorite genres is pictures of siblings meeting, most likely because of my personal experience with that particular type of shot. There's an infamous family photo of me seeing my sister for the first time, and…