Training

My training was through ACBE, Academy of Childbirth Educators and I was Certified through DONA, Doulas of North America.
In addition to being a Birth Doula, I have also attended a Midwifery Assistant Training Workshop at The Farm in Tennessee. I spent 6 days with Ina May Gaskin and Pamela Hunt, learning everything I could from their wealth of wisdom and spirituality. For two years I worked as an Assistant with a Home Birth Midwife here in RI. I have completed the Neonatal Resuscitation Certification Course at Women and Infants Hospital.

About myself

I LOVE BIRTH! I love every aspect of pregnancy and childbirth. I feel beauty resides in a

woman full of child. And birth, in it's many pathways, twists and turns, is quite possibly

one of the most miraculous, beautiful events known to mankind. This is why I wanted to

become a Doula.

I am married to person who has turned out to be an amazing father to my two adorable sons.

They are the light of my life. My birth experiences were quite different. Both were powerful

and beautiful in different ways. I'd be happy to share my birth stories with you, if you're

interested in hearing.

I wanted to explain what I meant on my Home Page when I said that my hope for all women is that they birth in an "intact" way. I have over 16+ years of experience now in assisting women in childbirth. I have helped all sorts of women through all sorts of labors, most ending in vaginal births, some ending in cesarean births. Some with no interventions, some with. When women birth "intact", they have felt included every step of the way through their labor and birth. They felt in control. They were included in decisions as they had to be made. They always thought about what the next step should be, and did what they thought was best. Not all the time that next decision is what they had "planned" for, but it was the next logical step considering the new turn her labor had taken. Sometimes the next gentle step, to make sure everyone is safe and cared for, is to have an epidural or a cesarean birth. Those women, after feeling included in all the decisions about her body and her labor, have still felt whole and complete, even though they had never envisioned their labor going a certain way or their baby being born via a cesarean. But she was not traumatized. She was ok. She was intact. I would love for all the couples I assist to have this feeling of completeness and Intactness after they birth their baby, no matter where the course of labor takes them.