Where I'm coming from...

Growing up I thought I might go into the medical field. After graduating high school, I began to attend a community college, only to drop out after two bad semesters due to head and neck injuries at work. School got put on the back burner for quite some time. After moving back to Idaho in 2013, I met my husband. We got married in the fall of 2014, and I started to think about going back to school again. Almost before I knew it, I was pregnant, and school went back on the back burner.

It was that first pregnancy, and especially the birth, that drew me towards pursuing training to be a doula. I felt unprepared for labor, I didn't know many of the choices I would be faced with, and I was surprised how difficult it was to establish breastfeeding. I was very fortunate to have encouragement and support, and I think that every mom benefits from having people around her who care and help.

I had a doula at my second birth. She was very in-tune with where my contractions were at, super helpful with helping me transition in/out of the tub, and was able to stay with me when my husband went with my son to the NICU. Even with my own doula training, as well as having given birth before, it was wonderful having a doula offering her support. My hope is to similarly enhance others' labor and birth experiences.