Being your Sunshine Sister
The role of your Birth Doula
While most other professionals around you during labor and birth will be prioritizing your health and safety and the health and safety of your baby, your Birth Doula will be focusing on your emotional well-being and birth preferences.
A Birth Doula is not a trained medical professional but rather a trained support and comfort person.
As your Doula, it is my role to help you live out the most positive and “true to your emotional needs” birth that you can have, assuming the medical needs of you and your baby are already in good hands.
The reality of modern medicine is that we have created an environment in which we expect a “healthy baby and healthy mother,” but without a Doula present, there is often a lack of focus on the emotional needs of the mother and her partner.
As your Doula, my job is to help protect your experience of labor and birth, so that you can look back and remember how strong, loved, and capable you are.
What is natural?
The phrase “natural birth” generally implies a vaginal birth, in which the mother is able to labor and birth a baby, completely uninhibited and unmedicated. Although many mothers strive to have “natural births,” there are many other natural ways to bring babies into the world:
Some babies naturally flip in a position where they can’t fit through the birth canal.
It’s natural that some bodies do not go into labor in the safest time frame.
It’s natural that some bodies (of both mothers and babies) contain diseases or risk factors.
It’s natural that some parents- healthy or not- lose their children despite best efforts made.
It is natural that some will never carry a child at all.
It’s natural to choose pain relief for your labor.
It’s natural to schedule your birth in order to plan accordingly.
There is not a best TYPE of birth because there are a wide range of birth experiences. Whatever your birth story is, know that your body is natural, your experience is natural, and your story is all your own. Birth should leave you feeling in charge, strong, and supported, no matter how you choose or need to give birth. Head up, Sister, your empowerment starts with how you perceive your story.
Client testimonials
Alex S.
“My doula, Allison, who also took photos for us, made me feel so seen and understood and helped keep me in my ‘oxytocin bubble.’ I have been feeling so grateful for her support before, during, and after our labor. Completely different experience this time from last time in regards to the care and support that she showed me, and it made all the difference.”
Kat T.
“Allison has a wonderful energy that is at once calm and enthusiastic. As a former doula, I identify her as a great candidate without reservation. She is a respectful, strong rock for these parents.”
Lizz M.
“Working with Allison was a true blessing! I would recommend her to everyone.”
Natalie H.
“Allison played an enormous role in helping me feel prepared for the birth, comforted and loved during labor, and overall incredibly supported during the whole process leading up to, during, and after birth. I’m so grateful for her. She has such a bright, positive energy that instilled a lot of confidence in me from the first time we talked about birth. She also took beautiful photos of the birth.”