I paint with watercolors and acrylics and create images with Xara Designer Pro X. I feel both soothed and excited by color and it’s movement which is apparent in my home where all the rooms are painted in different colors: mauve, pink, purple, violet, yellow, blue, cream, white and orchid shadow. I am taking classes in Surface Pattern Design. I am the founder and for 8 years was the moderator of Sans Uteri Hysterectomy Forum, one of the 1st online support groups for women who’d experienced hysterectomy like me. At one point the group had almost 1,000 members. Because of Sans Uteri I appeared on Oprah and Good Morning America. • Was a birth doula for 127 births • Am a graduate of Loyola Marymount Univiersity with a B.A in English • Vegetarian & “Dog Person” • Highly Curious About Most Things

“I wanted to tell you how grateful we are to have you as our doula. Beyond your obvious knowledge, you have given us wonderful support, kindness and compassion. You have a terrific ability to offer strength and comfort while at the same time allowing for the space and quiet our situation needed. I have met very few people with your combination of wisdom, compassion and intuition.” A.C.

As a birth doula I provide continuous physical, emotional & informational support to laboring women & their partners. I have attended 127 births, the majority at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, though I've been to Cedars-Sinai, Good Samaritan, UCLA, St. John's, St. Joseph's, Huntington Memorial, Encino Tarzana, Torrance Memorial, Kaiser (Cadillac and Sunset) and Queen of Angels Hollywood Presbyterian as well. I've supported married, partnered & single moms & women choosing adoption. I am certified through The Touch Therapy Institute whose previous Doula Trainer, Carmen Bornn, CD(DONA), C.M.T (monitrice), C.N.A., one of the city's most experienced doulas, has a 70 hour, state approved, doula training program. Once hired I teach mom & partner general, prepared childbirth at the mom's home drawing on principles from Birthing From Within®, Lamaze®, Bradley® & HypnoBirthing®. I return for a 2nd visit & teach breast feeding basics & new baby care. I'm on call 2 weeks before & 2 weeks after the mom's estimated due date &, once called, I go back to her home in early labor & help her to stay relaxed & cope with contractions. I help her decide when to go to the hospital.

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Continued… I am not a physician, a midwife or a nurse so I do not perform medical tasks such as checking a cervix for dilation, evaluating fetal heart tones or taking blood pressure. I do not second guess the mom's chosen caregivers. I am not concerned with how a mom gets her baby, medicated or unmedicated, it's her choice. I do not keep mom laboring at home until the very last possible moment. What I am committed to is, at the end of this process, having a healthy mom who has enough energy to nurse a healthy baby who has enough energy to suckle. As a lay-person, the continuous physical support I provide is massage, use of the birth ball, position suggestions, reminders to urinate frequently & to eat & drink. My birth bag contains massage tools, a T.E.N.S. Unit & Reheaters. During labor I continuously support the changing emotions of the mother & her partner, encouraging mom's body to open & relax. I help moms cope with the side-effects of medications like Pitocin & the ones used in Epidurals. I work wonderfully with dads & partners. Initially, a dad may fear that he will have nothing to do during the labor if a doula is present. What he finds is that a doula frees him from trying to memorize Penny Simkin's "The Birth Partner" (a great book, by the way!) since the doula knows how to put the book into action. The doula sets an example for the partner of how to look at the birthing woman, how to speak encouragingly & touch her with confidence. A doula can free the partner to participate in ways that are comfortable for him. Having a doula allows the partner to take some much needed breaks during the long hours of labor knowing the mom is continuously supported since, once the baby is born, the partner will be making & changing ice packs (for her sore or sutured perineum) every 2 hours for the first 24 hours, getting to know his baby, helping with breast feeding, changing diapers, caring for the new mom & handling crowd control. After births dads regularly say things like... • "I'm so glad you were here! I never realized it would be so intense for this long." • "There were so many things to do! Who knew?" • "You acknowledged that I too was having a life changing experience... thank you." • "It meant a lot to me that you remembered to give us some private time & reminded me often to tell her that I love her, it bolstered her spirits." I stay with the mom from start to finish. I'm there through nurses' shift changes, by her side when the Dr. calls to check in & holding her leg when she is pushing. In most hospitals I'm even with her in the operating room if a Cesarean birth is necessary. I make sure parents have all the information they need to make wise decisions. Continuously sharing how labor works & reminding a mom that her body knows what to do, explaining the pros & cons of medical interventions & augmentations so parents make educated decisions with their caregivers, these are the jobs of a doula.

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