Certifications and qualifications: CD-DONA

I'm the mother of three silly, fantastic boys. Sam was born in the Twin Cities, in a hospital with a nurse midwife in 1988. Charlie was born at home with a direct entry midwife in attendance, in 1996, in my bedroom in Ely. It was the most fun our family ever had-I kid you not! Ben was born in the summer of 1998, in a Duluth hospital, after a botched attempt to get home to Ely, and an unsuccessful attempt to birth at my midwife's house. Lots of lessons in those three very different births.

I've been attending births since 1998, since 2001 as a Doula. My training is with DONA. I've been a La Leche League leader for the last four years, and I teach breastfeeding and birth classes for teen moms here in Duluth. I also have BS in mass communication. Before I began lactating and gestating in earnest, I worked as a freelance journalist for a number of Twin Cities and state publications. I still write several times a year, but more often about birth than anything else these days.

My own birth philosophies are simple: I believe in the innate ability of a woman's body. I believe in the intuitive knowledge we all possess, in listening to that "little voice." I believe you are the expert on you and your family, and that you can decisions that are right for you. And I believe that each birth is its own creation story: Sacred, full of opportunity, with joy and sadness, meant to be told again and again.

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