Certifications and qualifications:DONA

My mission as a doula is to fulfill my calling to:

· Provide continuous emotional, physical, and informational support before, during, and after birth, for the birthing mother and her family.
· Educate the birthing woman and her family on labor and birth choices. Advocating consists of advance education and discussion, and helping the mother find her own voice, but not speaking for her.
· Have a primary goal to help the laboring mother have a safe and satisfying birth as she defines it.
· To encourage and facilitate the initial mother-baby bonding process.

My name is Lisa Erbes. I am certified as a doula through the premier doula organization, DONA International. I am a member of the MN Childbirth Collective and am a volunteer doula at Woodwinds Health Campus in Woodbury, MN. I am also a Birth and Family Educator teaching prenatal and parenting classes for Fairview Hospitals. I am the mother of 2 young daughters whose doula assisted births (one of which was an unmedicated water birth) heralded my own calling as a doula.

It is my personal belief that every birthing woman retains the collective strength of all the mothers who birthed before her and instinctually possesses all the wisdom she needs to give birth. When provided with a doula who offers continuous support and care and who understands the emotional and physical needs of a woman in labor, a laboring mother can realize the birth she envisions. As your doula, I can help you realize and achieve your goal of a safe, satisfying and rewarding birth experience as you define it.

I provide free Birth Doula services to teenage mothers thru age 19, mothers living in sheltered housing, mothers who choose adoption for their baby and mothers whose partners are deployed overseas. I believe every woman deserves a doula, and I provide my birth doula services on a sliding fee scale to any family in financial need.

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