I am a professionally trained labor doula and mother of three active, beautiful children. When I started planning my career goals, I actually planned on being a teacher. In fact, for four years I taught high school and loved it. Throughout the years as I started welcoming my own children, each with their own unique birth, I developed a new passion: a passion for birth and pregnancy. The births of my children were each very different. Two of them were in hospitals (one with an OB and one with a midwife), one in a birthing center. One birth was an induction. Two of them involved epidurals and one was un-medicated. Each birth had its own unique set of circumstances and experiences, but through them all I learned one important lesson. I learned that the best birth experience is one where the mother is empowered and supported by those around her, enabled to make informed decisions that she feels are best for her and her family. In my years teaching high school I realized that many young women fear birth and pregnancy. It is seen as a medical procedure through which you receive a baby. However it is all so much more beautiful than that. My passion as a doula is fueled by my desire to encourage and support women and families as they welcome precious babies through the empowering process of birth.