my philosophy as a doula
I believe…
You deserve to be respected, heard, and seen as a unique individual with intersecting identities.
Your identities, history, and values matter.
You hold the wisdom to make the best choices for yourself and your child.
Birth is political; from hospitals to insurance to parental leave policies, the system is designed to serve a privileged few.
Racial disparities in birth-related statistics are not due to race, but due to racism.
Not just women carry and birth babies.
Every human deserves bodily autonomy and choice.
My role is to empower, support, and advocate.
My role is to build connection and trust.
My role is to hold space for you.
hi, i am rachel (she/her)
I am trained as a Full Spectrum Doula through Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings, as well as a trained HypnoDoula through Hypnobabies®. I provide and practice with evidence-based information in order to provide individualized care for my clients.
As a Full Spectrum Doula, I strive to help pregnant people and their families feel respected, informed, heard, and held as they navigate life changes in the prenatal, birth, and postpartum experiences. I believe that all pregnant people have an innate power and inner knowing that is revealed through the birthing process. My role is to support birthing people (and their support person), whether that’s physically holding hips or emotionally holding space.
I have been involved in childcare at nearly every step of life: working for People Serving People as an early childhood teacher, teaching ESL to elementary students, special education in a middle school, and nannying children from ages 2 months to 12 years. Birthwork has felt like the natural step since experiencing the birth of my first child in January 2020, bringing my skills and passions together in a career that continuously humbles and amazes me.
I am a Minnesota native who has lived in Central Minnesota, Zimbabwe, Peru, and now has called the Twin Cities home for 7 years. I earned my B.A. in Global Studies as well as a Masters of Education. I am an avid DIY’er, including wellness and personal care items, love every minute spent at a campsite, and truly love being a parent, partner, and caretaker of our dog and many fish and amphibians.
I would like to extend a special thank you to future parents who allow me into their life-changing moment.
a letter to partners
Dear Partner,
I am not here to replace you, I am here to support you.
Many partners are uneasy with hiring a doula, as they worry about being replaced or overshadowed during the labor and birth experience. Please know that my role is to support both the pregnant person AND YOU. I provide physical, emotional, and educational support, allowing you to focus all your attention on your loved one. I am your back-up, your support.
The Doula provides emotional support; suggests and uses different techniques such as breathing, relaxation, movement and positioning to aid in labor and delivery; provides information to parents throughout; helps them become informed about various birth choices; provides an advocacy voice for birther and acts as a liaison between them and the care provider; and — beautifully, wonderfully, thankfully — provides reassurance and comfort to the birther (first and foremost) but also to their partner.
- Testimonial on DoulaSpot.com (edited to remove heteronormative language)
Do you feel like you’re reaching information overload? There’s a lot to learn in the months leading up to welcoming a baby. Having a doula is like having an expert in your back pocket. Someone that knows the aspects of labor and birth, can offer information and resources, and support you as you support your laboring partner. Birth is not only a physical process, but an emotional and psychological process as well. It can be very emotional for the laboring person and family.
Doulas are trained for this. We are prepared, ready, willing, and able to be right at the family’s side for the duration of the labor and birth experience.
If you have any questions please reach out and I’d be happy to talk through doula work with you in more depth.
With love, respect, and patience,
Rachel