Sabrina S. in CA

My interest in this work began as a young adult when my older sister was pregnant and I was invited to be a member of her birth team. I remember being overwhelmingly awed by the birth process and the human body. My interest continued as I started on the path to become a labor and delivery nurse. I found, rather quickly, the path of becoming a L&D was too clinical for me and did not feed my soul how I wanted. While in search for what was next, I became pregnant myself. I was confident I had wanted a home birth with a midwife and a doula, but ended up having a planned hospital birth due to a misdiagnosed medical condition. My birth was not at all what I wanted it to be. I was not given options, I was not given information, I was not given time to think and it left me somewhat scarred. After my daughter was born, my husband was only able to take a week off of work. I also had my stepdaughter to take care of and I felt like I didn't have time to heal, establish a good breastfeeding routine, or bond with my darling girl. I remember feeling completely unsupported. It was then that I decided I wanted to help mamas to have empowered births that they wouldn't need to emotionally recover from. My experience shaped my doula practice. My experience makes informed consent my top priority with my clients as well as bonding time within the family and breastfeeding support. I love what I do and I love helping each family I work with to have a more fulfilling experience.