A little bit about me…

Hi, I’m Ande!

I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to do some type of birth work. I credit the births of my nieces and nephew for igniting my passion for birth. It wasn’t until the birth of my son in 2018 that I finally decided to take steps toward becoming a doula.

I planned to have him at The Birth Cottage, hired a wonderful doula, got my husband on board… and nothing went to plan. After a long and slow early labor that began with my water breaking, my birth team and I made the decision at 30 hours to make the transfer to the hospital. There, my birth plan changed drastically, as they sometimes need to. The care I received from my nurses and the support of my doula got me to hour 51 of labor. Here is where the story gets interesting (at least to me).  This is when the OB, who I had barely seen through all of these long hours, told me “it was time” for a cesarean. As much as I knew about birth, at that moment I was completely vulnerable and devastated, and then I looked at the team who had been with me through it all. I could tell they disagreed. And so, we kicked the OB out. My nurse called in reinforcements, and my husband, doula, and nurse team pulled out all of the stops for the next three hours. The OB didn’t make it back for the birth.

There are so many what-ifs I have about that experience, but one thing I know for certain is that the support I had was indispensable, and I want to be that support for those who want and need it.

I took my training through DONA in August of 2019 and promptly found myself expecting my daughter. In 2020 I attended my first few births as a doula and then greeted my daughter in early summer in a wonderfully uneventful unmedicated birth, surrounded by another amazing birth team. 

I’ve learned through my own personal births and through the births I have been privileged to witness that all birth can be empowering. A little bit of knowledge, caring support, and choice make all the difference.

Your birth advocate,
Ande