Training & Certifications

• Labor & Postpartum Doula Training through Birthingway College of Midwifery
• Verified Doula w/Legacy & Providence Health Systems
• Trained Childbirth Educator
• Trans Birth for Birth Workers Training
• Anti-Racist Trauma Informed-Care training w/ARTIC
• Diversified Birth Training & Melanated Birth Ally
• Understanding the Impacts of Transgenerational Trauma on the Maternal Health of Black Mothers
• Supporting Clients w/Addiction Training
• Still Birth Day Birth & Bereavement doula (in progress)
• Peaceful Presence End-of-Life Doula Course (in progress)
• The Essence of Birth Photography Course w/Birth Becomes You
• The Art of Birth Filmmaking Course w/Birth Becomes You

Memberships & COllectives

• Portland Doula Association
• Birth Becomes You Certified Photographer
• Member of IAPBP
• Canyon Medical Center Doula (past)
• Brave Birth Doula Care (past)

I was 18 years old when I had my first and WOW, was it a lesson in how to advocate for myself. I was dismissed at the first mention of labor, told to stay home until I couldn’t walk or talk anymore. I was dismissed when I finally got to the hospital by the registrar, “you’re young, it’s probably not real labor”. And then when they checked me and I was 8cm upon arrival, I flipped everyone off and continued the work. I had a successful, unmedicated, vaginal hospital birth because I was stubborn as hell and wanted to prove I could do it. And after she was born, I started looking into the natural birth community and exploring doula work, but it wouldn’t be until much later in life that I’d follow that path.

When I had my second, my birth plan was to labor unmedicated as long as I could. If I wanted meds, I was going to opt for meds. I managed to labor and deliver successfully without medication, but my baby got stuck. And it was that experience and lack of communication about what had happened to me (and him), that literally drove me to the Birthingway College of Midwifery to learn all that I could about birth and how this could have possibly been prevented. I thought I was going to be a midwife, but I would learn that I couldn’t afford the training. However, I did take labor and postpartum doula classes as pre-reqs and found out that I was pregnant with my third at that time. My second-born was a shoulder dystocia baby, and the OB caused permanent damage to his brachial plexus nerves by yanking him out of my body.

My third and last baby was born in the hospital. My hard labor from start to finish was about four hours. I opted for a fentanyl drip for the last hour. I had a lot of mental baggage from my second birth that was preventing me from making decisions I needed to make. But with a doula and midwifery team present, I felt supported and it was by far my best and easiest birth experience. It was so healing.

Family Portraits by Cristina King