We are experienced birth workers teaming up to serve the women of our community throughout their pregnancy and birth journeys.
We believe that women are fearfully and wonderfully made by their Creator and were given the innate ability to birth babies.
Our goal is to enhance the overall experience for every woman we are given the privilege to serve.
HOW WE GOT OUR NAME
Florence Nightingale (1820- 1910) is iconic in the nursing world as the founder of modern nursing. She is often referred to as “The Lady with the Lamp” because she could often be seen walking among the wounded with a lamp. She tended to them faithfully and made sure sanitary conditions improved and lowered death rates significantly. From a young age, Florence felt philanthropy and nursing were her callings.
We have embraced her legacy for so many years in our own nursing careers. We will always be nurses in our hearts, but our calling lies in supporting families through pregnancy, labor, birth, and early parenthood. We have chosen to use our skills and experiences through doula work to improve the overall birth experience and lower intervention rates.
We commit to stand alongside women and their families to help hold that lamp for the adventure that awaits.
What is a labor doula?
A labor doula provides emotional, physical, and evidence-based support to the birthing woman and her family before, during, and after birth. We work with families during pregnancy, during labor, and in the birth process, and in the immediate postpartum time, offering support, encouragement, information, comfort, and referrals as needed.
What Makes Us Unique?
Unlike most doulas, we have a medical background as experienced registered nurses and childbirth educators. We have worked with laboring women for many years and have a unique perspective coming in as your doula.
Nightingale Doula Services uses a team approach. You, as the client, will get to know each doula and what they have to offer. Together we have over 20 years of experience working with laboring women. They brainstorm together for your benefit, both for the big day and in preparation for the big day.
Michelle and Karen will rotate who is “on-call”. The benefit of a call schedule for the client is not having a doula who is “burnt out” from a busy birth schedule. We want to create balance and rest in our lives so that we can better serve others. The team approach also allows for a back-up doula that the client already knows.
Birth journeys can be long - Michelle and Karen will be able to trade-off in most situations if labor is particularly long to provide fresh energy and support for the client.
Momma Talk . . .
Michelle and Karen are both truly amazing thought out the entire process! They are both extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Not only did they always respond to any questions almost immediately, they were both so supportive and encouraging with all of our wishes during the whole pregnancy.
During labor, Michelle was just such a calming presence for both me and my husband. She offering wonderful suggestions of different things to be doing and trying, and was reassuring the entire time. I know for a fact it was just as beneficial for my husband to have her there as it was for me. I could not have asked for a better person to be with us as we welcomed our new baby.
Having Michelle and Karen as part of our journey was definitely one of the best decisions we made with this pregnancy and I would recommend them to anyone. Above all, they are both such wonderful people and we really enjoyed getting to know them both
~ Jaime K.
Karen and Michelle were amazing during our pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. They were extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and kind in all ways. Karen and Michelle would always respond to questions within a timely manner and would send researched responses to most of our questions. They came to our house twice to discuss questions, concerns, and to finalize our birth plan.
During labor, Karen was our rock. She kept me and my husband ney grounded and helped us stay as calm as possible. She offered so many different suggestions on ways to feel more comfortable and showed my husband how to support me as well. When my birth plan needed to change due to baby’s heart rate dropping, Karen explained every thing that was going on and was able to comfort and support us.
We would 1000% hire them again as they were an amazing part of our journey. Even in postpartum, if I have questions or concerns they are there to help or point me in the right direction. Thank you again for being there for us, Karen and Michelle!
- Brittney A.
How very little care can be done under the spirit of fear.
- Florence Nightingale