May 2002: Earned Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
July 2002: Granted Registered Nurse licensure by the Texas State Board of Nurse Examiners.
August 2002: Completion of Intensive Care Internship at Baylor University Medical Center
May 2002-March 2007: Employed by Baylor University Medical Center in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
May 2006-November 2008: Employed by prominent OB/GYN in Dallas as the sole RN handling care and triage of expectant families and gynecological patients.
August 2008: Completion of Doulas of North America (DONA) International Childbirth Doula training.
March 2009: Completion of Lamaze International Childbirth Educator program.
As long as I can remember my passion for pregnancy and childbirth has been a part of me. As a young girl I can remember looking in an EMT textbook that my aunt had and being mesmerized by the illustrations of a growing fetus and the pictures of childbirth. I also had the privilege of growing up in a matriarchal environment that never attempted to instill fear in me about the normal process of having a baby.
Nursing School only fostered my passion for childbirth. While attending nursing school I remember my peers thinking that I was so strange because unlike most of my class, I was looking forward to our rotations in Labor and Delivery. Once we were in our rotations I was so fortunate to have been a part of many births, most of which were mothers who opted for un-medicated births. Being a part of that experience was so fascinating. Each time someone would ask me what it was like to see a birth I would answer by saying that it’s nothing short of a miracle. My answer remains unchanged today. By the time I completed nursing school I knew without a doubt that I wanted to be a nurse in Labor and Delivery.
As much passion as I had, I also had the wisdom to seek the advice of my professors and mentors. Each and every one of them strongly advised me to steer clear of Labor and Delivery as a brand new nurse. In their opinion I needed a more broad background in order to not limit my clinical skills as a new graduate. I heeded their advice and that is what brought me to Dallas and how I ended up as an ICU nurse for 5 years. I will admit that I enjoyed the ICU; every day was a new experience that required me to have critical thinking skills and challenged me both physically and intellectually.
Suddenly an opportunity presented itself. My very own OB/GYN sought me out determined to recruit me as the sole nurse in her practice. After thoughtful consideration I decided that it was my opportunity to return to my passion in caring for expectant mothers. As the RN in an OB/GYN office my primary responsibility was caring for pregnant women. As part of that responsibility I assisted my patients with referrals for various services and other providers, including Childbirth Doula referrals.
While I have an enormous amount of passion for my profession, I must admit that the way I got started was completely by accident (fate as I believe). I had a patient that was expecting her first child and came to me seeking referrals for a Childbirth Doula because she was planning a natural (un-medicated) childbirth. I gladly passed on a few names of reputable Doulas that I had worked with. A few weeks later my patient came back to me and was greatly frustrated. It seems that the Doulas that I had referred her to either flaked out on her or were a little to ‘out there’ for her and her husband. Knowing how dedicated she was to having a natural childbirth and how nervous she was about her husband being her sole source of support, I volunteered to be their Doula. She kindly thanked me and told me that I was sweet to offer. I told her my offer was sincere and to consider it. After a few days she contacted me and told me that she and her husband wanted to take me up on my offer.
I was fortunate enough to assist my patient with a beautiful, uncomplicated natural childbirth. With the birth of her son arose my passion to be a Childbirth Doula. While she felt indebted to me for helping her, it was actually quite the opposite. I went on to attend many births while still working as a nurse, but in November of 2008 I realized that being a Doula was my true passion and left my job as a nurse in order to exclusively do Doula work. I have not regretted that decision even one time. I consider it an honor and privilege to help each of my clients with their journey into motherhood.