Get to Know Jo Bataille

I was adopted as an infant and was lucky enough to grow up all over the USA. I will always call Long Island, New York home, where I graduated high school. I went on to The University of Scranton to major in Counseling and Human Services. I met my now husband and we moved to Northern VA in 2006, where I graduated from George Mason with a B.A. in Psychology. After college I was trying to figure out what I wanted to be what I grew up and tried a few different jobs from a counselor at a halfway house, preschool teacher, and childcare provider. I had my first son in 2011 and because of his special needs I dedicated myself to being a full time mom. 

In 2013 I "meant to'' hire a doula for my second son's birth and ended up with a traumatic birth. It was in the postpartum room in the hospital that I decided to become a doula. During his infancy I took many trainings, started attending births, and became a huge advocate for public breastfeeding rights. I was featured in The Huffington Post story about how normal and beautiful breastfeeding is. For the bereavement side of birthwork, I was able to personally fundraise for a device for parents to spend more time with their baby, and donate it to INOVA Loudoun Hospital. 

My career as a birth doula, post partum doula, and placenta encapsulation specialist was in full swing for 2.5 years, and when I was about to go on maternity leave for my daughter, my oldest was diagnosed with Leukemia. I gave birth to his sister 3 weeks after he started treatment and had to give up my career to care for him. In 2017 I was set to homebirth my other daughter, but developed cholestasis and was so grateful I had a doula to support me through the high risk hospital birth. 

In 2018 I found my biological family and it has been quite the adventure to say the least! In 2019 my son was stable enough in his health and special needs and I was lucky enough to start work as a chiropractic assistant to a provider who also does functional medicine and nutrition. Boy did I miss birthwork though! In September of 2020 I needed to take charge of my own health and underwent a hysterectomy, after which I suffered massive complications and found myself wishing there was some sort of surgery doula for gynecological procedures. It really got my wheels turning into wanting to go back to doula work, and after attending some births "on the side" I really realized that it really is my calling. I am currently in school to be a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and can't wait to tie that into my birthwork. I so look forward to serving birth again!