10 Questions to Ask Your Provider about Pregnancy, Birth, & Postpartum from BBS Senior Doula Kerry Reynolds

Kerry Reynolds is a Balanced Birth Support Senior Doula serving Metro DC & Greater Maryland. She has been a birth doula for over a decade with tons of experience supporting all kinds of births including home birth, medicated and non–medicated hospital, cesarean birth, twin deliveries, LGBTQ families and VBAC deliveries. Learn more about Kerry by visiting her Balanced Birth Support profile. Getting to know your doctor or midwife is an important part of preparing for birth & postpartum.  Its essential that …

Get To Know Angie Smith; Birth Doula, Lactation Consultant, and Childbirth Educator

Angie Smith has been a birth doula with Balanced Birth Support for nearly a year now, and in that time has exponentially increased not only her birth training, but significantly expanded her  services. In addition to comprehensive birth doula services, she also offers red tent ceremonies, placenta prints, and breastmilk jewelry. She is also a certified Reiki II practitioner.  As I write this, Angie is at The Farm in Tennessee training to be a midwife’s assistant.  She is incredibly passionate …

Want to Teach Lamaze? Take Jamie’s Teacher Educator Class This October!

Birthing Babies Virginia is the Seminar program and it is being taught by Jamie Mueller, a local Lamaze Educator and Doula who lives in Lovettsville, VA and is a contracted doula with Balanced Birth Support. The first step to becoming a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator is to take the 3 day educator seminar. This seminar also comes with a free year of membership to the Lamaze DC Chapter which will mentor you, provide you with CEUs, and advertise your classes …

Meet Stephanie! A Balanced Birth Support NC Doula & Birth Photographer

I am really loving getting to know the Balanced Birth Support doulas!  I continue to be in awe of their dedication not only to the birthing families that they work with, but also to their own families, community and the world around them. Stephanie Capps is one of our North Carolina team members, providing doula and photography services to the families of Raleigh and the surrounding areas.  As the mother of two young children, she left behind the corporate world …

Breastfeeding Resources & Where To Find Local Support

If you are planning to breastfeed, it’s important to have good, solid resources available to you both before and after the baby is born. Breastfeeding is natural, but it doesn’t always come naturally and support is essential if you want to achieve your goals, no matter what those goals are.  I’ve listed several go-to resources below; check them out before you go into labor so you know what to expect in breastfeeding from the moment your baby is born.  Books*Links …

Birthing at Washington Hospital Center

SummaryWashington Medstar Hospital is a nationally recognized research hospital and according to their website the “Women’s and Infants’ Services is dedicated to advancing health care through ongoing participation in the latest research on female health issues.” They offer many pregnancy and parenting related classes. In addition to providing routine care for uncomplicated pregnancies, Washington Hospital Center has several departments focusing on high-risk pregnancies, care for pregnant moms and babies with congenital health problems, specialized testing, teen pregnancy, cancer screening and …

Meet Alicia! Birth & Postpartum Doula

At Balanced Birth Support, we are honored to work with such a talented, caring, and supportive group of birth & postpartum doulas, childbirth educators, lactation consultants, and placenta specialists. Every single one of the members of Balanced Birth Support bring a unique life experience to the amazing and wondrous work that they do to support expectant families. In the first installment of a series dedicated to profiling members of Balanced Birth Support, I have spoken with Alicia Bennett, a birth …