All Around Doula & Photo

There's not much I'm not willing to do for my birth clients as long as it respects my personal boundaries and convictions.

After lots of research, trial, errors, triumphs, fertility challenges, 6 very different births, and 10 years of parenting, I’m like a birth and motherhood big sister, helping you skip some of the hard parts and cut to the good parts of pregnancy, birth, and parenting.

Besides some special ways I've had the honor of supporting some of my families ✨ here are the typical kinds of support I offer my birth doula and photography clients as someone who's been through it all before:

PREGNANCY
✨ Custom resources and provider/product recommendations
✨ Advocacy prep
✨ Basic birth education (if helpful)
✨ Doula book library access
✨ Unlimited email support
✨ Text support from 38 weeks

LABOR & BIRTH
✨ Emotional support
✨ Practical, hands-on support
✨ Advocacy support
✨ Birth pool rental (for home births)
✨ Birth photography

IMMEDIATE POSTPARTUM
✨ Guidance or support through the initial postpartum exams and protocols (for yourself and your baby)
✨ Peer breastfeeding support
✨ Make sure you're all comfortable and have everything you need before I leave

POSTPARTUM VISITS
✨ Household tasks
✨ Nourishing food and drinks
✨ Infant and sibling care
✨ Birth story processing
✨ Peer breastfeeding support
✨ Resources, provider/product recommendations, and tips for parents and/or infant care, as requested

Birth doula // birth photographer // Vermont birth // C-section

Submitted to Everyday Birth ✨The Educated Birth

Within 6 weeks, I attended 3 very different types of birth: a freebirth (unassisted birth), a planned induction, and a planned C-section. They each had their own trials, triumphs, and lessons, but the recurring theme was that practical and emotional support and the opportunity to make informed choices greatly affected how families perceived the birth experience.

It may look like I'm surrounded, but I'm surrounded by you ✨

Birth photography || Home birth

You asked, I answered! …so many times that the answers deserved a permanent home 🫶🏻

For World Doula Week, I have officially added my doula services to my website.

https://www.allaroundbirth.com/birth-doula/

I started out offering primarily birth photography with doula support as a bonus add-on service but quickly realized how badly new families of northeastern NY and northern Vermont needed birth and postpartum doula support. I served as both a doula and a photographer at the very first birth I ever attended, and combining the two services remains my favorite way to serve expectant families today!

I've also given my logo a new look and have officially adopted the name “All Around Birth." When I first started offering doula and photography services, I didn't know how much bereavement work or family photography I would be doing, so I stuck with the more neutral “All Around Doula & Photography Services." As demand for birth support has continued to increase, I wanted my business name to meet that demand while still being available to the other populations I serve (because miscarriage and stillbirth are still birth, and because I serve families “all around" the childbearing year, including early motherhood and therefore family photography!)

I still offer bereavement support and in-home family photojournalism and look forward to serving more families in these ways, but for today, take a look at my birth doula offerings and my refreshed logo and website ✨

https://www.allaroundbirth.com/birth-doula/

I've been getting a lot of inquiries for birth and postpartum doula support lately (I've been acting primarily as a Certified Birth Photographer for the past 4 years, but I offer doula support as well and especially love combining the two), so until I officially get to putting this on my website, here are more details about my role as a doula:

I highly customize my support according to each clients' needs. I’ve done everything from braiding hair and donating household items to sharing breastmilk and helping to catch a client's baby. I've had a variety of birth experiences myself between my 6 children and have attended every type of birth, from freebirth to C-section.

In short, a doula offers emotional, physical, and informational support to expectant families. Some examples of support I'm able to give:

BIRTH PREP -
Custom resources and recommendations for anything from natural remedies for pregnancy ailments to breastfeeding and infant care to pregnancy-safe bodyworkers. If I don't already have a resource saved, I'm always happy to look some up for you!

Basic birth education (if helpful) - nothing formal, just a basic working knowledge of the birthing process to help you recognize signs of progress and to help you get through the hardest moments (such as "transition" and "the ring of fire")

Doula book library access - books on pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and the first months postpartum

Unlimited email support - no limit to the number of questions, concerns, pregnancy updates, or resource requests I will respond to

Text support from 38 weeks for emotional or informational support

Advocacy prep - making sure you know your options and your rights before birth so you can make confident and informed decisions throughout the birthing process without being blindsided

LABOR & DELIVERY -
Emotional support - encouraging words, prayer & worship for Chrisitan families

Practical support - making sure you're eating and drinking as much as you want and are able; pain relief techniques and suggestions such as birth ball, water (bath, shower, wet washcloth), labor comb, position change suggestions, etc.

Advocacy support - helping you gather enough information to feel confident in your decisions and making sure your birth support team is honoring your expressed decisions

Birth pool rental (for home births) - pool, liner, air pump, and water pump, plus help setting up and tearing down

Birth photography - add-on with no extra cost due by the time of birth, only the purchase of a photo product package 6-8 weeks after your birth (more info available upon request)

POSTPARTUM -
Immediate postpartum - I stay 2 hours after delivery in case you need guidance or support through the initial postpartum exams and protocols (for yourself and your baby), offer peer support for breastfeeding, and to make sure you're all comfortable and have everything you need before I leave

Discounted postpartum doula visits - to help with household tasks, siblings, birth story processing, etc up to 6 months postpartum

INQUIRE HERE:
https://www.allaroundbirth.com/contact/

BINGO! 🎉

Might tattoo this spot later, might not. IDK.

Wishing you all a gentle transition into the New Year! For those of you in the northern hemisphere, remember that winter is a time for rest and reflection, slowness and solitude. Conserve your mental and physical energy. Spring will come again 🌱

Let this be your reminder that a lot can happen in 6 weeks. If you're in the trenches of pregnancy or motherhood, 6 weeks from now could look very different 🫶🏻 Just take 1 hour at a time.

After several months of my own maternity leave, I'm going back on call next month for TWO births, including the baby sibling of this cutie who is not so small anymore! I got to see her again today, and gosh, it's such a treat when I get to stay in touch with families long after their births and get to watch these babies grow 🥰 This one started at a healthy 9 lbs 11 oz! Her mama was a rockstar then and now!

birth photography | homebirth

Some favorite postpartum scenes 🫶🏻 Postpartum doesn't have to be dreadful. It can (and should) be a time to honor and cherish. It should be a time to rest, process, nourish, heal, bond, and prepare for the transition back into the everyday routines with your new, ever-changing little one in tow. I say this not to discourage anyone who hasn't had this experience but to inspire what postpartum can and should be like ✨️ coming from a mama of 6 with no family support. It's not perfect, and it's not everything it could be, but it's still been wonderful and a time period I will surely miss experiencing.

I've taken some time off this year to prepare for and welcome our 6th baby, but I'm still keeping my camera skills sharp and am already starting to book births in 2026 🫶🏻

Hoping to get this little one's birth story typed out next week. Who loves a good birth story?

Happy National Rainbow Baby Day from my rainbow baby girlie 🌈💗 and my 4 rainbow baby boys, too 🩵 I've learned with weather and with life that there's not a rainbow after every storm, as the saying goes, but I'm thankful for the times that there are.

Anyone else have a rainbow baby (or a few)? 🌈