Doulas of Greater Kansas City

Meet the Birth Doulas

Sherri Bertram
I started attending births in 1996 out in rural Kansas. At first, it was friends and family who asked me to be with them during childbirth to give them support and just be there for them. One of these friends had a home birth and I met the most wonderful midwife. She was sound, gifted and taught me more about childbirth than I ever knew from having my own. I attended home births with her for about 8 years, learning techniques to ease the pain of labor while keeping the labor moving forward. When I moved to Kansas City, I knew that home births were fewer and farther between, so I trained as a doula and have enjoyed working in the hospitals with my birthing moms. Each birth is as different as each client is different so my goal is making the birth experience personal and giving each mom the kind of birth she can look back on with fond memories.

phone: 816-216-6898
email:

Patty Brough, Labor Doula and Licensed Massage Therapist
My philosophy about birth is that it is a wonderful event in a woman’s life. The desire to help women comes from a nurturing nature and the joy of participating in the uniqueness of each woman’s personal birthing experience. My background is derived from my own experience as a mother of two boys and a grandmother to one precious little girl. As a former nurse of seventeen years, I gained insight in all facets of health care including labor & delivery. In 2005, I pursued a career in massage therapy; I received training in pre-natal and post partum massage among other modalities, including infant massage instruction at the Arizona school of Integrative Studies. In June 2006 I became nationally certified thru Nationally Certified Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCTMB) and I am a licensed massage therapist. My doula training was completed with the Academy of Birth Educators & Labor Support Professionals in Olathe, KS in August 2007. I look forward to empowering women in their choices and participating in the uniqueness of each birth.
phone: 913-387-9744
email:

Denise "Nadah" Cartmill, Birth Doula/ Massage Therapist/Childbirth Educator
Nadah has been in private practice as a massage therapist for over twenty years having helped to develop and teach in the massage therapy program at Johnson County Community College. She also helped to establish the first hospital-based massage program at Saint Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. After numerous massage clients began asking for her to provide labor support, she became trained as a doula with the Academy of Certified Birth Educators and Labor Support Professionals in Olathe, Kansas where she also trained as a childbirth educator. In over nine years of hands-on birth work she has used her experience with touch as well as aromatherapy and herbal information to help women and their partners achieve their goals in childbirth. Her approach is to support women in such a way that they have confidence in the process and their own ability to give birth. Her services include prenatal consult and massage if desired, childbirth education, labor support, breast-feeding assistance and one or two post-partum visits.
phone: 913-634-2059
email:

Bridget Chick
Bridget is a certified massage therapist that specializes in prenatal massage. Bridget has been a birth doula providing services in the Greater Kansas City area for over five years. Her passion is to educate and support women and their partners both during the prenatal period and throughout the labor and delivery process.

phone: 913-244-8493
email:
web: http://www.bridgetchick.com

Jill Clingan, Birth and Postpartum Doula
Sacred Journey Doula Services
As a DONA trained labor and postpartum doula and a mother of two children, I believe that women deserve nurturing and support throughout pregnancy, labor, delivery, and the postpartum period. After my own wonderful experience with a doula when my son was born, I decided I wanted to help nurture other women through their pregnancies and births. The foundation of my doula practice is my passionate belief that birth is a natural, sacred, beautiful event and that all women deserve the chance to experience birth as positive, empowering, joyful, and life-changing. I believe that women's bodies were perfectly created to conceive, grow, and bring new life into this world and that my role as a doula is to nurture women through this miraculous process. I also feel great compassion towards the monumental task that is before new mothers in their postpartum days, and I love to help compassionately nurture women who are feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and even depressed. I believe that what new families need most is nurturing and gentle support and that by nurturing the mother, I can help her care for her baby more effectively.
phone: 913-575-2970
email:
web: http://www.jillclingan.com

Christina Collins, Childbirth Educator and Labor Doula
I began doula work in 2008. I had 6 children before I learned about doulas. I had 2 doula assisted births, what a difference it made. I have been through Natural Births, a C-section, VBACS, and Posterior babies with and without intervention. My home is full of children, 8 to be exact and more to be welcomed. I would like to help you have the birth you desire.

phone: 816-824-1778
email:

Vanessa Flood
Birthing Beyond, LLC was created to enhance the physical and emotional journey into motherhood through education and labor support. I offer comprehensive private childbirth education, continuous labor support with certified doula services and certified breastfeeding education and support.

phone: 913-485-0298
web: http://www.birthingbeyond.com

Amy Goulet, D.C.
I believe every family deserves to be educated about birth choices so that they can make the best decisions for their family and their baby. I moved to Kansas City in May 2008 and opened Abundant Life Chiropractic in Belton. I take care of all ages, but specialize in pregnancy and pediatrics, and I have found that good chiropractic care along with great support in pregnancy and labor enriches the birth experience. As a doula, I meet with you at least two times before the birth to discuss your desires and ways that I can support you. I will be with you during your labor and delivery to provide emotional support, massage, and advice on positions, as well as serving as your advocate with hospital staff. Doulas are also great in helping Dad know how to better support their partner! I will always respect your decisions so that you look at that birth as the happy, miraculous experience that it is!
phone: 816-331-8900 (office) 816-326-8902 (home)
email:
web: http://www.beltonchiro.com

Jena Kittle, DC

phone: 816-377-3270
email:

Allyson Lozano, RN
ABCE certified labor support professional, DONA member, labor/delivery/postpartum/neonatal registered nurse, member of American College of Nurse Midwives, attending University of Kansas School of Nursing for Midwifery. I have a passion for encouraging safe, intervention-free births to my clients, even within my own practice as an RN on my birthing unit. Pregnancy is not a medical illness, it is a beautiful yet very normal human experience. Interest in both birth and post partum doula. Over 15 CE's in breastfeeding training.

phone: 816-517-3744
email:

Teresa Marshall, CD, PCD (DONA)
I am a birth and postpartum doula, including overnight care. The birth of my first son in 1981 was a profound life changing event for me. From the moment David was born I realized how incredible and capable a woman's body is. I want all women to have the birth experience they desire. We all have the right to feel respected, in control and empowered through our labor and birth at home or in a birth center or hospital. I went on to have three more beautiful, natural birth experiences. Now that my children are out of the nest I am devoted to what I now know is my life's calling. All the best to you for a safe, healthy and incredible birth!

phone: 913-402-4434 or 913-271-4067
email:

Diana Meisinger, Birth, Postpartum and Night Doula
Diana Meisinger is a wife and mother of four homebirthed and breastfed children. She is a trained Waldorf early childhood educator and for the last 15 years has been teaching in a Waldorf pre-school kindergarten, as well as helping families develop rhythm and rituals in their own homes. Since becoming a doula she has stayed connected to Waldorf education by acting as a consultant and mentor to early childhood teachers in Waldorf schools. Diana feels that creating a sacred birthing space before and after delivery is important. She is very interested in helping each family create their own birthing space and home life that they feel comfortable and at ease in. She realizes that there is no job on earth that requires more of our hands, heart, and mind than parenting. Sacred Spaces Doula Support looks forward to helping you create a sacred space of your own.
Doula Training:
Academy of Certified Birth Educators and labor support professional
DONA Postpartum Doula training
phone: 913-592-3915
email:
web: http://www.sacredspacesdoulasupport.com

Karim Memi

phone: 913-492-8592
email:

Laura Helmuth Miller, Birth and Postpartum Doula
As your birth and/or postpartum doula I would like to provide you with the resources to guide your vision of the best possible birth experience. This is a moment you will remember for the rest of your life. I believe each woman and her family should be empowered to drive the birth of their baby in line with their values. I would like to help you create a wonderful memory. I believe in the process and finding confidence in your ability. I want to help you make choices that you will cherish for a life time. I believe the birth experience to be a magical moment that is the ultimate natural, spiritual event that is a gift in many ways. You deserve it to be an empowering, sacred, joyful moment to keep always.
I received birth doula training from The Academy of Certified Birth Educators. My husband and I are Bradley Educated and used that information when we gave birth to our three children.
Please call and we could discuss more of your desires.
phone: 913-341-9662 or 913-645-8626
email:
web: http://www.makewayforbaby.vpweb.com

Cami Nettekoven, CD(DONA)
Cami is DONA trained, serving the Greater Kansas City Metro area in home and hospital births. She is also educated by the Kansas City Missouri Health Department as a Breastfeeding Counselor with Nutritional Services. Her experiences as a mother have encouraged her to share her gift and to be a support to other expectant mothers. Her position as a doula is to help families understand the nature of the birth process and to empower them with the tools to make pregnancy, childbirth, and beyond an experience of fulfillment and joy.

phone: 816-591-4633
email:
web site: http://www.kansascitydoula.com

Brandie Jo Olsen

phone: 816-914-0163
email:

Sherry Payne, Homebirth Doula
Sherry L. Payne is a registered nurse, chilbirth and breastfeeding educator, and homebirth doula. She holds a BSN from Rockhurst University/Reseach College of Nursing. She currently serves as chairperson of the Breastfeeding Committee of the Maternal Child Health Coalition of Greater Kansas City. She owns and operates Perinatal ReSource, a consulting firm that promotes holistic eco-friendly alternatives for birth and lactation through advocacy and education. She is writing a book and is the subject of an upcoming documentary on homebirth. Sherry resides in Overland Park KS with her husband Charles, and six home-birthed and breastfed children ranging in ages from 1 to 19 years.

phone: 913-341-4277
email:
web site: http://www.perinatalresourcellc.com

Jessica Pike
Birth is a wonderful time in a families life and I enjoy helping the expectant family. I believe that we were built to be able to birth naturally but that every one has there own preferences and the right to make informed decisions that are right for them. I am a mother of four beautiful children and a CAPPA trained doula.

phone: 913-426-7088
email:
web site: http://www.lovinglabor.webs.com

Sally Riley
Your labor and birth is an experience that you will remember forever. We can work together to help that memory to be positive by: 1.) building a healthy pregnancy; 2.) choosing a supportive care provider, a place of birth and a doula; 3.) writing a birth plan to express your choices; 4.) developing a positive belief in childbirth; and 5.) preparing for life at home with your baby. Sally is a certified childbirth educator, certified doula, breastfeeding educator, and DONA doula trainer.

phone: 913-341-2853
web: http://www.acbe.com/

Suzanne Ryan, CNM
Suzanne is a Certified Nurse Midwife of eight years assisting moms with deliveries in the home or will be your doula at the hospital.

phone: 1-877-551-0001 ext 100
fax: 866-885-9694
email:
web: http://www.midwivesofkansascity.com

Angie Scharnhorst, AAHCC
I became a childbirth educator and doula in 2004 after I realized that the majority of the women I knew did not view the births of their children the way I viewed the birth of mine: as an amazing experience that, while challenging, taught me that I could accomplish anything I set out to do. Women are often told that birth is life-changing event, but rarely are given the tools to fully appreciate and celebrate the ways in which the birth process affects our lives -- and those of our families -- in the long term. I provide childbirth classes, seminars and doula services to help families make the choices that are right for them in any childbirth setting.

phone: 913-381-2363
email:
web: http://www.birthpartnerskc.com

Heidi Shulista, CD(DONA), Birth Doula
My goal is to empower women through knowledge and confidence in their bodies own abilities during the birth of their babies. This is done through education and support starting in pregnancy and continuing until after the birth. I can also offer support during the postpartum period as a doula. I believe that everyone deserves a doula no matter what their situation may be. I am the mother of several children and understand the significance of birth and how the memory remains a part of your life.

phone: 913-710-4205
email:
web: http://everyonedeservesadoula.com

Mona Snoderly
I have been acting as a doula for many years, long before I knew there was such a thing. Women have always come to me for advice about how to care for their babies and, later, started asking me to come to their births. Having seven children of my own, two hospital and five home births, has given me a lot of hands on experience with babies and families. But, just as importantly, since childhood I've felt a special kinship with the unborn and newly born. I've also had the opportunity to offer personal care to several older adults, which has added more depth and dimension to my experiences as a care giver.

phone: 913-281-4808 or 913-231-7897
email:

Pam Summers, CD, CMD, LMT
My role is to benefit you and bring relief to your partner. As a massage doula I feel it is a HONOR to assist you in the serenity of letting go and working with the natural rhythms of childbirth. I help you understand options and give support in bringing forth your own empowered ideal birth, by nurturing your inner strength and courage, helping you find wisdom within yourself, providing comfort measures for the body and meditation for the spirit and soul. Birth becomes best when interfered with as little as possible and as much as necessary. I believe there is no greater "Miracle" than the "Birth of a Baby"! Available for pregnancy, labor, and birth.

phone: 816-254-1188/816-405-5250 please leave a message and I will get back with you!
email:
web: http://www.embrace-nature.com

Sarah Wallbaum, CD(DONA), Certified Childbirth Educator, Certified Nutritionist
I decided to become a doula as I had experienced empowering births with my daughters and came to realize that not many women feel supported in this transformational experience. I am now a Certified Professional Midwife student apprenticing with the Midwives Of Kansas City attending homebirths only with three Certified Nurse Midwives in the practice. I have studied natural nutrition and healing for many years, and I use this knowledge to assist the moms I work with to encourage a healthier pregnancy and more satisfying birth. I feel that birth is a pivotal time in which a woman can explore her inner strengths as well as her fears, opening herself to feel empowered to make decisions for herself as well as her child.

phone: 816-305-0391
email:
web: http://www.mamasara.com

Tara Stratton Wallingford, Birth and Postpartum Doula
As a woman who gave birth with the help of a fellow Kansas City doula, I am passionate about the positive effect that experience left on my ability to mother my own child, as well as my fellow mothers. I am a certified Labor Support Professional and DONA-trained birth/postpartum doula living in Kansas City, Missouri with my husband and our beautiful daughter. I am also a musician with a background in Sociology and Women’s Studies that consists of a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from The University of Missouri-Kansas City. Motherhood is a transformation for each woman, each family, and each community. I would be honored to support you in the most important event of your family’s life. Serving the Greater Kansas City Metro area, including the surrounding suburbs.

phone: 913-486-0550
email:
web: http://www.swaykindoula.com

Rachel Williston, Midwife, Doula
I am Rachel Williston, midwife, doula, and home birth mom of two boys. I belive in the idea that birth brings into being a new family and mother as well as a new baby. I encourage educated choices and a williness to explore your emotions and options as you go through this experience. I take very few clients as I am currently working on opening a free standing birthing center in KC, MO.

phone: 816-699-6416
email:

Alyssa-Rae Zonarich, DC, LSP

phone: 913-402-7444
email:
web: http://www.dralyssaonline.com