Lori’s Approach to Doula Work

Each birthing person’s journey through labor is remarkably individual. From birth wishes to the course and length of labor, each person follows a unique path through the birthing process. Lori faithfully respects and supports who you are and what you want to achieve an experience that feels satisfying, empowering, and beautiful to you.

As an experienced childbirth educator and former teacher, Lori listens carefully to your desires and provides evidence-based information so you can explore your options to craft a plan for physical & emotional labor support that feels right for you. When the big day (or night!) arrives, she will come alongside you to navigate your dreams and expectations with any potential bumps and hiccups as your baby’s birth story unfolds. Lori brings a well-stocked toolkit of experience, information, strategies, techniques (such as positioning, comfort touch, breathing techniques, and visualization) and coaches you and your support team through the experience, removing pressure and bolstering confidence for you both by providing ideas to try, explaining what’s happening (and why), and making space for unhurried & confident decision making. While working with your medical team, Lori respectfully advocates for you and your birth preferences, making sure they are known and honored so you can experience a birth that feels safe, positive, and empowering.

Lori’s Background

Lori’s own journeys through pregnancy and labor ignited her passion for all things birth. Already a veteran classroom teacher and international educational workshop leader, she picked up her childbirth preparation certification at the Seattle Midwifery School and began teaching evenings and weekends in Portland area hospitals as a hobby. Organically, Lori’s childbirth educator side gig grew to include doula work, as expectant people she met frequently requested her support at their births.

As a brand new empty-nester and mom to an opera singer and a scientist, Lori stepped out of teaching and into full time birth doula work in 2022. She is proudly a native Oregonian and lives in a suburb of Portland where she enjoys hanging out with her engineer husband in the adult treehouse they built. When not actively supporting birth clients or geeking out on “birthy” stuff, you can likely find Lori researching for her next trip, reading magical fiction, unearthing new tidbits about her ancestors, hiking, kayaking, or rearranging the plethora of plants in her backyard yet again.