HI THERE!
My name is Janalee + I'm the biggest motherlover of them all.
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I do this work because babies deserve the best versions of their parents, and because parents deserve *the* best support during pregnancy + postpartum to be that best version for their babies.
From my experience, this level of support does not exist within our system; that’s why my work as a doula is so important to me. Welcoming a baby into a family is an incredibly transformative experience, but who’s there to witness it? Who's really there for the new parents? To see them? Hear them out? Strategize with them? Celebrate them? Love them? Support them? With no other agenda? The answer is: no one. Everyone has a stake in your experience, except for me. |
Your doctor or midwife is there to make sure the medical side of birth is taken care of. Your pediatrician wants baby to gain weight.
Your pelvic floor physio teaches you how to protect the pelvic floor. Your childbirth ed teacher focuses on stages of labour + breathing.
Your lactation consultant wants to improve the latch. Your family wants to enjoy the new baby.
Your friends want you to still be ~you~ after becoming a parent (but will compromise + accept a 2.0 mom version.)
Your partner wants whatever you want, but they’re becoming a parent too + is going through their own process.
But what do I want as your doula?
I want you to be happy. I want you to be informed. I want you to feel like you’re choosing what’s happening to you + your body.
I want you to feel like someone gets it. I want you to know you’re never alone.
I want you to feel supported in the unraveling + rebuilding that is birth + parenthood.
I want you to be nurtured + cared for + respected + backed + encouraged to be the person you want to be.
Because, yes you’re a pregnant person + yes you’re a parent + yes you’re a partner, but you’re also you.
And YOU matter.
I’ve been to over 150 births (200+ if we’re counting virtual, thanks C19) + educated over 350 families.
There’s no right way to do this, but there’s support that feels right.
This is all I do, this is what I love to do + nothing means more to me than this work.
Your pelvic floor physio teaches you how to protect the pelvic floor. Your childbirth ed teacher focuses on stages of labour + breathing.
Your lactation consultant wants to improve the latch. Your family wants to enjoy the new baby.
Your friends want you to still be ~you~ after becoming a parent (but will compromise + accept a 2.0 mom version.)
Your partner wants whatever you want, but they’re becoming a parent too + is going through their own process.
But what do I want as your doula?
I want you to be happy. I want you to be informed. I want you to feel like you’re choosing what’s happening to you + your body.
I want you to feel like someone gets it. I want you to know you’re never alone.
I want you to feel supported in the unraveling + rebuilding that is birth + parenthood.
I want you to be nurtured + cared for + respected + backed + encouraged to be the person you want to be.
Because, yes you’re a pregnant person + yes you’re a parent + yes you’re a partner, but you’re also you.
And YOU matter.
I’ve been to over 150 births (200+ if we’re counting virtual, thanks C19) + educated over 350 families.
There’s no right way to do this, but there’s support that feels right.
This is all I do, this is what I love to do + nothing means more to me than this work.
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COURSES + CREDENTIALS
Most doula trainings (DONA, CAPPA, Bebo Mia, etc.) are a three-day in-person weekend course; in June of 2017 after one of those weekend series I became certified + registered with the Association of Ontario Doulas.
Then I spent a week in July 2017 studying with the bad-ass, radical doulas of Carriage House Birth in NYC + became certified through them. Then I packed up and moved to Victoria, BC for a four-month, full-time holistic doula program -- the most comprehensive certification course in the world. Herbal medicine, acupressure, lactation support, qi gong, doula ethics, aromatherapy, thai massage, rebozo use, family support, trauma training -- you named it, I studied it over those 270 hours + are certified with them too. |
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A LITTLE MORE ABOUT ME
If I'm not with a client or at a birth,
I'm probably doing CrossFit or OLY. |
And if I'm not training, I'm probably dancing my heart out in my living room.
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And if I'm not doing any of those,
I hope I'm on a beach somewhere. |