​Hello! My name is Teresa. I am a birth and postpartum doula and childbirth educator serving the Greater Boston, Cambridge, and Merrimack Valley regions. I am currently transitioning from certification with DONA International to advanced training and full-spectrum doula certification with Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings. I identify as queer. My partner through the past 20 years, a cis-man, and I have two daughters, who I breastfed for a collective 24 months. I raise a little flock of backyard chickens and enjoy gardening and collecting hobbies. My main goal in life is to be happy and enjoy it, and I believe we humans are happiest when we are working to improve the world in any way we can and to enrich the lives of others. Altruism breeds optimism!

                                                                        My Story                          

In July 2008 I gave birth to my first daughter, Josie. Two years later she was diagnosed with Autism. She doesn't speak, but her smile is contagious! She challenges me to be a better person every day and has taught me to think outside the box. In March 2014  I gave birth to my second daughter, Ramona. she is an ever evolving bundle of energy, and her sister's best friend.  In March 2021 Josie transitioned to a group home for kids with special needs.  Living with a child with very high needs for the past twelve years while juggling my marriage, career, raising another- neurotypical child, and maintaining a home has taught me so much about what parents can do, as well as the kinds of support that families need to thrive. It has also made me unflappable in the face of typical childhood behaviors and stressors. I feel honored to work with families and have opportunities to share what I have learned through my personal parenting journey so far.

I discovered my desire to be a birth worker through my role as a midwives' assistant in a community health center in 2005. Through that job I was provided an opportunity to train with DONA International and work as an on-call doula for Mount Auburn Hospital, providing support to non-English speaking Latina women during childbirth. After years of working as an on-call doula I decided to become certified so I could expand and serve more families in my community and surrounding areas. I certified with DONA International and started taking private clients in 2012. From 2010-2013 I worked as a Family Planning Counselor across two community health centers serving an array of populations, some privileged, some at-risk, providing education in English, Spanish, and Portuguese on safe sex, pregnancy options, and birth control methods counseling. I left that job in 2013 to work as a medical assistant again, this time for Mount Auburn ob/gyn. In 2014, after giving birth to my second daughter, I resigned from my medical assistant job, started my doula business, and have been a full-time birth worker ever since! Since 2005 I have attended over 275 births including over 30 cesarean sections with my clients and their partners in the operating room. 

Through this work I  developed a deep trust in women and LGBTQ+ folks and the belief that each of us has an innate knowledge of our own bodies. I feel that my role as a doula is to provide resources, information, and practice with body conditioning, positioning, and comfort measures, as well as relaxation and visualization techniques to help pregnant people to enhance their mind-body connection so they might better see, and thereby achieve their ideal birth experience, whatever that might be. I try to meet each client where they are emotionally and practically in terms of their feelings and preferences surrounding birth and parenting choices. I will provide evidenced-based research to help you develop birth preferences if you are ambivalent, and will support your plan if you are not. I will not impose my personal opinions. 

This philosophy of trusting women and  queer and non-binary parents extends into my work supporting families in the postpartum period. I believe new parents benefit greatly from a little support, nurturing, and time to let their confidence grow. Sometimes they just need someone with a little experience to let them know that it's ok to follow their natural parenting instincts, and to model calm even when a newborn's cry can sound so urgent and concerning. If problems or issues arise I will help you over the bumps and hiccups while encouraging you to take charge, and I can connect you with an expansive network of resources in the community to help with any areas outside of my scope of practice.
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​Recent Continuing Education:

I intend to take an advanced, full-spectrum Doula training with Birthing Advocates Doula Training in September 2021 and to seek doula and childbirth educator certification with them instead of DONA International, as this training is much more extensive and focused on advancing birth justice for all. 

*April 3, 2021 Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings: Crisis Response for Birth Workers 4 hr training.

*March 2021 Lamaze Webinar: The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Six Healthy Birth Practices. 1 hour.

*April 2019 GOLD Lactation Online Conference

*March 2019- WellPregnancy 3.5 hr. Breastfeeding basics review for birth professionals

*May 2018- Partners in Perinatal Health Conference

*March- May 2017-  I completed a 10 week BACE-NMC Childbirth Educator Training 

*February 2017-  I completed a Spinning Babies workshop with Lorenza Holt.

*August 2016-   I completed a CAPPA 3 day/24 hour Lactation Educator  Training, the  
                                  first step in becoming a Certified Lactation Educator.

*September 2015-   I completed a 3 day- 27 hour DONA approved postpartum Doula
                                  workshop.

* August 2015-  I  completed a 1 day Gena Kirby Rebozo workshop on  Rebozo for
                                   pregnancy and birth called, Rebozo: Make the Partner Do It.
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*April 2015-  I completed an 18 hour Indigo Doulas advanced birth doula workshop:  
                                 Using Intuition in the Birthing Room