Cami Nettekoven CD(DONA)
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I'm grateful to have been a stay-at-home mom for the last 12 years. I have a lovingly supportive husband, Tim , and 6 truly amazing children, Zekiah, Eli, Genesis, Naomi, Avalon, & Salah! It has been an eventful decade to say the least. Our home is filled with children, love, laughter, hopes, dreams, excitement and of course ….hoots, hollers, screams, and tantrums. I never imagined I’d have a house so full. My family is my joy and I delight in them. Apart from my family, I enjoy exercise; walking, biking, pilates, and Karate. My recent passions include healthier living, through eating living, raw, and whole foods (I‘m not that good at it, but I‘m trying). In my spare time I enjoy reading, and get-to-gathers with friends and extended family members, and most of all I enjoy a really good massage. If I had more time on my hands I’d love to travel more, grow a successful garden, take incredible photographs, and learn to knit really cute STUFF. I am a trained and certified doula through DONA International. I work in the Greater Kansas City Metro area for home, hospital or birth center births. I am also trained by the Kansas City Missouri Health Department as a Breastfeeding Counselor with Nutritional Services. I have 9 years of breastfeeding experience and am familiar with common difficulties and how to work through them. I have had high-risk pregnancies myself, with pre-term labor and delivery, gestational diabetes, and a baby with abnormalities, I‘ve had numerous prenatal tests. I’ve had newborns with jaundice, meningitis, reversed organs in the abdomen with a duodenal obstruction, I‘ve experienced the pain, and gamut of emotions having a newborn in surgery, NICU with spinal taps, ventilators, incubators, and transfusions, while having to pump breast milk for weeks on end. I am able to sympathize and encourage families encountering difficult circumstances. My privilege 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 their life beyond an experience of fulfillment and joy. I find it important to remind women that birth is a natural process and take a holistic approach, normal birth is indeed possible. |
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Meet the Backup Doulas
Heather Berry CD(DONA)
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I was born and raised in the KC metro area where I met and married my high school sweetheart, Brandon. I'm not a mom yet, but I'm due with our first child in December! Having been a doula for over 3 years, I'm excited to finally experience this amazing life event for myself! I love gardening and growing all sorts of interesting vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs organically. I enjoy learning about birth, labor, sustainable living, herbalism, natural healthcare, and local and organic food. I'm definitely a country girl stuck in the city! Brandon and I like cooking together and creating new recipes. We love trying strange new foods, eating at authentic ethnic restaurants, and traveling. We have two ferrets and two Welsh Terriers, which unfortunately will probably be demoted in the family with the arrival of the new baby! I became a Certified Birth Doula through DONA International in 2004, while pursuing my passion for natural health and realizing my desire to support pregnant and laboring women. I have degrees in Dietetics and in Public Health Nutrition, and am currently taking herb classes, so I like to incorporate this knowledge into pregnancy and birth when needed. During the birth I feel my role is to help you stick to your birth plan as much as possible, but ultimately support you in your choices. Rarely will a birth stay completely as outlined in a birth plan, but if you have a good experience, and good memory of the day, and feel confident that you did the right thing, and above all, you and the baby are healthy, then it is a success! I attend births at home, or at a birth center or a hospital. I believe that God created women's bodies with the awesome, unique ability to give birth, and I believe that we are fully capable of giving birth naturally (with a few medical exceptions of course). I love seeing women empowered by the natural birth experience, realizing their abilities, and being fully active in the process. Another big emphasis for me is to make sure I am involving your partner (whether husband, friend or mom etc.) in the birth as much as possible. This is a day for the two of you to remember, long after I am out of the picture. Email me at BerryHeather@gmail.com. |
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Diane Utz CBE(DONA)
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I am the mother of 4 wonderful children, ages 6-15. I was blessed with a gentle and caring provider and great childbirth educators during my birthing years and 4 of my proudest accomplishments are the non-medicated births of my babies. Now my goal is to help moms on that same journey. I view pregnancy and childbirth as natural, normal, healthy parts of a woman's life. I believe in a woman's ability to give birth to her child(ren) with as little intervention as possible. I also think a woman should be empowered to have the birth SHE chooses. My role as a doula is to educate and support a woman in these choices. I like to help mom's stay comfortable during active labor by changing positions, using aqua therapy (shower or tub), and the birth ball. I encourage moms to labor in the comfort of their own home for as long as possible before transitioning to the hospital. I guess the Lamaze definition of a "normal birth" is a great summary of my philosophy. Lamaze International believes that the following care practices, adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO), promote, support, and protect nature's plan for birth:
Email me at diane@kansascitydoula.com. |
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