I love hiking and being outdoors. I am a Geocacher and avid sightseer! I love seeing and learning about new places and cultures! My family has enjoyed travelling Australia a little bit each year and seeing more of this beautiful country we now call home! I am passionate about life and all living things, so some I prefer not to cohabitate with (I appreciate huntsmen and carpet pythons much better when they are outside). I am a lifelong learner and hope to never stop learning new things. My love of learning has turned into a love of teaching, whether my students be expecting or breastfeeding mums and partners or hopefully someday university students as I am currently working on a PhD with hopes of being a lecturer.
I have had the pleasure of birthing and raising two amazing human beings (both now adults), my first —a medicated hospital birth, and my second —a natural Bradley Method® birth. I breastfed the first for 2 years and the second for 1, stopping only due to severe postnatal depression that required stronger medication that was not safe to take while breastfeeding.
I teach childbirth (antenatal) education classes because of the empowering and wonderful birth experience I had. I feel strongly that everyone should have the opportunity to experience the same. Myself and many other mums are living proof that childbirth does NOT have to be frightening or sometimes even painful.
Pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding fascinate me! I love learning about the amazing human body and how it works to create, grow, birth, and nourish another life! My joy of learning and desire to help other mothers better has led me to earn certifications as a Lactation Counselor and Advanced Lactation Consultant. I finished my Bachelors of Science in Maternal Child Health: Lactation Consulting in 2014, just prior to moving to Australia. During my course of study in MCH I was privileged to expand my knowledge of nutrition, the impact of labour practices on the mother and baby, breastfeeding, perinatal mood disorders, research methods, social and cultural issues in health care, infant growth and development, and maternal and infant assessment. I am excited to enthusiastically share what I have learned with others and help mothers to develop and achieve their own goals and empowering experiences!
I began teaching in 2008 in the USA and have continued to bring the empowering knowledge of this evidence-based method to mothers ever since, even after relocating to Australia. I have had the privilege to work with parents from the United States, all across Australia, as well as New Zealand, the Samoas, and Hong Kong. After more than a decade of experience and the humble pleasure of being invited into the journeys of over 100 women as they embark on new stages in life and parenthood, I still find birth just as miraculous and amazing as the first time!