Kjerstin Gurda Kjerstin Gurda

BirthRoot Doula Services

I have had a deep love for women and their strength, especially through pregnancy and birth, for as long as I can remember. I fell in love with birth work while studying the doula community in Minneapolis MN, and felt called to join the profession of women who support, educate, and encourage mothers and their partners through pregnancy and birth. I attended my first births while studying in western Africa in '03. Since then I have attended two doula trainings, participated in a seminar on herbs for the childbearing year, and have been privileged to attend a few conferences with well-known leaders in the birth world. I have been involved in doula work for the last 10 years, working with private clients, single moms, teen moms, homebirths, and hospital births. I am certified as a birth doula through DONA International, and am also a trained childbirth educator through ICEA. I am currently available to serve women and their families in Madison and surrounding areas, in hospital, birth center, and homebirth settings. Each birth I have supported has been a privilege and a great learning opportunity. It is a gift to watch the strength and power of a woman and a family unfold through this transformative event! 

As your doula, I’ll help you learn what you want to know, support you in making your own choices, and be there with you through the hard work of labor. It is your journey and your birth, and I am honored to help you feel safe, supported, and empowered through the process.

Services / Skills

  • 1 hour long free interview
  • Two or three prenatal visits,to get to know one another, talk through questions, preferences, and your birth plan, and to practice relaxation, positions, and comfort measures.
  • Assistance with writing birth plan if desired
  • Attendance as requested with you at childbirth education class or doctor's visits
  • Comprehensive lending library of literature on childbirth, lactation, women’s health, and parenting.
  • Meet you at home when you want labor support, and will follow/travel with you to the hospital.
  • Continuous labor support through your labor and delivery, and for few hours after the baby is born including comfort measures, positioning support, massage, aroma therapy and pressure-point therapy, and help with medical protocols and breastfeeding after baby is born.
  • Two postpartum visits to check in, field questions, and re-tell and/or process the birth story.
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  • Written up birth story for you at a postpartum visit
  • Photographs and/or short video of the labor, birth, and postpartum as requested (non-professional)
  • I have experience working with couples, single moms, teen moms, survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence, and women with medical complications.
  • I have also supported women both at home and in the hospital.
 

I am also happy to offer additional services:

  • Facilitating a Blessingway, or alternative baby shower, for the mother with her community of women or family.
  • Doing a bellycasting of the mama’s pregnant belly before birth. This can be painted and serve as beautiful birth art!
  • Individual Childbirth Education classes for expectant women or couples.

    • Education

    B.A. in Cultural Anthropology, where I studied the culture of birth and birth professionals. Two separate DONA Birth-Doula trainings. Attended trainings on herbs for the childbearing year. Trained childbirth educator, ICEA. Currently attending University of Wisconsin-Madison to get a Master’s of Social Work in order to work as a counselor and/or social worker with pregnant and parenting women and teens. Certified Birth Doula through DONA International

    Experience

    Part of birth communities serving in a supportive or educator capacity over the course of 10 years.

    Births attended

    As doula, 14.

    Kjerstin can be reached at 414-305-9745 or kjerra@yahoo.com.

    -- October 31, 2011


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