Doula Vitae

Birth , Postpartum and End-of-Life Care

Julia and Winship - October 2020

"...a home birth, scheduled cesarean, epidural hospital birth or if you birth alone in the woods next to baby deer. I care that you had options, that you were supported in your choices and that you were respected."
-January Harshe, The Birth Without Fear Blog

Providers

Luci Tarr

I find it incredibly challenging to describe the depth of meaning behind being a doula. As I share with many, the first time I had the honor of supporting birth, I felt like I was exactly where I was always meant to be. Now, as a labor and birth, postpartum and end-of-life doula, the passion I feel for supporting others is endless. The opportunity to be with families, however defined, during such intimate and progressive moments in life is a gift. As a doula, I will help bring forth the needs and desires of your family and provide the guidance and advocacy you want and deserve.

The health and safety of my family, clients and community is very important to me. I am current with vaccinations for COVID-19 (including a booster), the flu and TDAP.

Sheila Brown

Since I was very young, I have been drawn to nurturing and caring for babies. Over time my love for babies and children grew into a desire to care for mothers and families. As a nanny, auntie, new mother, and now postpartum doula, I have experienced how life changing, beautiful, and challenging welcoming new life can be. For me, supporting a family to feel held, nourished, and respected during the tender postpartum period is a true honor. I look forward to meeting you and learning how I can facilitate a safe and supportive environment for you and your loved ones during a monumental time of transition.

Lisa Martel

I have the sincere honor of writing about Lisa C. Martel so you too can know and be cared for by her. First, let me share that Lisa is a Vermont licensed massage therapist as well as a USUI and KARUNA Reiki Master, but who she is goes well beyond the care that she is licensed to provide. Lisa is a healer with a depth of care that makes people feel safe, comfortable, informed and physically and mentally well. Her passion for her healing and the love she has for those she cares for can be felt through the warmth of her touch. Lisa is magic and can help you to simply relax and find peace or help you heal from within yourself. I am honored to know her, be cared and loved by her and to be able to share with my clients her magical abilities.

"We have a new cultural view of childbirth that tremendously minimizes how physically and emotionally difficult it is."

-Amy Tuteur, MD

Support Offered

Clients' Thoughts

We had Luci’s support for the birth of our twins. This was my second pregnancy, and I had hoped to be at a stand-alone birth center with midwives for the birth. When we discovered twins at the nine-week dating ultrasound, however, I was quickly referred to the hospital and the high-risk maternal fetal medicine team for my prenatal care. In addition to being thrust into a hyper-medical setting, I learned that I would be required to deliver in the operating room as a precaution because of the high likelihood of complications in twin deliveries. Involving a doula in the birth seemed like the best I could do to facilitate as natural, calm, and peaceful of a birth experience as possible in this setting, and I’m so glad to have found Luci. From our first call, she encouraged me to ask questions, advocate for what I felt would be best, and push the limits of what might be possible within the given parameters. She took a real interest in learning about twin births along the way, made time to get to know my family, and acted as a steady, reassuring presence through a long, drawn-out early labor phase of starts and stops, and support at the hospital through the big adventure of the births. From her skilled, sensitive touch and direction, her knowledge and intuition for effective positioning, to the way she worked seamlessly with the medical team, it was truly an honor and a joy to have Luci with us to be part of something so extraordinary. The next day at the hospital, all the doctors and nurses were singing her praises and talking about how wonderful it was to have her as part of the birth team. I feel fortunate to have had such a smooth pregnancy, to have been able to keep the twins in past 39 weeks, and to deliver such big, strong, healthy boys (all pretty exceptional for twins) – and Luci was an integral part of it all.

...Most important of all of Luci’s amazing attributes is her ability to be an emotional guide. Our birth had some unexpected bumps in the road (as I think many do) and when things became turbulent and scary, Luci was there to help calm my nerves and guide me to be confident in the process and confident in my body’s abilities.

I was heading into active labor while I was in the bathtub at the hospital when the nurse noticed that the baby’s heart rate was dropping. By the time they had gotten me out of the tub and to the bed (shaking and dripping wet) there were about ten plus additional doctors in the room telling me that they had to prepare me for a c-section. Luci locked eyes with me as she saw the tears forming and calmly said, “Julia, just look at me, you are strong, and you’ve got this.” She grabbed my hand and drew my attention away from the calamity in the room and into the deep reassurance in her eyes telling me that everything would be OK. Her ability to center me in this moment is a true gift of Luci’s and one that makes her an incredible doula.

Luci acted as a coach through the birth preparation process as well as labor. We bonded over the fact that both of us rowed crew. It is a testament to her that I would place her next to some of my top crew coaches in her ability to coach me through the labor process. During our initial meetings she was great at laying out the “training plan,” showing my husband and me the moves that we should practice and preparing us for what was to come. Once we were in the hospital, she helped to navigate us to the right positions and coach me through the various stages of labor. Just like you sometimes need a coach to tell you, “now is the time to push it!” Luci navigated me through the stages of labor seamlessly and let me know when I should just focus on being calm and when it was time to PUSH!

Overall, we feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with Luci. We hope you have the opportunity to work with her as well!

For the complete testimonial from this client, please visit the Clients' Thoughts page.

To read more thoughts from people whom I have had the pleasure of supporting...