This is not just my job, this is my joy! I respectfully and proudly continue the age-old tradition of women helping women during labor. I have worked joyfully with mothers at both ends of the childbearing years. My clients have chosen a wide variety of birthing styles and options. I will help you explore your expectations and options for your birth. I honor your choices and I will do whatever is possible to help you attain them. I bring my years of accumulated experience to bear as I offer encouragement and support along the way. As a cesarean mother I bring special insight to VBAC and cesarean moms. I have a deep trust in your ability to give birth to your baby. More than anything, your birth is important to me.

Services / Skills

Lending library; relaxation help; labor support at home or hospital; wide variety of comfort measures during labor; private childbirth classes can be arranged to meet your personal needs; non-professional photos and videos. Information packet sent upon request.

Education

BA (Biology, Chemistry minor); graduate studies (Zoology, History of Science); past Certified Childbirth Educator; multiple birth conferences since 1978 conducted by many national experts; 1994, 2001, 2002, 2004 DONA basic and advanced doula trainings; 2008 Advanced Positioning Strategies workshop; attended several DONA conferences and multiple St. Mary's Perinatal Conferences from 2002 to most recent conference.

Experience

Birth doula since 1978; charter member of Doulas of South Central Wisconsin; co-founder, current director and volunteer Small Miracles Volunteer Doula Program; current ICAN professional member; former ICAN board of directors member; former childbirth educator with a group practice; current DONA member.

Births attended

Self, two; as doula, 256; as grandmother, one. (I missed by hours the birth of my second grandchild.)

Rose Marie can be reached at 608-244-6958 or roseber@sbcglobal.net. She was profiled in the Wisconsin State Journal's Know Your Madisonian column. She was nominated in May 2008 for the Our Bodies, Ourselves award contest for a Women's Health Hero. You can view this nomination here. She was recently given the 2009 Healthcare Award by the Madison Breastfeeding Promotion Network.

-- March 15, 2010