Hi, I’m Amara!
& I would love to help guide you
in your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey
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I am a DONA certified birth and postpartum doula providing support to women and their families in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, including Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, and sometimes Suffolk, Hampton, and Newport News. My goal is to inform my clients of their options for childbirth and to provide physical, emotional and informational support during the last trimester of pregnancy, labor, birth and the postpartum period. I consider it my utmost responsibility to help my clients achieve a positive birth and postpartum experience, encouraging the best start for both mother and baby and the new family as a whole. I am proud to be able to enrich my support of birthing families with the addition of childbirth education certification in 2011 and most recently, certification as a Spinning Babies® Parent Educator in January 2022. Education plays a big part in eliminating fear and bringing confidence to your birth, not to mention you’ll learn some practical things along the way too.
I absolutely love what I do and am continually inspired by the women and families I work with. Pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period are an exhilarating and challenging time and having good support both before and after baby’s arrival is the key to a smooth and confident transition into parenthood.
I have been fascinated with pregnancy, birth and babies for as long as I can remember. As a twelve year-old I was supposed to see the birth of my baby brother but the unpredictable nature of labor prevented that from happening. I carried that curiosity with me through to my own first pregnancy many years later however, and I have only grown more fascinated and passionate about the process with each of my own birth experiences. After some dedication, study, and very hard work, I earned certification through DONA International as a birth doula in 2003, enriching my life in amazing ways ever since. After serving families as a birth doula for several years, I desired to extend my support to the sweet yet challenging postpartum weeks and months. So in 2008, I added my certification as a postpartum doula, easing the transition at home with the new baby. I become a BirthWorks certified childbirth educator in January 2012, but after teaching hundreds of expectant couples using their workbook, I felt a strong pull to branch out on my own. In 2021, I developed a childbirth curriculum based on my own reading, research and experience attending over 900 births in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, and Birth Essentials was born. I am very excited to continue to support women and their partners as childbirth educator, with more autonomy and relevancy to giving birth in today’s climate than ever before. I am always excited to facilitate birthing parents as they gain knowledge and insight into the birth process, enabling them to trust the amazing power of the human body and its capacity to give birth, but also balancing that trust and knowledge with informed decision-making if the need arises.
I am blessed with a loving and supportive husband and four beautiful children. Family is the most important thing in my life and the reason why I value my doula work so much. It is a true privilege and blessing to be invited to assist other families as they grow and I will be forever humbled and grateful for the trust my clients place in me as I join them in welcoming their little miracles.
“2020 is a weird time to be pregnant and have a baby but Amara didn’t skip a beat with her support. Despite all the restrictions, Amara was creative and made sure she was there for me in every capacity - virtually with zoom and FaceTime, phone calls and text messages as I labored at home at 3 in the morning, and then physically at my birth.
She is extremely knowledgeable about labor and delivery and I truly believe her tips and advice made it so that I had my “dream delivery.””
My Qualifications
Provided birth doula support to over 940 families, with the numbers growing regularly
Provided postpartum doula support to dozens of families
Taught hundreds of expectant couples childbirth education in a variety of formats (8-week in-depth, 2-week refresher, one-on-one, and all options also taught over Zoom)
DONA International Birth Doula certification since 2003
DONA International Postpartum Doula certification since 2008
Spinning Babies® Certified Parent Educator certification in 2022
BirthWorks Childbirth Educator certification in 2012
Member of the Leadership Board of Doulas of Tidewater
BirthWorks birth doula certification in 2020
Radio guest on our local NPR station, Hearsay with Cathy Lewis; Topic: Birth in the Pandemic
BirthWorks Board Member at Large from 2018-2020
Co-Chair of the 2017 BirthWorks conference
Attended a BirthWorks conference in 2016
Attended Spinning Babies training workshops in 2015, 2019, & 2021
Attended a Rebozo training workshop in 2015
Attended a Birth Really Matters: Optimizing Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes conference in 2014
Presented on doulas and birth options to a human sexuality class at Virginia Wesleyan University numerous times
Attended a When a Baby Dies workshop circa 2008
Attended a DONA International conference in 2009
Active member of the Tidewater Chapter of Birth Matters Virginia, a non-profit organization that brings information about evidence-based maternity care to the local community through presentations, film screenings, birth circles and more 2004 – 2015
Yearly or semi-yearly attendance at annual 3-day East Coast LATCH breastfeeding conference since 2008
Obtained certification in Infant, Child and Adult CPR, and First Aid numerous times
Bachelor of Arts Degree from Texas Christian University, 1994
Mother of four, one birthed with i.v. meds, the remaining three birthed drug-free
Breastfed my own four babies for 1 to 2 ½ years each
LGBTQIA Supportive
“Love Amara! Such a calm and gentle spirit. I couldn’t have done my labor without her, and I would definitely use her again and recommend her to a friend! Very knowledge and well trained. A comfort to be around, you will not regret having this amazing doula by your side.”
My Birth Philosophy
As a birth doula, I feel it is my job to provide you with emotional, physical, and informational support to make the birth all that it can be for the whole family. I bring a collaborative spirit to my support of laboring women, working in harmony with the other loved ones that may be supporting you as well as your care provider. I trust in the natural process of birth and believe in the empowerment that birth brings you. I believe that your birth experience will remain one of your most empowering and memorable events of your life.
I know birth can be unpredictable and sometimes Mother Nature has her own plan. But I believe that my clients have the right to remain informed and be a part of the decision making process when obstetrical intervention is necessary. No matter what labor brings you it is your birth experience and I want to help make it a positive and memorable one.
The definition of a positive birth experience with regards to pain management varies greatly from one woman to another. Some women are able to cope with the pain and hard work of labor, and trust it. Others want to have the option of pain relief, but want to try laboring without it. Yet other women feel that pain in labor should be managed. That is their philosophy.
My philosophy is informed choice, and I believe that as long as a woman has the information to make informed decisions with regards to the benefits and risks of medication in childbirth, or any obstetrical intervention, and is comfortable with her decision, then that is what defines a positive birth experience and I am there to support her decision.
My Postpartum Philosophy
I believe what families need most is nurturing and gentle support. My goal is to support the new mother on an “as needs” basis so that she is better rested and able to nurture and care for her baby. I do this by focusing on the mother’s needs and helping both parents to develop confidence in their own parenting skills, while demonstrating techniques in newborn care and feeding. The goal of the postpartum doula is to work themself out of a job so the new mom (and her partner, when applicable) are ready to tackle their new role as parent unassisted.
I think there are many good ways to care for babies, and I do not enforce my own parenting style or insist that you adhere to a specific school of thought with respect to your baby. I trust parents to make the best decisions for their babies and will help them get the information they need to make wise choices for their own family unit.
Families with a new baby are particularly vulnerable, and it is always my goal to be helpful in a quiet, pleasant, appropriate and unobtrusive way. I am respectful of the traditions, culture and values of my clients.