Welcome and congratulations on your pregnancy!

Photo by Ashley McCormick - www.ashleymccormick.com

A woman often remembers even the smallest details of her children's births. What her husband said when her water broke, what song was playing in the background before she stopped to breathe and concentrate through another contraction, or even what red lights they stopped at as her husband drove her to the hospital or birth center. Women are known to weep, sometimes with joy and sometimes in mourning, over their births 5, 10, even 20 years earlier. Ask a woman about her births, and she will bring you into a story. A story that changed her. A story that defined her. A story of the birth of the people most precious to her. A story that she cannot forget.

A woman will always remember how she was treated during the labor and birth of her children. It will play a paramount role in the story of her births that will be her own forever. Women need support during their births that is completely and totally for them. They need to remember someone who loved them, who mothered them, who helped them to feel confident, and who allowed them the freedom to birth as they needed to. As they surrender to the miraculous process of birth they need to know that as they let go, as they become completely vulnerable, that everyone around them is going to love them and accept them just as they are and in their most naked state. They need to feel safe. This is what a doula is for. A doula mothers the mother.

I believe that every woman deserves to have incredible, individualized, and continuous labor support should she desire it. I am committed to providing this kind of labor support. I am a certified doula through DONA International. (See www.dona.org for more information) and I am passionate about seeing women create a birth story of their own that is founded on informed choices, supported by tender care, and clothed in joy, peace, and dignity. I am devoted to serving families, free from judgment, in any birth setting they choose (hospital, birth center, or at home) and whether they choose to have medicated or un-medicated births.

I am honored that you are considering my services at such a special time in your lives. I hope you will find my website able to answer many of your questions. If you would like to contact me regarding any of my services, or any questions you may have about local resources, your pregnancy, birth, postpartum period, or your newborn I would love to hear from you!

So, enjoy exploring my website and I hope to hear from you soon!

Ashley Jass, CD(DONA)

"We have a secret in our culture, and it's not that birth is painful. It's that women are strong."
- Laura Stavoe Harm