Complete Joy Birth Services

Anyone else make stockwith the turkey carcass? 😋🦃🍲

Fall colors and beautiful views despite the dreary skies. Yesterday at Morrow Mountain State Park.

The first pic is what my life looks like lately. If people ask me what I’ve been up to, it’s essentially this “Running around.” 🏃‍♀️🚙

Moving to “the country” has been wonderful, but oh the driving! Prenatal visits, postpartum visits, births, school drop off and pick up, homeschool co-op, other homeschool events, kid activities, running errands, it seems to never end. 😅

Today after my last client visit of the week, I stopped at the park for a walk. It felt so wonderful to just and soak up the sun ☀️. I know these days of “running around” won’t last forever. It can be exhausting at times, but I am so very grateful for the opportunity to be with women as they transform from maidens to mothers, and for three kids who are becoming more grown up every day. I am so proud of all of them. And also glad to get a break here and there to just be. If you are near Charlotte, make sure you get outside today, it’s glorious out there!

To me, this feels like a very birthy moon, but at this moment, my phone is quiet. 🌖

It is so special to me when I receive reviews from my clients. I loved working with this family and their sweet 🌈 baby. As a doula, my goal is to meet you where you are and support your decisions 💯 because I truly believe that YOU are the expert on you and your baby. 💕

It was such an honor to be Jessica’s doula for her second birth experience! Go listen to her share her birth stories on The Birth Hour podcast!

New birth story podcast episode ✨

Jessica shares 3 birth stories in episode 787! PROM and Back Labor with Epidural, a Redemptive Water Birth, and Birth Center Birth without Power

Listen to the full episode in your favorite podcast app 🎧

📷 Photo credit

Shepherd’s pie in the cast iron skillet for dinner tonight. What did you have for dinner?

One of the things that I love about having older kids is that they are able to do some things completely independently. Today my son mowed the grass and my younger daughter baked this homemade banana bread. Like every stage of parenting, raising two teens and a pr***en is hard, but I am truly and abundantly .



***ens

So thankful I had the opportunity to complete this training with . I learned so many valuable things that I can bring into my work with clients. ✨

Have you ever heard of a before? It’s a newer term that I started hearing a few years ago. I have been quietly offering sibling doula services for awhile now but decided to make it an official offering of Complete Joy Birth Services!

As a sibling doula I provide on-call childcare for your older children when you are having a baby.

✨At a homebirth, this might look like supporting your children while they are present during your labor, or watching them in another part of the home if they do not want to be present (or you feel distracted by their presence.)
✨For women birthing in a hospital or birth center setting, a sibling doula provides care for your children in your home while you go to your birthing location. This is especially helpful for people who do not have family or friends nearby who can care for their children on an as needed basis.
✨If you are stressing about what to do with your kids during your labor, sibling doula services might be your answer! Check out my website for more info or to inquire. 😊

Love this! Working with midwives who have this mindset is such a blessing.

Happy World Doula Day

Here you see a forever doula almost midwife look lovingly on the doula that that balanced, massaged, coached, breathed, rocked, fed, hydrated, grounded, and comforted mamas as I napped, charted, and midwifed….

Sometimes I envy you. Sometimes I long to be far away from such a clinical mindset and just hold space and be with the woman as you are. As I have hundreds of times. I miss it deeply.

Then I remember the 12 hours you put in prior to me getting there, the body balancing you did to help her get into labor while I finished clinic, and the way you leaned over the tub with counter pressure for over 2 hours while I sat with my sterile gloves on feeling out the room and assessing like a hawk in the sky.

And all that I feel is deep gratitude and peace. I love the midwife I am and I’ll never lose the doula I was.

To all of the DOULAS past, present, and future. Midwives LOVE you - Happy Day 🧡
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I realized I have never done a proper introduction on here. 🫣

I’m Andrea and I’m a mom of 3 and a wife of 1. 🥰 I love Jesus and everything I do is a response to His goodness in my life. ❤️ I homeschool my kids which is one of the best and hardest things I have ever done. 😅

I have been a doula for 10 years and have been working in the greater Charlotte area for 8 years. I offer birth and postpartum doula services and have recently started offering sibling doula services as well! 🤗

It’s not uncommon for doulas to post a lot about the studies on doulas and how we can give our clients a better chance of certain outcomes. Lower c-section rates and fewer interventions are great, but my hope is that no matter what happens in their births, my clients realize how strong, powerful, and capable they really are. I will cheer you on and tell you what a great job you are doing, even when you feel is too hard or you are not enough. I see you, mama, and I can promise you, you are enough. 💪

How did you feel about yourself after your birth? Let me know in the comments!

Happy World Doula Week! The theme this year is Then and Now. It is so mind-blowing to me that my first doula baby recently turned 10! 😱 I don’t have any pictures from that day but I found quite a few from over the years that represent my journey. What a wild, amazing, soul-filling journey it has been! I feel so blessed every day to still be walking beside my amazing clients on their individual birth and postpartum paths. Did you have a doula at your birth or a postpartum doula for support after birth? Tell me in the comments why you lived your doula! ❤️









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The view from my backyard.

If you are pregnant or a new mom, chances are you have plenty of “expert” opinions about how you should be doing things. 🗣Whether it is a doctor, the newest sleep guru , or your friend whose baby “never cried”, there’s always going to be someone willing to tell you what to do.

I will not be another one of those people. If you ask me a question about any of the things I know a lot about (birth, breastfeeding, babies), I will be happy to share some information, evidence, past experiences, etc. But what you do with that information is completely up to you. I trust you to make the decisions that are right for you and your baby. And if you are feeling overwhelmed about all of the pressure, advice, and opinions coming at you, I will be the one to remind you to breathe, slow down, and make the next best choice for you. If you want a doula who believes in you, I’m your girl! (Can I still call myself a girl if I’m over 40? 🤦‍♀️) DM me if you want to know more about my doula services. ✨

Did you know I offer doula services? This service can bring peace of mind to parents when they add a new baby to the family. Whether you are planning a 🏥and need someone to care for your older children at home, or a 🏠and you need care for your kiddos during you labor at home, I can help! Want to know more about my sibling doula services? Message me for more info!

Can’t beat this view! Who knows where I am today? 🏙🏥

Yesterday I went hiking with my family at Morrow Mountain State Park. What have you been up to lately? 🥾🗻🌲

**GIVEAWAY**
Charlotte Doula Team will be vendors at the Babies and Bumps event in Charlotte this Wednesday! 🎉We have 2 premium tickets to give away to two lucky people. Head over to for your chance to win! 🤰👶

A sweet couple will be meeting their baby soon! What a blessing to be here to support them. 🙌✨👶

Of course you can.
How silly that this isn’t already the standard.
It’s your body, your baby, your birth.

You decide who catches your baby.

It’s ! Sourdough bread and sourdough English muffins. 😋What are you up to today?

What would it feel like to go to sleep with a full container of dirty bottles and pump parts on your counter and wake up to find them clean and on the drying rack? And also someone else has done the nightly feedings, diaper changing, swaddling, and soothing so you could maximize your rest and only get up for one pump session in the night. If you can imagine that, you know how it feels to have an . 🙌😴👶

I wish I had taken a picture of last week’s loaves. They were kind of sad and flat. This one is pretty good looking though! Not bad for my second try! Thanks to for the inspiration and for the recipe. The starter came from . 🍞🍞 🍞

Sourdough discard blueberry muffins for breakfast! I used the recipe from and they were so good. I hope you are having a good Monday morning. ☀️☕️

I’ve had several postpartum clients the past few months so I have been doing a LOT of driving. So happy to see this price at the pump today! 😅

I just love postpartum visits with my birth clients. Sometimes I get to snuggle a sweet baby. We chat about the birth, breastfeeding, postpartum healing, adjusting to motherhood. This client was sweet enough to give me a gift. After she saw what the on call life is like, this gift is on point! 😅❤️☕️

I would love to have a homebirth BUT….

How many times have I heard this?
And often what comes next is “it’s my first baby so I should probably just have it in the hospital.”

Why? Why are you afraid of what your body is capable of? Why do you feel you need a hospital staff to save you? You are capable of birthing your baby in your own power and in your own space.

My partner and I have each attended a with a first baby in the past month. These were not easy births. These strong first time moms had to dig deep and trust themselves and their bodies while leaning on their chosen birth teams for support. The end result is two healthy moms, two healthy babies, and two families that are feeling empowered and proud of their strength as they begin their parenting journey.

After I had my third baby at home, I realized I could have had that experience with my first two and it made me a little sad. I don’t regret my hospital births because they taught me things I needed to know. But if you are thinking homebirth is right for you and you are having your fist baby, listen to your instincts and trust yourself! Not sure how to have a homebirth in NC? I can help you figure out your options and find the birth team that is right for you!