Supporting pregnancy from every beginning to every end
Photo by Susi Franco
Katie Byron offers full-spectrum reproductive support and childbirth education in the Boston area that is trauma-informed and centers the experiences of marginalized people.
When you’re pregnant, it seems like everyone has an opinion about what you should do.
I want to know, what do you want?
Meet Katie ⟶
“Katie’s feminist, body-positive approach helped me feel comfortable in my body during and after birth.”
— Margie
I believe all people deserve an empowering experience of pregnancy and birth that embraces their race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, size, ability, religion, trauma history, and culture.
Reproductive experiences do not exist in a vacuum. Racism, colonialism, ableism, transphobia, and other systems of oppression impact the ways we live in our bodies and our experiences of receiving care. I have seen the ways that the medical system harms marginalized pregnant and birthing people. I am committed to deconstructing the ways that white supremacy and colonialism show up in my body and my understanding of the world. I know that birth work is justice work and I look forward to partnering with you to birth more just futures.
I would be honored to support you through…
Pregnancy
Every pregnancy is unique and worth honoring.
Bringing knowledge and care, I work with folks making plans around abortion, birth, parenting, and adoption.
I get to know you — your goals for your family, for your body, for your future. Whether it’s tips for alleviating nausea, a shoulder to cry on, writing out birth preferences, brainstorming questions to ask your care provider, or making sure you have someone to watch your dog during labor, I’m here for you.
Birth
Your birth experience is your own.
I am on-call for my birth clients the month around their “guess date.” I offer support through labor and birth including assistance with positioning, comfort measures such as massage and visualizations, advocating for your wishes, personalizing your birth space, answering questions, and more.
My hope is that you are able to find moments in labor to be present and make meaningful choices.
Postpartum
Whether your first or sixth, parenting a new baby has ups and downs.
I help hold all of it.
I view postpartum planning as part of planning for birth and parenting. I work with my clients to support their physical, emotional, and spiritual health after having a baby. I might share information about chest/breastfeeding, do a load of laundry, listen to your birth story, help set up a meal train, or sit with you while you call a therapist.
FAQs
So, what's a support person? Do I need one?
I am trained as a full-spectrum doula, although I have mixed feelings about the title. Doula, coming from the Greek word for female slave, was re-purposed by Dana Rafael writing about breastfeeding in the 1970s. “Doulas” are dedicated support people, and often work during labor, birth and the postpartum period. Regardless of title, I provide physical, emotional, spiritual, and informational support before, during, and after birth.
What are the benefits of having a support person?
Having the personal support of someone trained in childbirth has been shown to reduce the risk of unwanted medical interventions during labor and birth. I’ll gladly support any choices you make for your birth, and some of the benefits of a trained support person can include:
Reduce the likelihood of unplanned cesarean birth
Reduce the use of medical pain management in labor
Reduce the use of medical interventions in labor
Reduce the length of labor
Reduce stress and anxiety in labor
Support parent and infant bonding
Increase satisfaction with birth experience
Increase likelihood of successful breastfeeding/chestfeeding/bodyfeeding
How would you work with my partner(s)?
Your partner or partners are an essential part of your life and birth team. I work to involve partner(s) however works for you and your family. I honor the knowledge that partner(s) bring about you and the family you are building. I encourage partner(s) to be present and participate in birth planning, practicing comfort measures, and being present during labor and birth. Your partner(s) are going to support you and part of my role is also supporting them. Whether it’s reminding them to have a snack, answering questions, demonstrating a support technique and allowing them to take over, processing their experience of the birth, I am here to support you and everyone you include on your birth team.
My birth site offers childbirth education, why should I consider an independent educator?
It’s awesome that your birth site cares about giving people information they need to make choices during childbirth. At the same time, part of the hospital childbirth education curriculum is to make you a good patient at that hospital. As an independent childbirth educator, I provide a comprehensive curriculum tailored to what matters most to you. My classes are centered around your values, not hospital policies. We’ll talk about informed decision making, the physiology of birth, interventions and complications, newborn interventions and infant feeding, pregnancy and postpartum mental health, and whatever else feels helpful for you to be able to make your birth experience your own.
Okay, I’m in. What now?
If you are interested in talking more about what you imagine for your birth and if I might be a good fit, get in touch via my contact form and I’ll get back to you within 24 hours to set up an initial consultation so we can get to know each other better and see if it would be a good fit. These conversations are typically about 30-45 minutes, allow you to get to know me and how I work with folks and for me to learn about you and what kind of support would be most helpful.
“Katie was a literal shoulder to lean on during my labor and held me when I cried during some rough moments.”
— Amanda