About Your Instructors
Stefanie Anderson Owner (she / her) Certified Birth Doula Certified Postpartum Doula Certified Childbirth Educator Certified Lactation Consultant phone: 408-835-6368 Stefanie been working with new and expectant parents since 2013 as a certified birth and postpartum doula and childbirth educator, and began offering compassionate lactation support as a breastfeeding peer counselor in 2016 and as an IBCLC in 2018. She has attended over 70 births at local birthing facilities. Her passion for birth work was ignited with the empowering experience of the VBAC birth of her third child. Her personal experience with various birthing and feeding scenarios, including high-risk pregnancies, cesarean birth, feeding an infant with a tongue-tie, and other complications ensures she knows first-hand how valuable knowledgeable support is. She believes there is no right way to give birth but that each pregnancy, birth, and baby is unique and should be treated as such. She feels strongly that parents should be educated about their options and trusted to decide what is best for them themselves while receiving support of their of their choices surrounding pregnancy, birth, and feeding. More personally, Stefanie is married and a mother of 4 children. She works as an inpatient and NICU lactation consultant at St. Joseph Medical Center and volunteers her time by serving on the board of directors for Breastfeeding USA. Originally from California, she came to Washington in 2005. She is a continual student who values evidence-based care in medicine. Her love of learning often results in finding her enrolled in one class or another. While not working with families she enjoys reading, walking outdoors on beautiful PNW trails, and Batdorf & Bronson coffee.
|
Dianne Medina (she / her) Certified Childbirth Educator Certified Birth Doula Certified Postpartum Doula phone: 360-890-0543 Dianne's work as a doula and educator extends through years of volunteerism while living in foreign countries. Her knowledge in the maternal/childbirth field stems from her own personal experiences and her extensive work in this field. Dianne’s excellent support comes both from her empirical knowledge and experience as well as keeping current with continuing education. Her philosophy towards birth is to help nurture confidence in the innate ability present that birthing parents bring forth during labor. While birth is definitely a physiological experience, it also holds an aspect that is much more than just physical. Birth encompasses our total person. Understanding the components within us that influence the birthing process can assist birthing parents in making decisions that result in a satisfying, positive, and powerful experience. On a personal note, Dianne is married and a mother of 9 children and 8 grandchildren! She loves being around nature, fibers, reading and learning. She is fascinated by the “mystery of history” and speaks a little of several languages. She has lived in about 14 different countries and visited more than 35! |
