Rooted Beginnings Birth

Continuing to add tools to my doula toolbox. 🤍

Today I’m training with Postpartum Support International on Perinatal Substance Use Disorder.

Because trauma-informed doula care means being prepared to support the whole person—not just the pregnancy.

Substance use can intersect with pregnancy, birth trauma, mental health, NICU stays, pregnancy and infant loss, grief, and some of the hardest moments a family will ever experience.

Whether I’m supporting a live birth or walking beside a family through loss, my job isn’t to judge how someone arrived in that room.

It’s to meet them there with dignity, compassion, education, and support.

Every family deserves care without shame. 🤍

For your beautiful girl,

May this gown hold her gently when your arms have to let her go.

And afterward, may these things be something you can hold when you wish more than anything that you could hold her instead.

Her life mattered. Her name matters. She will always be one of your twins, and you will always be her mother.

I am so deeply sorry that you have to carry this kind of goodbye.

With love,
Laura

I have a few birth doula spots I’d really love to fill this fall and early winter!

So, then means a quick discount on services!

For the next 3 families who book birth support with me, I’m offering my full birth doula package for $1,500 instead of $1,800.
That’s $300 off JUST because I have the space on my calendar and I’d love to spend it doing what I LOVE…supporting families as they bring their babies into the world!

My birth doula support includes prenatal prep continuous labor and birth support, immediate postpartum, support and someone in your corner who believes deeply that you deserve to feel informed, respected, safe, and supported throughout your birth.

If you are designing an unmedicated birth, know you want the epidural, are preparing for a VBAC, expecting a scheduled cesarean, or genuinely have no idea what you want yet you deserve to have really good support.

3 spots. $1,500 each.
Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
If you’ve been considering having a doula at your birth or quietly watching my page wondering if you should reach out, maybe this is your sign.
Send me a message and let’s talk about your birth.

Birth can move quickly, but that does not mean your voice should disappear. Unless there is a true emergency, you are allowed to ask: What are the benefits? What are the risks? What happens if we wait? A good doula will not make the decision for you—but she will help you find your voice when the room feels loud.

Sometimes doula support looks like breathing beside you through contractions. Sometimes it looks like slowing down a room that suddenly feels too fast. I cannot promise you the birth you imagined—but I can help make sure you aren’t left alone inside the birth you actually experience.

So… I’ve been quiet.

Really quiet.

A few months ago, I stepped away from birth work because suddenly, unexpectedly, I became the one giving birth.

I had my son Leo far too early at 25+1 weeks gestation.

What followed an extremely traumatic birth was a tiny baby who needed time in the NICU, and 118 days of learning what it feels like to experience pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and motherhood from a side of the hospital bed I had never known before.

For 118 days, I wasn’t the doula in the room.
I was the mom.

I was the one listening to medical language while trying to process fear at the same time.

I was the one asking questions. Saying no. Asking why. Asking again. Trying to understand options when none of the options felt good.

I was the one learning how incredibly vulnerable it feels when your body, your birth, your baby, and sometimes even your choices suddenly feel like they belong to everyone except you.

I learned what it feels like to need someone to slow down and explain.

To need someone to remember that there is a human being underneath the hospital gown.

To need someone in the room who isn’t watching the monitor first, but watching you.

And. It changed me.

And inevitably, it changed the doula I am.

I wish I could have learned some of these things from a book or another certification.

I couldn’t.

There are things I understand now because I have lived them.

I know what birth trauma feels like from inside of it.

I know what it is like to love modern medicine deeply and still struggle with what happens inside medical systems.

I know what it feels like to advocate when you’re exhausted, terrified, emotional, and desperately trying to make the right decision for your baby.

I know what it feels like when someone takes five extra minutes to listen—and how much those five minutes can matter.

And I know now, more than ever, that families deserve support that doesn’t disappear when birth doesn’t go according to plan.

So I’m slowly finding my way back into the birth world.

Slowly is the important word.

I’m still healing. I’m still adjusting. I’m still figuring out what this next season looks like for me and my family.

But I am coming back.

And when I step into birth spaces again, I’ll bring everything I knew before…

along with 118 days of experience I never expected to have.

Birth doula.
Bereavement doula.
Birth trauma informed.
Pregnancy after loss trained and lived, experience.
And now,
NICU experienced—not because I took a class, but because I lived it. (All of it)

If you’re pregnant and looking for someone who will support you, educate you, remind you that your voice belongs in the room, and stay beside you when birth takes a turn you never expected—I would be honored to talk with you.

My calendar will be opening slowly and intentionally as I return to birth work.

And somehow, after everything…

I think I understand the meaning of holding space more than I ever have before. 🤍

Forever Rooted in every stage of motherhood.

With love,
Laura.

This tiny hand belongs to a baby who wasn't supposed to be here yet.

Born at 25 weeks, this Kentucky birth worker's baby came into the world fighting - surrounded by wires, monitors, and a medical team working around the clock. This Momma has spent her career showing up for other families in their most raw, vulnerable moments. Now it's her turn to need the village.

A 25-weeker means months in the NICU. It means leaving other children at home. It means medical bills, missed work, gas money, takeout because nobody has time to cook, and an emotional weight that most of us will never fully understand. She knows exactly what this road looks like. And she's walking it anyway, one terrifying day at a time.

This is where you come in.

100% of every dollar donated goes directly to this family.

$5 buys a gas station coffee on a 3am NICU run.
$20 covers a meal for the kids at home.
$50 takes something - anything - off her plate.

You don't have to know her to love her. You just have to know that she needs us right now.

Share this. Donate if you can. And if you can't, send every good thing you have toward this baby and this family.

The village is real. Let's prove it. 💛

VENMO : -lacer
* all donations are immediately sent to the the family and notated with your name

All donators will be entered to win a free portrait session.

✨CURRENT TOTAL RAISED AS OF 427pm: $1.027,50✨

Let’s talk about the placenta!

Your body literally grows a temporary organ during pregnancy. From scratch.

So what does it do?

✨Acts like a lifeline between you and your baby
✨Delivers oxygen + nutrients to your baby
✨Removes waste products (yes, your baby has been peeing this whole time 😅)
✨Produces hormones that keep pregnancy going.
✨Helps protect baby by filtering some (not all) things from your bloodstream.

↪️

↪️

After birth, the placenta is delivered (the “third stage”), and your body immediately shifts gears.

Next:

✨Your uterus starts shrinking down (those postpartum cramps? that’s why)
✨The spot where the placenta was attached leaves a wound inside the uterus—about the size of a dinner plate
✨Your body heals that area over the next several weeks (this is where postpartum bleeding comes from)

Let me say that again louder for the people in the back:

👉 Your body is healing a literal internal wound after birth.

Happy world Doula week!!

Hi, I’m Laura—the heart behind Rooted Beginnings Birth.

This work is more than a title. It’s showing up with steady presence, compassionate support, and respect for every path a family walks—whether that includes joyful beginnings, unexpected turns, or heartbreaking goodbyes.

I don’t take lightly the trust it takes to invite someone into these moments.

If you or someone you know is navigating pregnancy, birth, or even loss—you don’t have to do it alone.

Save this. Share this. Tag me when someone needs support.

I am completely OUT of bereavement boxes and essential supplies are critically low!!!

When families experience pregnancy or infant loss, I show up with items that help them hold, honor, and remember their baby with dignity.

Some losses happen early or at home, and without the right supplies, families are left navigating incredibly hard moments on their own. These items help ensure their baby can be cared for gently and respectfully.

Right now, I don’t have what I need to continue providing that support.

If you’re able to help, you can purchase a box or donate items from my wishlist here:

🤍 [Bereavement Box Link]
https://a.co/d/0ee0LQVm

🤍 [Wishlist Link]

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2TL4F5NA499AQ?ref_=wl_share

Every single item makes a difference for a grieving family.

Thank you for helping me show up when it matters most.

SHARE SHARE SHARE!!!