Birthing from within CALIFORNIA find your local practitioners here
FRESNO
Melissa Hunter
Trained Birthing From Within Mentor, Doula, and Birth Story Listener
I am a responsible, nurturing, attentive woman focused on helping families navigate the labyrinthine journey of pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum “fourth trimester.” This precious time lays the foundation for trust and connection that can affect each of us throughout our life. My goal is to mentor families as they prepare mindfully for birth and then gently integrate and celebrate their newest additions into the family.…
IRVINE
Amanda Cagle
Trained Birthing From Within Mentor & Doula
I have been a doula and educator since 2011, having supported over 300 Southern California families in various capacities. In that time, I have trained with over a dozen birth and parenting organizations, including becoming an Advanced Birthing From Within Mentor. My aim has always been to have a practice where my clients can receive quality, well-rounded information & guidance to prepare for birth & beyond.…
IRVINE
Marlee Malone-Franklin
Trained Birthing From Within Mentor & Doula
I work with my wife, Megan, to support growing families in Orange County and Long Beach and have been supporting growing families since 2014. We work together with clients during pregnancy (teaching childbirth and postpartum/breastfeeding classes), during labor as a birth doula team, and I also serve families in their first few months with a new baby as a postpartum doula and lactation counselor.…
IRVINE
Megan Malone-Franklin
Trained Birthing From Within Mentor & Doula
My wife, Marlee, and I love supporting families together. We teach birth and postpartum preparation classes together, and we work as a doula team to support our clients during labor. As Birthing From Within Mentors, we are passionate about providing safe spaces for parents to explore what’s really important to them in their birth and early parenting experience, rather than prescribing what we think is best.…
LOS ANGELES
Becca Gordon
Trained Birthing from Within Mentor
I am a full spectrum doula servicing the Los Angeles, CA area. My background is as an Iyengar yoga instructor specializing in women’s health including yoga for fertility, prenatal yoga and postpartum yoga. I began attending births for my yoga students and acquaintances in my hometown of Memphis, TN in 2009. I had found my calling and pursued training to become a doula.…
RIVERSIDE
Kathie Neff ★
Certified Birthing From Within Childbirth Educator
Each Birthing From Within mentor does their own personal work to be well-prepared to assist you along the paths into birth, postpartum, and beyond. It has been my privilege to work as a BFW Childbirth Mentor and Certified DONA birth doula since 2009.
BFW processes and training provide excellent tools in which to help parents learn effective coping skills they can use throughout the birthing process.…
SAN DIEGO
Janine Rivera ★
Certified Birthing From Within Mentor
Hi, my name is Janine Rivera. I offer Birthing From Within childbirth preparation classes for first time parents as well as Refresher classes for experienced parents. I also offer my services as a labor and birth Doula. I became passionate about labor and birth after the birth of my first daughter in 2008 when I realized how transformative the experience is.…
SAN DIEGO
Nicole Morales ★
Certified Birthing from Within Mentor
I’ve been working with Birthing from Within since 2003 and became a Certified Mentor in 2006. I find it a valuable approach to life and life skills which is how we can help families guide themselves into and through the unknown of their unique journey. Birthing from Within has influenced my work as a midwife, midwifery instructor, mother, and so much more.…
SAN FRANCISCO
Shannon Padlog
Trained Birthing From Within Mentor
I have been attending births as a doula since 2009 and teaching classes since 2014. I was drawn to Birthing From Within as a way to deepen my connection to the families I was supporting and create a different lens to view my role through. I believe wholeheartedly that birth is a transformative rite of passage, no matter how it unfolds and each birthing person deserves respect, dignity and love through this profound, life-changing process.…
THOUSAND OAKS
Jessica Chapman ★
Certified Birthing From Within Doula and Mentor
Jessica is a childbirth educator, birth doula, midwife assistant, and BFW facilitator in the greater Los Angeles area. Prior to birth work, she received her BS in Medical Microbiology from the University of California, Davis, worked in the wine industry as a microbiologist, and then in the pharmaceutical industry as a neuroscience consultant.
Jessica began training in birth work with Elizabeth Davis at a Midwifery Intensive course in the San Francisco Bay Area, and then found Birthing From Within after the birth of her second child while seeking help moving through her own difficult birth experience.…
TRUCKEE
Marissa Mignone
Trained Birthing From Within Childbirth Educator and Doula
Marissa is a compassionate and warm teacher and doula. She has been practicing movement for 17 years and teaching for 7.
Marissa lives in Truckee, California, it is her place of connection and creation. She draws inspiration from the beauty and balance of nature and life.
Marissa’s passion for life, movement and supporting others, lead her to become a Birthing From Within Childbirth Educator and Doula.…
VENTURA
Kaitlin Coghill
Trained Birthing From Within Mentor and Doula
As a doula I help families bloom, and as a childbirth/postpartum educator I teach parents how to help their babies bloom in the safest, most perfect way possible. Further, I am an advocate for intuitive motherhood and for the building of metaphorical “villages” around the birth of a child.
I chose this profession because every mother deserves to have a birth doula AND a postpartum doula.…