Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your baby! What a wonderful time in your life and that of your family. My goal is to ensure that you and your family receive the highest quality of available birthing options that meet your wellness, preparation, committment, lifestyle and cultural preferences as a precious new life is brought into the world.

Birth Doula ServicesI offer a full range of birthing services to prepare you and your family for pregnancy, birth and parenthood, and follow time-honored traditions of total birthing care, coupled with sound medical protocols.

“I recommend Claudia Booker to anyone wanting to give birth fully informed and prepared, with an expert birth facilitator and advocate by their side. With Claudia, you are literally hiring a certified professional midwife to act as your birth doula. You are getting someone who has nearly 900 births under her belt (maybe more now) – an incredible store of knowledge and experience. She is simply amazing.”

– Client Testimonial

Claudia Booker, CPM, LM, CD (DONA) (ICTC),

CCCE, LLLI BPC

Certified Professional Midwife (CPM)serving as a birth doula in the

Washington, DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia areas

Home Birth MidwifeVa. and Md. license

MonitriceIUI services

BirthCare Birth AssistantPlacenta encapsulation

Herbal sitz baths

Culture and life-style sensitive

f BIRTHING HANDS, WASHINGTON, DC (202) 236-1764 BIRTHINGHANDSDC@GMAIL.COM WWW.BIRTHINGHANDS.NET

Birth Doula

Birthing Hands

f BIRTHING HANDS, WASHINGTON, DC (202) 236-1764 BIRTHINGHANDSDC@GMAIL.COM WWW.BIRTHINGHANDS.NET

My Birth Doula Services f Attend a one-hour complimentary consultation; f Access to the Birthing Hands lending library of books

and videos; f Provide 24-hour on-call telephone support from hiring

date. From that moment, I am available by phone or e-mail to answer any questions about your pregnancy and upcoming birth;

f Telephone consultation and referral to discuss supplemental prenatal and post partum services that could enhance the pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience for you, your family and your newborn baby;

f Attend two pre-natal home visits, usually scheduled at your 32nd and 36th weeks. Sessions include discussion of your birth plan, birth preferences, comfort techniques, medical history, and labor and delivery options;

f Labor-sit with you by telephone during “practice labor,” and early labor to offer reassurance, informational, emotional, and physical support. Provide guidance on the signs and symptoms of early labor and offer coping and comfort techniques;

f Attend to you at your home once labor is established, or, if you prefer, meet you at the hospital or birth center. Provide informational, emotional and physical support before leaving for the hospital or birth center. Use techniques to ease labor discomfort such as: massage; heat and cold therapy; hydrotherapy; acupressure; various position changes; rebozo; Spinning Babies, TENS, guided imagery; and other comfort and relaxation techniques;

f Remain with you throughout labor and birth. Provide physical, informational, and nurturing support at the hospital or out-of-hospital birth setting throughout labor and birth by using various position changes, comfort and labor progression techniques, emotional support,

and information on your labor and birth process. Provide understandable explanations of various medical techniques and procedures to facilitate discussion with your doctor/midwife and medical staff;

f Stay with you for a minimum of one hour after your baby’s birth to provide emotional, physical and informational support. Help you initiate lactation/breastfeeding and bonding; provide information on hospital resources and other resources for new baby care, post partum care, and lactation/breastfeeding support services. In the case of an out-of-hospital birth, remain for a minimum of three hours;

f Call you once while you are still in the hospital. In the case of an out-of-hospital birth, call once within 24 hours after the birth of your baby;

f Visit you once within three to seven days after the birth of your baby to provide advice and referral information on infant care, post partum care, bonding, lactation/breastfeeding, and other issues you may have;

f Prepare a customized herbal sitz bath and bring it to the post partum visit (for an additional fee);

f Provide placenta encapsulation services (for an additional fee); and

f Provide telephone and email support as needed for up to two weeks post partum.

CUSTOMIZED BIRTH DOULA PACKAGEA customized Birth Doula Package can be designed to meet your individual or family needs, lifestyle, cultural birthing preferences, and financial concerns. There is also a customized package for those who are anticipating or planning to birth their babies by c-section.

f BIRTHING HANDS, WASHINGTON, DC (202) 236-1764 BIRTHINGHANDSDC@GMAIL.COM WWW.BIRTHINGHANDS.NET

About MeFor more than twelve years, I have served almost 1,000 families of the Washington, D.C. metro area as a home birth midwife, birth doula in major hospitals and birth centers, and as a midwife birth assistant in birth center and home birth settings. Because I spent much of my young adult years working as an assistant in my father’s pediatric practice, I am very comfortable with infants, new parents and the various medical care provider communities.

Having studied with Ina May Gaskin and the midwives at The Farm in Tennessee, and Ibu Robin Lim at Bumi Sehat Clinic in Bali and Bumi Wadah Clinic in the Philippines, I recognize the many variations that normal birth may include. My midwifery training has given me additional knowledge and a deeper understanding of the birth process and how to identify and resolve hindrances.

In 2004, I founded the volunteer labor support program at the Family Birth and Health Center in Washington, D.C., one of the country’s first community–based doula programs.

Several years ago I became a home birth midwife, Certified Professional Midwife (CPM). As a CPM who also serves as a doula, I am one of an exclusive cadre of local midwives —skilled health care professionals —who bring her midwifery skills and training to the doula role, assisting you to have the safe and joyous birth you planned and prepared for, within the parameters of sound medical practices.

I am committed to ensuring that the families I serve are provided with the quality of care and expertise they deserve as they usher new life into the world and to providing these services in an environment of trust and support, of experience and sound practice —with my clients empowered to navigate the birthing process, confident with information and strengthened with compassionate, professional care and support. During the last two years I have taken several courses with Kristen Kali, CPM, of MAIA Midwifery and Fertility, to better provide services to the LGBTQ birthing communities.

I remain an attorney in the District of Columbia.

Please visit my website, www.BirthingHands.net to learn more about me and the various birthing services I offer.

HIGHLY QUALIFED HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL:

f Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) f Licensed CPM, LM in Va. and Md. f DONA-certified birth doula f ICTC-certified labor and post partum

doula f CAPPA-certified childbirth educator f La Leche League certified

breastfeeding peer counselor f Centering Pregnancy program

instructor f Certification in perinatal loss f Member of Washington D.C. Infant

Mortality Review Committee f Neonatal resuscitation f First-aid/CPR

EXPERIENCED PRACTITIONER: f Reiki f Acupressure f Homeopathy f Herbalolgy for pregnancy and labor f Spinning Babies technique f Myo fascial release I pregnancy and

labor f Rebozo techniques for correcting mal-

positioned babies and labor f TENS machine management

Claudia Booker