your birth, your body, your power, your way,
your birth, your body, your power, your way,
Birth Doula Accompaniment
As a Birth Doula in Berlin, I provide emotional, physical, spiritual, and empathetic accompaniment to you and your partner(s) throughout early pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum.
A doula is a proven, integral pregnancy support and resource, providing continuous accompaniment, evidence-based information, and a deep physiological understanding of pregnancy and labor. As a somatic practitioner, I am particularly equipped to support your labor with dance, touch, physical comfort measures, and internal somatic sensitivity.
I have been practicing as a doula for over a decade and am honored to accompany diverse family structures, immigrant, multi-cultural, queer, and neurodivergent birthing people and their families.
I am trauma-aware, somatically informed, culturally curious, and particularly competent at accompanying folks post birth/medical/childhood trauma. I am happy to walk with first-time parents, queer birthers, people planning homebirths, VBACs, and hospital births.
“Cristina holds space that is deeply caring, lighthearted, and beautiful all at the same time. They helped me navigate challenges and vulnerabilities as a queer birther and always provided a safe space for me to explore what that meant. During and after birth, they worked so hard to make sure we had all our personal needs met and kept my husband and I comfortable and cared for, and I’m so grateful to have had their sweet presence at the birth of my baby. ”
As a birth doula, I offer:
Prenatal
Physical preparation around the physiological mechanisms of labor and delivery
Emotional and logistical preparation for the transition through birth into parenthood or new sibling-hood
3-4 in person prenatal meetings
Discussing your needs and goals for postpartum and parenthood, implementing a care plan and care team
Labor and Delivery
Accompaniment throughout pre-labor
Physical accompaniment when you ask for me to arrive through delivery and up until the “golden hour” after birth
Advocacy around your birth goals, desires, and needs within your birthing space
Comfort measures: touch, music, meals, hip-squeezes, herbal compresses, support with various birthing positions. etc
Coordination with your partner(s), care team, and extended family
Support documenting your birth experience if that is a want or need
Postpartum
An in-person postpartum visit with a meal within a few days after your birth
Support documenting your birth experience if that is a want or need
A closing ceremony consisting of touch, massage, ritual, journaling, and intention-setting, can be done privately, with your partner(s), or with others, usually done at the 40-day postpartum mark
faq’s
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I use the Green Bottle sliding scale method and my fees for an entire birth accompaniment (preantals, birth, postpartum, and 40 day closing ceremony) range from 1,500-2,500eur. A 40% deposit is taken upon us signing a contract to work together, followed by 1 or 2 further installments prior the birth month on-call period. If you/your family need another variation of payment plan, let’s talk to see what’s possible.
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During the month surrounding your estimated due date I am on-call for you 24/7 and will be at our decided meeting place within 2 hours of you contacting me. This means that from 2 weeks before your due date until you give birth I am ready to meet and support you no matter what, and in case of an emergency my back-up doula s prepared to respond in the same way.
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I always secure a back-up doula in the case of an emergency or illness. You will meet my back-up doula in person to build trust and comfortability during one of our prenatal meetings.
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I am a native English speaker and still learning German. I am from the US and have supported many families from many different language and cultural experiences. I also have experience working in German birth-houses and hospitals and ha e not yet experienced a scenario where I was unable to serve my purpose as a doula. I am comfortable and confident in my ability to work with families and medical practitioners from many culture and language backgrounds, I am not comfortable or able to function as a language translator or go-between. I, of course, do everything in my power to facilitate communication and understanding, I just do not feel equipped to translate medical explanations and would never speak on a laboring persons behalf.
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Into my doula accompaniment I bring with me my proficiency in movement, anatomy, and somatic facilitation; let’s dance, let’s shake, let’s practice moving through the birth you want! As a trained fascia touch practitioner I bring the ability to support your pregnancy and labor with touch and internal perception. As someone who uses herbal medicine I bring herbal perineal steams, herb infused compresses, scents, and teas to support your pregnancy, labor and birth. As a multi-ethnic person I bring the ability to hold space for many expressions, traditions, and practices and am happy to participate in, facilitate, and advocate for any rituals, practices, or prayers you would like incorporated into your pregnancy and labor.
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Pregnancy, labor, and birth are profoundly transformative experiences. A sense of grief and experiences of loss can arise from many sensations or events along your pregnancy journey. Some experience loss of bodily autonomy or gender-dysphoria, some grieve previous ideas of themselves or their relationships, some experience miscarriage or unwanted abortion, and for some of us previous traumas or wounds arise even in the midst of joy, love, and anticipation. I am able and honored to walk with you and offer support and tools around any and all experiences of grief, loss, or dis-ease and am dedicated to de-stigmatizing our diverse emotions around pregnancy and/or birth journeys.