Jennifer Linstad: Mother, Daughter, Birth Activist, Friend and Doula

My goal is to help every family  find their way to the birth of their choosing. At the foundation of this is my belief that every family has a right to feel like their birth was on their terms, and to feel empowered by their birth experience. Whether it is through education, support, or doing a hip squeeze, I work to make sure that every family's birth story is one they take pride in retelling, remembering, and never regret.

My Education

CD (DONA) Doula Certification
Master of Fine Arts Theatre Directing - University of Hawai'i Manoa, Honolulu, HI.
Bachelor of Science Psychology  - California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA
Bachelor of Arts Theatre - California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA
AA Liberal Arts - Pierce College, Tacoma, WA

Currently also in the certification process with PALS

Work Experience
I am the volunteer doula Program Coordinator and a birth doula at St Joseph Medical Center

I currently work part time at Valley Medical Center in Renton, WA. in the Emergency Room.

In every job I have had, I have been required to negotiate through many different personalities, keep very calm and patient under stress and pressure, and never panic. I am able to engage with many different personalities, and enjoy people and their differences tremendously. I learn from every encounter - and bring that knowledge with me to the next one.

My personal experiences

I have lived in a lot of places, have and continue to enjoy traveling and different cultures. I have had two children - one was an epidural/hospital birth, the second was a homebirth. I was inspired to become a doula after having been present for the homebirth of one of my best friend's children. Watching the birth process and seeing new life changed mine. In preparation for the birth of my second child, my appetite for reading everything I could about birth was never satiated. I started to yearn for being a closer part of birth and was seeking a way to do that. I discovered a job called - doula! The more I read and trained the more I knew it was the path for me. While attending my first births as a doula, I discovered that no other job I had ever had used the best parts of me - my desire to help people, my intuition, and my calm under pressure - like being a doula did.

As a mother and laboring woman, I have made use of several different pain management techniques and consider them a part of my endless resources to help any laboring mom. I have used Hypnobirthing, Lamaze, and Bradley techniques. Also, I am educated in conditioning and believe that much of pain management is in the reconditioning of mom's response to pain from tension and focus on the pain, to relaxation and visualization. As a doula, I employ many of the different techniques, depending on the situation and the mom.

What am I personally passionate about? Lots of things! When I first became a doula, I thought I was in it only for the unmedicated birth. Then I met a mom who intended on getting an epidural and helped her through her labor. She changed my whole perspective and opened my mind to all kinds of birth. Mostly though I am passionate about educating and empowering women and families through the birth process. I am also passionate about Midwifery and keeping it available to all who want it. I am passionate about educating parents about Midwifery, and about all their birth options. While I do love the physiological, spontaneous, unmedicated birth, I am just passionate about the every other type of labor and birth experience. There is nothing sweeter than the look in a mother and her partner's eyes when they look at their baby for the first time.