Roots to Roses LLC - Indianapolis Doula

Ready to celebrate this sweet baby's birthday ❤️❤️

At the end of the day...
I'm not just there for the birth.

I'm there for the questions.
The uncertainty.
The laughs.
The tears.
The "I don't know if I can do this" moments.

And the moment you realize...
You just did. 🤍

💛 Calling all parents of siblings (and parents expecting another little one)!

I'm working on something really special: **Super Siblings**, a workbook designed to help children under 10 prepare for becoming a big brother or big sister. It will include fun activities, coloring pages, stories about big feelings, journal prompts, games, and resources to help families navigate this exciting transition.

As I create it, I'd love to hear from YOU!

✨ If you've already welcomed another child into your family:
• What helped make the transition easier for your older child?
• What do you wish you had done differently?
• What advice would you give another parent preparing to add a new baby?

✨ If you're currently expecting:
• What are you most excited about?
• What are you most worried about?
• What questions do you have about preparing your older child for a new sibling?
• Is there something you wish existed to help make this transition smoother?

Whether your experience was wonderful, challenging, or somewhere in between, I'd love to learn from you. Your stories and ideas can help shape a resource that supports families during one of life's biggest changes.

Thank you for helping me create something that will hopefully make lots of future super siblings feel confident, included, and loved. 💛

To all of the families affected by the closing of Indiana Birth Center; my heart is truly with you right now. 🤍

Having your plans change so suddenly during pregnancy can feel incredibly overwhelming, emotional, and honestly unfair. If you are navigating a transfer of care, changes to your birth plan, or just trying to process everything happening, please know you do not have to go through this alone.

And most importantly — please do not let finances be the reason that you go without support during such a vulnerable and important time. If you need support, reach out anyway. I am more than happy to work with families however I can, and I know so many other doulas and midwives in our community are feeling the exact same way and looking for ways to help support these mamas right now. 🤍

There are so many people in the birth community holding space for you, advocating for you, and wanting to help however possible. Even if you just need someone to listen, process, or point you toward resources, my inbox is always open. 🤍

Over the weekend, we were guided through a mindfulness session focused on rediscovering our “why” and choosing a word we could return to throughout the day to ground ourselves in why we became doulas.

My word was grateful.

I cannot even put into words how incredibly grateful I am to do this work and to sit in rooms surrounded by such amazing women. It is something I never want to take for granted 🤍

Take a few quiet minutes for yourself today. Find a mindfulness session on Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, or wherever you listen, and reconnect with your “why.”

If you feel comfortable sharing, tell me your word in the comments ✨

This year's conference felt so different. Last year I didnt know anyone and it was like I was an outsider in this space I felt called to be in. This year I walked in and was surrounded by love from my doula ladies. Some are missing but were there in spirit (and our group chat 😅) These ladies are a huge part of why I'm a doula today and I'm so thankful that .within.doula brought us all together. ❤️ Thank you to each of these ladies ❤️ and a huge thank you to for creating a space for doulas to be poured into ❤️

So excited to be at the learning, connecting and being surrounded by so many wonderful doulas ❤️

Sarah and I get asked all the time how we, as two women, had a baby together 🤍

Before Callie, there was Elise. When Sarah and I got together, Elise came with her, and loving her was never complicated. I may not have given birth to her, but she is absolutely one of my babies and such an important part of our family.

After getting engaged in December 2021, we started looking into growing our family together. We went through Indiana Fertility Institute and decided a medicated IUI was the best option for us. One of my favorite parts was that Sarah actually got to push the plunger during the insemination 🤍

We were incredibly lucky for it to work on the very first try, and my pregnancy with Callie was overall pretty smooth. I’ll share more about that and her birth story soon.

We are so thankful for our girls, for modern medicine, and for the donor who helped make our family possible. If anyone has questions about the process or our experience, feel free to ask!

Postpartum support should never require her to work for it. It should take things off her plate, not add more to it.

Here is what that actually looks like in real life:

• When you show up, do not ask what needs to be done. Do the dishes, fold the laundry, take out the trash, refill bottles. You are an adult, you can see what needs doing.
• Never show up unannounced or empty handed. Bring coffee, a gift card, a simple meal, or something thoughtful that requires nothing from her.
• Drop food at the door if needed and leave it there. No pressure to host, no expectation to come in.
• If she has older kids, offer to take them out so she can rest without carrying the weight of everyone at once.
• Ask her how she is and ACTUALLY listen. Not just about the baby, but about her.
• Bring a small care basket just for HER, not the baby.
• Do not expect to hold the baby unless she offers. Support her, do not take over her space.
• Do not make her coordinate your help. If she has to plan it, it is not support.

This is what postpartum care should actually look like.
No effort from her. No planning from her. Not one more thing on her list.
Just love that shows up and quietly helps 🤍

When I look back at these pictures, I remember how exhausted and overwhelmed I felt.

These were taken Christmas 2022. The picture of Elise (with her snotty nose and all lol) holding Callie is the very first photo we have of them together. My wife was so excited to introduce our oldest to our youngest. Elise had waited years to be a big sister and was absolutely glowing with excitement.

But I wasn’t. I was 2 days postpartum, exhausted, and terrified.

I was in the early grip of what I now recognize as postpartum anxiety. I couldn’t even leave the bedroom to witness their first meeting because I was frozen in fear. What if Elise got her sick? What if she dropped her? What if something went wrong?

Those “what ifs” swallowed me whole. I remember sobbing in our room while my baby was just on the other side of the wall, and it genuinely felt like I had handed her over to a hungry bear. My nervous system was in full survival mode.

The next photos were taken around 10 days postpartum, and I was deep in it. My wife was holding everything together while I stayed hidden away with our newborn, convinced that if I relaxed even a little, something terrible would happen.

It took months to re-enter my own home. Almost a year before I could leave without panic, without her strapped to my chest like armor, scanning the world for threats.

I know there were people who saw me and judged me; who made assumptions about what they couldn’t understand or see happening inside our home. I heard it, I felt it. But I wasn’t failing. I was surviving.

If I could go back, I would ask for help sooner. I would let people in. I would fight harder to not let postpartum take so much of that time from me.

And if you’re here right now… if this feels familiar… if you’re silently carrying this:

I see you. I was you.

You are surviving — but postpartum doesn’t have to be only survival.

You are not failing. You are not a bad mom, wife, sister, or daughter. You are in a moment that feels impossible, not a life that is 🤍