Welcome! My name is Michelle Roses Wight and I’m a certified postpartum doula and birth doula in Berlin. I provide intuitive, unbiased, evidence-based care for families during the “eleven moons” of pregnancy and postpartum. My training is rooted in holistic herbal medicine, nutrition and midwifery traditions from cultures around the world. I began my doula work in birth activist communities in California, and am now centered in birth worker circles of Berlin. I am passionate about supporting immigrant and international families as they navigate birth in Berlin. I speak native English, fluent Spanish and basic German. I am a mother of two.
Read more about my birth services and postpartum services.
What is a doula?
A doula is a non-judgmental companion for birthing families during the eleven moon period of childbearing and postpartum. In birth preparation, a doula serves as a guide to understanding your own body’s power to birth life. Doulas create a safe space to explore any worries, doubts or fears you have surrounding birth or parenthood.
Why hire a doula?
During labor, primary careproviders (midwives, labor nurses, obstetricians) cannot always provide continuous support as they often attend several patients at the same time. A doula is solely tied to the birthing person, and their needs—not to any particular institution or set of parameters. The doula supports the birthing person to make informed decisions and advocates for the birthing person’s right to make decisions about their own body and their baby.
Evidence shows that people who have a supporting doula throughout labor and birth experience:
- a reduced need for pain medication (e.g. epidural);
- a significantly decreased chance of an unplanned cesarean;
- less labor augmentation medication (e.g. Pitocin) which in turn leads to decreased use of extra interventions;
- shorter overall labor time;
- better infant outcomes;
- increased satisfaction with the birthing process itself.
Why would I need someone to help after the birth?
In traditional cultures around the world, the postpartum period is a sacred window of time for families to focus on breastfeeding, recovery from birth, and welcoming a new life into their home. Since this sacred window of time can be physically and emotionally challenging, families have for centuries relied on their network of extended family and friends to take care of household responsibilities as well as share their traditional knowledge around newborn care.
In today’s modern Western culture, where many families are separated from their support networks, it is sometimes necessary to find someone to fulfill this important role. This is where the postpartum doula steps in! The postpartum doula provides essential household support, emotional comfort for processing and recovering from birth, newborn care and soothing, and facilitates the transition so that families can enjoy bonding with their new infant. The goal of a postpartum doula is to leave the family well grounded in their parental choices and feeling confident that they (and only they) are the experts on their baby.