About Valerie Griffith, CLD
As a Certified Labor Doula working in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area since 2020, I offer personalized birthing, lactation, and postpartum support as well as childbirth & postpartum education. My goal is to give you and your family the attention and knowledge you need to make informed decisions about pregnancy, delivery, feeding, and parenting.
I am inspired by women's strength and the miracle of birth. This inspiration is why I became a Certified Labor Doula through Maternity Wise and am proud to serve women and families throughout South Western Pennsylvania. I first became interested in becoming a doula in 2017 when I became inspired by a supportive doula I hired for my second and third pregnancies. I was later encouraged to become a doula by a close friend, who then was the first mother I could serve as an educator and doula.
I have three little boys of my own, and have had a hospital OBGYN, midwife center, and homebirth experience. I know what it is like to give birth and navigate both within and outside the industrial birth complex. I have personal experience with low-risk and high-risk pregnancies and what it is like to be concerned about the unknowns on the other side of delivery, like how your relationship with yourself and your partner will change, and how to deal with the immense responsibility of caring for a child. In addition, I have experienced the benefits and relief of having a doula present to guide me through the portal of birth into the role of motherhood.
Every woman deserves to have someone there to guide and assist them in making educated choices about their pregnancy, delivery, and parenting. It is good to have someone to remind them that they can persevere during this time of newness. I'm here to provide evidence-based education, and emotional, physical, and personalized support, along with advocacy for your rights.
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Ready to see how I can support you through pregnancy, delivery and beyond?
My Approach
My approach as a doula and educator is to empower and teach you to consider evidence-based care practices, what your body is telling you, as well as to trust your intuition. When you are supported and feel both heard and seen in the midst of the transition into matressence, the fear-tension-pain cycle is broken. This opens you up to enjoying your birth and postpartum experiences, and you may even find that it can be a time filled with pleasure and deep feelings of love.
I provide evidence-based childbirth education to teach you what to expect, coaching and encouragement to practice self-advocacy, and hands-on emotional, spiritual, and social practical support at home. From helping you with household cleaning, educating you about breastfeeding, to simply providing companionship - I am here for you every step of the way. I will work alongside you, your loved ones, and your care providers during your childbearing and postpartum years.
I don't incorporate new-age spiritual practices into my care. I intentionally have chosen to practice as a Christian doula. As a Christian, I promise to only rely on Biblically-based spiritual practices and guidance. If or when this standard is inadvertently compromised, I will immediately evaluate and remove the offending practice or habit.
I don't encourage trendy baby or motherhood trends that aren't evidence-based. As a doula and educator, I see it as my duty to the families that I serve to help cut through the chaotic noise of opinions and consumerism surrounding motherhood and parenting.
I don't show up to your birth as a stranger with whom you don't have a developed relationship already. As a foundational piece of the services I offer, I provide personalized, relational care and support. For this reason, we will meet two or more times before labor or postpartum support begins.
If this feels like the support you’re looking for to have the most loving, natural, and hands-off pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum possible, I look forward to working with you.