Meet Our Doulas
We have two doula teams ready to support you. All of our doulas have foundational instruction as professional birth doulas. Our Senior team has additional advanced birth-related skills training and years of birth experience. All team members also continue to attend monthly company wide in-service educational workshops. It is our privilege to provide you with the highest quality support in the DMV area. See service areas →
Sarah Paksima
Owner and Executive Senior Doula
Sarah (she/her) has been supporting families for 20 years in the United States, Kuwait, Oman, India, and Jordan as a doula, childbirth educator, and maternal health advocate. Sarah and her husband work hard to keep up with their five kids. She maintains her sanity by raising their children in a town with no stoplights, eating copious amounts of dark chocolate, and stocking their pantry with food kids will eat. When she’s not attending births, she enjoys reading, watching movies while folding endless piles of laundry, and letting kids bury her in the sand at the beach.
MPH, MBA, CD (DONA), LCCE
DCBD Senior Team
Jen Finnegan
Senior Doula
Jen (she/her) has been lucky enough to be on a life journey that has led her to truly appreciate and understand…
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Lindsay Wolff
Senior Doula
Lindsay (she/her) has always been interested in the “whys” and the “hows” of different systems. The same inquisitive pieces of herself that led…
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Rena Geibel
Senior Doula
Rena’s (she/her) birth of two girls in Kenya in 2004 and 2005 influenced her to shift her professional focus …
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Elizabeth Parish
Senior Doula
Elizabeth (she/her) felt the first tugs in the direction of childbirth when she was in college and spent time with a midwife…
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Kelsey Ogenia
Senior Doula
Kelsey (she/her) has always felt called to birth work and reproductive health issues. While studying at the University of…
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Whats the difference?
All of our doulas are empathetic, loving, and nurturing. What sets apart advanced Senior doulas are the skills, insight, and perspective gained through years of sleepless nights, long hours, and hard work. It is in this spectrum of birthing experiences that senior doulas learn to walk the unique path alongside families who experience loss, work hard to conceive, or need extra medical support during their birth. Sometimes you just feel more comfortable having the doula who has seen everything by your side. Senior doulas also offer two additional phone consultations during pregnancy and postpartum.
DCBD Central Team
Amy Battjer
DC Central Doula (Admin Only)
Amy (she/her) made the transition to birth work after her own experiences becoming a mother to her two sons.
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Mary Helen Sullivan
DC Central Doula
Amber Wright
DCBD South Doula (Virtual Only)
Amber (she/her) is a mother of 2 young daughters who felt drawn to become a doula after the birth of her children…
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Molly Shephard
DC Central Doula
Carrie Tyson
DCBD South Doula
Carrie (she/her) is a proud wife and mother of 3 children (2 earthside angels, 1 heavenly angel). She was born at the famous…
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Rebecca Gitter
DC Central Doula (Virtual Only)
Rebecca (she/her) has been working as a certified prenatal yoga teacher in the DC area for more than a dozen years…
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Sara Fatell
DC Central Doula
Sara (she/her, they/them) has been in awe of birth from a young age. Sara is amazed by the power of our bodies…
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Sarah Gabriel
DC Central Doula
Sarah’s birth work journey began 12 years ago with the birth of her first child and has grown
more deeply through every birth…
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What brings us together?
The collective sum of the individual differences of our doulas are what makes DC Birth Doulas great! We know it is the different life experiences, knowledge, self-expression, unique capabilities and talents that our doulas bring to their work that sets us apart.
We embrace our doulas and clients differences in size, age, ability, ethnicity, family, marital or parental status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, race, religion, and sexual orientation. These differences bring us together as a team and infuse the dynamic support we provide the families we serve.
