I believe effective parenting is one of the best ways to improve the world, and parenting begins with pregnancy and birth.

My greatest pleasure as a birth doula and childbirth educator is watching women become confident, joyous and excited about the birth and early parenting of their children. I firmly believe in using any fear and anxiety we might have to examine our choices and beliefs, and find ways of birthing and parenting that are just right for us. When I think about the power of preparing for labor, birth, and parenthood, Maya Angelou sums it up best: "When you know better, you do better...”.

I help parents create realistic expectations about their birth and parenting experiences.  Your decisions and choices set the end points of what is realistically achievable. My job as your doula and childbirth educator is to help you reach for the optimistic end of your realistic range of possibilities.  I believe happiness comes from acheiving realistic expectations.

Kim James owns and operates www.DoulaMatch.net and is a DONA International and PALS Doulas certified birth doula as well as a DONA-approved birth doula trainer working at the Simkin Center/Bastyr University. She is also an ICEA and Lamaze International certified childbirth educator teaching at Parent Trust for Washington Children/Great Starts where she sits on the Education Committee. Kim also volunteers her time on the Lamaze International membership committee and serves as Washington State DONA SPAR. Her daughters are 7 and 14 years old.

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