Karisa Totah

Noble Joy Doula Services, LLC

I’ve been obsessed with babies and pregnant mommas since I was barely older than a baby myself. No really, I’m not kidding…I was probably two years old when I first started noticing babies and pregnant bellies. As soon as someone says they’re pregnant, I feel an instant connection with them.

This obsession has manifested in many forms over my life: childcare, nannying, advocacy at a local pregnancy center, and befriending every new momma I meet. Growing up, I lived among and loved many women in challenging situations and kept seeing a recurring theme: anxiety. So many mommas were terrified of birth, especially of unmedicated, physiological birth. I knew enough from my mother (a trained nurse) who birthed me and my brothers in the hospital without pain meds that anxiety didn’t have to be a part of the picture.

In 2015, I heard about the role of birth doula from a friend who wanted to be a midwife. She explained how a doula isn’t medical, but rather more of a birth coach/support/educated best friend. I fell in love with the idea.

In 2019, I was in the homestretch of my bachelor’s degree (that took me 9 ½ years to complete, haha) and chose to research whether birth doulas could reduce anxiety for my thesis project. My three solid months of research and thesis writing blew me away with the answer. YES!

Birth doulas absolutely reduce anxiety in birth as well as before and after. Not to mention the incredible positive birth outcomes and reduction in interventions like unnecessary cesarean sections. I was convinced.

In 2020, I trained to be a birth doula, attended my first two births within a month, and attended postpartum doula training. Since then, I’ve certified as both birth and postpartum doula through DONA
International and most recently certified with the Body Ready Method program as a compliment to my current scope and offerings.

I’ve become more and more convinced that I was made for this job. I love seeing parents relax when I walk in the door. I’m obsessed with the thrill of watching a baby birthed by a strong momma. I can’t tell you how many times someone has said to me that some random tidbit of info I shared with them made all the difference in their pregnancy, birth, or postpartum experience.

I am so blessed to get to walk alongside such beautiful, wonderful, strong women in such a precious season of life. And I’d love to have the chance to walk alongside you in this season!

Email Karisa | 720-778-1274 | www.noblejoydoula.com