Postpartum Doulas

Arnetta

Arnetta Ford

Postpartum doula

Arnetta (she/her) supported her first birth in 1984 and continued to spend years helping friends and family members through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum recovery. Then in 1996, she learned that the work she was drawn to naturally, had a name. She was a doula! Arnetta developed her doula skills attending two DONA Birth Trainings (1996 and 2011), Hypnobirthing (2013), Spinning Babies and ProDoula Labor Training (2017), ProDoula Postpartum and Infant Care Training (2018), Survivor Mom’s Companion Training (March 2020), ProDoula Labor Doula Master Class – VBAC Specialist (2021), and Dancing for Birth trained (2022). Certified as a Labor/Birth, VBAC Specialist and Postpartum and Infant Care Doula, Arnetta has spent years providing trauma informed care to clients, as well as spending three years facilitating evidence based “Moving On” classes that address PTSD. She also loves helping new parents find rest and rejuvenation as a postpartum doula and taught eight years teaching “Inside Out” Parenting Classes. Working to improve birth equity, Arnetta is a member of the Michigan Prison Doula Initiative team where she supports prisoners through birth.

Arnetta is a lifelong Michigan resident. She has one daughter and three grandsons, and enjoys spending time with family and friends, doing volunteer work, eating good food, traveling, playing cards and games, coloring, walking, reading, dancing, singing, and spiritual/personal growth “stuff” among other things.

Kirby

Rachel Rice & Rebecca Barikmo

Postpartum Doula Partnership

Rachel & Rebecca are a pair of sisters that had babies within a few months of each other – through their own births and supporting each other through pregnancy and postpartum, a passion for doula work was also born. For the past two years, the doula team has been supporting families bringing their children into the world with compassionate care and evidence based support. 

Rachel’s unique expertise as a certified labor and postpartum doula, child life specialist, childbirth educator, educator of infant massage, and bachelor’s degree in family life education allow her to meet the needs of each family member she is working with. She possesses a calm, reassuring presence that relaxes babies and parents alike. She lives with her husband Anthony, her son Milo, daughter Zola, and  Chihuahua named Chicken.

 Becca holds a B.S. from Michigan State University, is a trained labor and postpartum doula and placenta encapsulator.  Her doula superpower is being able to intuitively tailor support to be what birthing person, family or baby needs in the moment. She lives with her husband Kirk, daughter Violet and son Beau. 

Both doulas are adult & pediatric CPR certified.

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Ann Arbor Birth & Family provides unparalleled birth and postpartum doula services, birth and early parenting education, and perinatal counseling to empower and instill confidence as you navigate pregnancy, birth, and adjustment to life with your new baby.

WE SERVE

Our professional Ann Arbor doulas and childbirth educators serve the greater Ann Arbor and Metro Detroit areas, including Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Dexter, Chelsea, Saline, Brighton, Novi, Southfield, Plymouth, Canton, South Lyon, West Bloomfield, Dearborn, Livonia, Royal Oak, Grosse Pointe, and more.

Our doulas provide labor support at locations within a 50 mile radius of Ann Arbor, including but not limited to: University of Michigan Hospital, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Henry Ford West Bloomfield, Alternative Birth Care UnitAscension Providence Hospital - Southfield CampusAscension Providence Hospital - Novi CampusRoyal Oak Beaumont/Karmanos Natural Birth Center, and midwife-attended home births.

we SPECIALIZE IN

The Ann Arbor Birth & Family team specializes in supporting: first time parents, birth over 35, LGBTQ parents, solo parents, adoptive families, surrogacy, natural (medication-free) birth, waterbirth, epidurals, VBAC, high-risk pregnancy, cesarean birth (planned and unplanned), birth after loss, postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, PTSD, birth trauma, infertility, bed rest, breastfeeding, bottle feeding, and infant care.

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