Brenda Finn
With over ten years of experience as a birth doula, Brenda attends births in hospitals, birth centers, & at home. Her specialty is creating a calm & safe space for women giving birth in hospital settings, ensuring that they can make informed choices without undue pressure, giving them the ability to control their own birthing process.
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Brenda is passionate and inspired to empower other women to have the birth of their dreams, without judgement or coercion, and with unconditional love and support. She brings a wealth of experience and unerring kindness to every situation. Brenda believes with all her heart that it is both an honor and a privilege to be invited into the life of a family and to share in some of their most precious moments.
Brenda’s journey to becoming a doula started with the birth of her daughter, born via cesarean section. This birth experience, so different from what she had envisioned, inspired her to learn more and find a way to do it differently for her next two births. She went on to have a vaginal birth after cesarean with the help of a doula and finally a home birth with her 3rd child. These experiences altered her life and led her to doula service.
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After her children arrived, Brenda became heavily involved in the parenting community. She served as a leader in the local Attachment Parenting International (API) group, and an active member of both ICAN (Internal Cesarean Awareness Network) and LLL (La Leche League). In 2007, she became a DONA-certified birth doula and began her practice. Brenda left the doula world for a few years in 2010 as the needs of her family and software development career took over. She resumed her work as a doula (re-certifying with Somatic Arts & Sciences Institute - Madriella in 2018.
Brenda has also had a successful career in IT. She grew up in Columbia Maryland and then moved to Virginia to attend James Madison University, where she studied Math and Computer Science. Brenda lives in Bristow, VA, with her children & furry friends. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies or playing games with her family, practicing yoga, and cooking healthy meals. She describes herself as a certified health food and yoga nut.
Whitney Reitz
Whitney has recently taken a step back from seeing doula clients as their primary doula but continues to offer back-up support, prenatal, & postpartum massage to our doula clients. She has many years of experience as both a birth doula & a massage therapist specializing in women's health. Previously, Whitney also taught prenatal & postpartum massage to other massage therapists & was an Evidence Based Birth Childbirth Instructor.
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Whitney brings her training and experience as a birth doula, mother of three, and grandmother of three to each client when tending to a mom in labor. She says the magic of pregnancy, birth, and infant development never ceases to amaze and fascinate her. Whenever she supports a new mom, Whitney feels honored to participate and offer her loving heart and hands to those who need her service.
Whitney’s hope for each of her clients is that they go through pregnancy, birth and the early days afterwards creating experiences and memories that they will treasure forever. So often the birthing process becomes clinical and medicalized, leaving the new mother struggling with disappointment and a sense of loss. Whitney is dedicated to working with each client to protect her experience of birth and help her realize her dream for how it will unfold. For new babies, Whitney wants to facilitate the best, gentlest possible transition to the outside world that fully honors the bond between mother and baby.
A lover of languages, Whitney speaks English, Russian, French, Norwegian, Swedish, and a bit of Spanish and German. Whitney lives in Fairfax, VA, with her children. When she isn’t at work, you can find her reading, hiking, rowing, practicing Tae Kwon Do (she has a black belt), contra-dancing, crocheting, or playing the piano and singing badly while the rest of the family carries the tune.
We connected with Brenda and so the bond and trust established was a huge benefit. We still consider family.
Regina
Whitney was wonderful -- such a calming presence. She implemented many different techniques to make the birthing process as smooth as possible. I would highly recommend her.