Doula By Your Side - Lauren Severiano

My Story My passion for birth ignited after the arrival of my first daughter in 2014. I found birth to be a transformational experience, a metamorphosis into a mother. A seemingly common event, yet so wondrous, personal and profound.  I also knew then, that I had to immerse myself in the world of birth, where I could serve, encourage, and support other birthing mothers through their own rite of passage and transformation. That drive was further fueled after my second daughter was born in 2017.   I am a U.S. trained and AHPRA Registered Nurse (RN), certified in in-patient obstetrics (RNC-OB), and had worked in U.S. maternity care for more than seven years. In my most recent nursing position, I provided clinical bedside care in a Labour and Delivery unit at a mid-sized hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I cared for hundreds of women, their partners, and their newborns during their labour, birth, and postnatal periods.   However, during the course of my nursing career era, I had grown concerned with the high-intervention culture that has come to define today’s maternity care. This obstetric-based system that did not approach birth as a normal physiological process, but rather a potentially dangerous medical condition that required careful monitoring and treatment. I routinely saw the "cascade of intervention" on a daily basis, that usually resulted in a healthy baby, but often times, a confused, disempowered, and traumatized mother.   After moving to Sydney, I took this opportunity to transition away from a purely obstetric medical perspective and focus my efforts on helping women have positive birth experiences.  During these past three years of being a birth doula for more than 50 clients, I have now seen another side of birth, one that I didn't know existed as an obstetric nurse. I've come to question routine obstetric practices such as vaginal exams, continuous monitoring, coached pushing and many more tasks that I used to regularly do as a clinical provider (and I've I had to give myself grace for my previous unawareness). I now see that labour and birth works best if allowed to be undisturbed and normal physiology is protected. Though birth can be complex and nuanced, it has the potential to be simple, straightforward, and even magical.    Now as a full-time doula, I am no longer a member of the clinical medical team.  I work for you. I am there to provide unbiased evidence about all of your options, to help you advocate for yourself, and to support you in your decisions. While I will not be performing any medical or clinical duties, my experience in the hospital environment will be extremely advantageous to you as we  encounter and navigate the various situations that arise in birth, together.​

My Mission

My mission is to walk beside you through pregnancy, labour, birth, and the postnatal period, offering holistic support and a clear understanding of the maternity system. I want to help you build your birth knowledge so that you feel confident and empowered in your choices and that you can look back on your birth experience with strength, satisfaction, and genuine positivity. 

My Birth Philosophy and Values

• Birth is a normal human experience, not a pathological medical event. While sometimes variations and complications arise, overall, birth is physiological process, one that can be simple and straightforward.
• You are a wondrous being, divinely designed to bring life into this world, and I believe in you.
• Your birth space and process are sacred. They are to be honoured, respected, and protected.
• I support your birth vision and follow your lead, however you choose to birth. 
• You, the birthing person, are the decision maker. Your care provider is the information-provider. I strongly advocate for Supported Maternal Decision-Making in where a birthing person considers care provider recommendations that are made with an understanding of the woman's unique physical, emotional and spiritual needs and that are based upon evidence, rather than pre-existing obstetric culture.
• Informed consent should be freely given. You do not have to consent to anything that you don't want to do, even if it is not aligned with medical advice.
• I am here to be of service to you, in exactly the way you need me to be.
• I am both humbled and grateful to have the honor of being by your side in your birth journey.

Certifications

2023-current - Certified Birth Doula (CBD) - Childbirth International (CBI) 2022-current  - Registered Nurse (RN) - Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) 2012-current   Registered Nurse (RN) - California Board of Registered Nursing 2020-current  Inpatient Obstetric Nursing (RNC-OB) - National Certification Corporation

Education

2016 Bachelor of Science, Nursing - University of Texas at Arlington, USA 2012  Associate of Science Degree, Nursing - Merritt College, California, USA 2003  Bachelor of Arts, Psychology - Sonoma State University, California, USA