Name: Lisa Greaves Taylor, CCCE, LCCE, CD(DONA)
Profession: Childbirth Educator and Labor Support Doula
Location: Astoria, NY
WE ARE SO EXCITED TO PARTNER WITH YOU! PLEASE TELL OUR AUDIENCE A LITTLE MORE ABOUT YOURSELF AND BIRTH MATTERS NYC.
I’m a certified childbirth educator with & on the board of directors of Childbirth Education Association of Metropolitan New York (CEA/MNY) and also have a second certification with Lamaze International. I’m also a DONA-certified labor support doula, although I’m taking a break from that work for a while due some family commitments – I’m focusing on teaching lots of birth classes at this point in time.
My husband and I have a daughter born in 2008 and a son born in 2005. It was those birth experiences that caused me to become passionate about all things birth – seeing how transformational birth is for both a woman and couple. Seeing that when labor/birth is a positive experience it can make all the difference in entering into the big, scary world of becoming a new parent with so much more confidence. At the same time, my eyes were also opened in my first pregnancy, thanks to the birth classes we took at the time, to the major problems we are faced with in our U.S. maternal healthcare system / hospitals whereby all too often birth is over-medicalized and too many woman end up with many unwelcome and unnecessary interventions. It doesn’t have to be that way, and by teaching and providing labor support I’m doing everything I can to help more women/couples enter into birth with information and strategies they need to be their own best advocate toward an amazing birth.
A little background on me – my husband and I are transplanted Texans who have lived in NYC since 1999 (and Boston 1997-1999 for grad school and work at Harvard). We love NYC and desire to be a resource and encouragement to couples who want to start families and remain living in NYC. I hold a B.A. in Journalism from Baylor University and have worked in the music & entertainment industries, academia, and corporate and nonprofit sectors. My husband and I both come from a family of actors; I was a kid performer/actor, and our kids have also followed this path (for anyone who watches Broad City, our son is the “Yas Kween” kid; for anyone who watches HBO’s The Leftovers, our daughter was main character Nora’s daughter…among other things!).
For a decade, I worked with Hope for New York, a nonprofit that provides volunteer and financial resources to organizations that serve the poor and marginalized of NYC.
PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION AND LABOR SUPPORT OFFERINGS.
Birth Matters NYC provides:
- group childbirth education classes in Astoria
- private, in-home birth coaching in NYC’s 5 boroughs
- Early or mid-pregnancy “better birth” private consultations
- Labor support (doula services) in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn.
Birth Matters’/my belief is that every woman deserves a safe, respectful and fulfilling birth experience. Most women can have a healthy, natural, intervention-free birth if they desire and plan for it. With the philosophy that--just as every woman is beautifully unique--there is no one "right" way to give birth, Birth Matters exists to equip women with the evidence-based information needed toward birthing with confidence and making informed decisions in pregnancy, labor, birth and beyond.
YOU PURCHASE UP-STAND PRODUCTS FOR YOUR BIRTH MATTERS NYC CLIENTS. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO PROVIDE THEM WITH UP-STAND PREGNANCY AWARENESS PINS?
This campaign is such a wonderful idea and we need to promote kindness and compassion in our fine city, particularly on the subways, which can be particularly brutal for a pregnant woman!
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH UP-STAND SO FAR?
My students appreciate knowing about the campaign and getting to pick out a button as part of their first childbirth class! I am wearing my own button on my bag whenever I’m out and about, too. A great commonality the UP-STAND campaign and Birth Matters NYC group classes share is an aim of fostering and strengthening a sense of community – so important anywhere, and particularly challenging for many in NYC!
TELL US ABOUT SOMETHING EXCITING COMING UP FOR YOU.
I have recently started blogging weekly and am currently mid-way through a “Preparing for Your Best Birth” series to help students lay strategic groundwork in early pregnancy for having the best birth possible. I find this is a design flaw in the vast majority of our birth classes, which are designed for 3rd trimester when some things are a little late to learn/change, so two of my new strategies for helping correct this flaw are to do these posts and to offer early pregnancy “Better Birth” consults. On my blog, I also recently shared both of my kids’ birth stories, so you can read those stories. You can read my blog here.
A BIG THANK YOU TO LISA FOR OUR PARTNERSHIP, AND THE AMAZING SUPPORT SHE PROVIDES PREGNANT WOMEN!
Follow Lisa:
Twitter – @birthmattersnyc
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/BirthMattersNYC/
Birth Matters YouTube Playlist
To receive the current Birth Matters NYC class schedule, pricing and information on services, please contact Lisa at info@birthmattersnyc.com.
UP-STAND partners with other organizations and businesses, such as Birth Matters NYC, to improve maternal and fetal health. If you are interested in buying UP-STAND products in bulk to give or resell to your clients, please email orders@up-stand.com for discounted price quotes.