Debra R. Lawrence, President of Informed Beginnings

Before she had kids she taught high-school home economics, earned a master's in Family Studies, and coordinated the Education Department at a small liberal arts college. The Bradley class she signed up for was canceled so she read Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way. Her oldest daughter, Sara (July 1989), pushed her cord up by her head and prolapsed it, leading to a C-section. A few months later the family moved to the Philippines as missionaries and during those 4 years Katie (Dec. 1991) and Rachel (Oct. 1993) joined the family as unmedicated VBACs in Philippine hospitals.

Deb trained to teach when she returned to the States and began teaching in January 1996. By 1999 students were asking her to be their doula, and she began supporting births and got further training and DONA certification. She is honored to have supported around 350 births so far. She was a founding member and treasurer for a Chicago-area doula networking organization.  When she held teacher trainings last February in the Chicago area, she was honored to meet several members of the Birth Educators' Co-op (now Informed Beginnings).