Casey O'Keefe | Deana Andersen-Tennant | Elizabeth Benz | Emilie Young | Erica Matteson | Erin Lehman | Melissa Haskins | Melissa Wright | Sabrina Johnson | Shannon Morrison | Taylor Tappin
itsaBelly is a core group of birth and postpartum doulas, newborn care specialists, night nannies, childbirth educators, childproofers, and more! Based out of Portland, Oregon we are part of the larger community of birth and postpartum doula professionals supporting families with birth, postpartum, and newborn care.
Our doula and parent support team desires to help each client find their resources and connect to their unique community. We do this by asking questions and listening to who our clients are before babies arrive. Not every birth plan is the same. A set postpartum plan isn’t going to work for every family. Some families have a large network that is planning to be the main support after baby, or babies, come home. While for other families, our support team becomes their safety net until they are ready to fly on their own. You may be looking for support for your first birth, or support you did not have with a previous labor. Maybe you are feeling a bit anxious about caring for a newborn and would like the reassurance of a caring guide. Or you may want help with nourishing meals or sibling support. We are here for you.
After caring for children and families for over 20 years I became a doula to extend that caretaking role. I work to step into the role of the caretaker that I needed in my own life, so that others may feel supported in a way that allows them the confidence to tap into their own instincts and wisdom.
Erin LehmanBirth & Postpartum DoulaOur experience with Itsabelly was great from start to finish. Our doula, Sabrina, was amazing. Patient, kind, wonderfully supportive with our twins and SO comfortable managing two babies at once while we caught up on very much needed rest. We were supported through our transition with Elizabeth, who was also outstanding. We loved the group practice. When our doula couldn't come there was always still support for us and their communication with one another was so good I had to explain very little when someone filled in.
We kept our sanity, our happiness and they helped us sleep train to be ready to be on our own! Hands down the best decision.
Highly recommend Sabrina and Elizabeth, everyone we encountered with Itsabelly. Deana was honest and accommodating. Thank you to all of them❤
AnnalisaClientOur team has been working with families in the Portland metro area since 2000 under our original name of Renaissance Childbirth and Postpartum Professionals. Our approach is different than other teams in our area - we have decided to keep our core team small to provide the most consistent care for our clients.
Our birth team is unique in that it works with two team members from the beginning of our agreements. This allows each family to know the team on call for them. One of the two doulas attends when called, no need for an unknown backup. Our postpartum doulas provide nurturing care, education, and hands on help for each family member and baby. We have extensive knowledge of multiples, not hard to do with Deana Andersen-Tennant, multiples specialist, as the lead of the postpartum team, and over half of our members are families of multiples as well. Our postpartum doulas all work with both single babies and twins, and we offer day and overnight support, and multiples consults for newborn care and breastfeeding.
No need to wonder if we have enough space on our calendars when you reach out. As part of the community it is one of our foundational philosophies that we can provide vetted care if your schedule requires more team members. Your point person will always be one of our core team members and the added support will communicate directly with them. No need to repeat care instructions!
Another foundational philosophy is that we are a large part of the free community support in the surrounding area. Providing in-person and virtual groups is a cornerstone of reaching out to our community. Click Support Groups for a list of all of our offerings.
We also are part of a strong community network to help connect you with other resources you might need, such as lactation consultants, craniosacral therapists, and postpartum yoga classes. We can offer choices to help you find skilled support as needed. Whether your transition is smooth or challenging, we want you to feel supported and cared for.
Thank you for being here. Have a look around our site and when you are ready, click Service Request at the top of each page. Our team will get back to you right away.
Kris Kennedy - Client
We first met Melissa at an expectant parent brunch and she told us about doulas and the Twins 101 class. We took the Twins 101 class with Deana, which was very informative, and since we don’t have family in the area, we decided to hire Itsabelly for overnight doula care for 6-8 weeks. That was the best decision we made. We were very fortunate that we were able to have Melissa as our doula. She was absolutely wonderful and so incredibly supportive to both me and my husband as we adjusted to a new life! We didn’t want her to leave! Highly recommend Itsabelly!
Want to know more about our beginnings? Why we became a team of professionals working together? Come, have a seat, I'd love to tell you a little bit of our history.
Erica
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