About Me

 Hi there! I’m Nora. It’s nice to meet you.

First and foremost, I am a mother of two boisterous sons.

I also call myself a folk herbalist, a Reiki practitioner, a musician, a poet, and a student of nature.

I began my journey of holistic health in 2013. Instead of going to college, where I hadn’t the slightest idea what I would study, I got the idea to travel around the country. However, I wanted to be doing something, not wasting money I didn’t have. I took a few extra-curricular courses; one of which was a Reiki Certification course. I am currently attuned to the second degree. 

While I was working in restaurants in Milwaukee, I heard about WWOOF, an online platform that connects organic farmers with folks who want to work and learn the trade. 

I started close to home and worked my way westward. Mostly this involved vegetable farms growing for CSA programs. However, the experience that struck me deepest was my time on a medicinal herb farm. I seeded, grew, tended, harvested, and mixed medicine plants for the community. This ignited a passion in me, and opened the door to a world I never knew was there. I went on to work in an herbal apothecary in Arizona; and studied under a Naturopath who specialized in miraculous Homeopathic healing back home in Wisconsin.   

Shortly after this, I became pregnant with my first son. We knew we wanted to have a home birth, and though I hired a midwife, I wanted to be prepared for anything. I read and I read and I read. I read as many books as I could get my hands on - especially books about giving birth in rural areas, without medical help - even the “Emergency Childbirth” pamphlet that EMTs must know by heart. My favorite book of the time was “the Barefoot Doctor.” From all this reading, I felt prepared enough to tackle anything. I ended up releasing my midwife around 33 weeks, and we had a very lovely, very successful unassisted at-home Lotus birth. After this experience, I knew I could, and wanted to, support other women to have just the birth they wanted. 

[sav birth]

I received my doula training from Coral Slavin at Well-Rounded Maternity Center in Bay View in 2018, when my son was 1. I was a part of the very last doula certification course that went on there before they closed. 

[Coral founded Well-Rounded after a successful out-of-hospital birth in Maryland; when she moved to Wisconsin the year after this, she was dismayed to find that there weren’t any birth centers available. She began her career as a doula, to support other women having the type of birth she did. Her last baby was born at home, and a few years later, opened Well-Rounded, one of Wisconsin’s first birth centers. Coral has a M.A. and Ph.D. in health education. and a M.S. Ed. in Family Life. She was a Bradley Childbirth Educator; an ICEA and a DONA Doula, an ACE Prenatal Fitness/Yoga Instructor, and a Stress Management Counselor and hypnotherapist.]

After this course, I learned how to Bengkung Belly Bind with a Milwaukee-local midwife, birth/death doula, & lactation consultant, Star Twaddle.

Due to the Covid 19 Pandemic, I took a break from pursuing birth work (such strict rules in hospitals & even home births during that time!) and my family went off-grid and spent more time farming. This time I worked on a goat dairy homestead, assisting with goat pregnancy and birth! I worked on farms for a total of 9 years - with and without children!

I have continued my education unofficially - I read constantly, I hold circles with mothers, nurses, midwives, and caregivers in every area of life. I take as many online courses as I can. I’m currently studying Barre; taking a Yoga teacher certification course, studying Ayurvedic medicine & cooking, and getting a certification in general Women’s Health.

My philosophy regarding birth is really simple: I want women to have the birth they want, and I want to support them in doing so. I have a lot of experience in the “natural” or holistic world, so a lot of my wisdom and advice comes from there. From that lens, I can be a strong advocate for having a physiologically normal pregnancy & birth, and can offer tools and resources to help keep you there. I like to build a basis of good diet, proper exercise, herbal support, deep connection with your partner, unshakable belief in yourself, and a heightened intuition -  to keep you centered in the biggest initiation of your life. I think any choice made from this place will be the right one.

I don’t personally love unnecessary interventions; I have seen them rob women of the full birth experience that is our ancestral birthright. But I know how to keep you in your power through anything; your reasoning for choosing things is your own, and the initiation will happen no matter what. It is my role to support you no matter what you choose, or why; and this, I promise, I can do.

I want to stress that should a medical condition exist or arise that requires modern technological intervention, I’m on board to talk about those options with you in an open and non-judgmental way. (At one point in my young adult life, I was very, very “crunchy,” but as I’ve had my own children and lived hard lessons, I’ve found this doesn’t actually suit me … or most people.) I won’t blindly oppose a procedure that could help you. I will, however, offer options and information, so YOU can make the best option for yourself, your child, and your family. 

Should you choose to hire me, thank you! I am honored and I look forward to getting to know you.

Nora

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