Katherine

I fell in love with birth and birthing mamas after attending a close friend's first birth. Shortly after I discovered the doula profession. Since then I have trained extensively with Pam England, author of Birthing From Within and completed advanced level doula and mentor training through Birthing From Within as well as various other professional doula and childbirth education organizations. I co-founded Inanna Doula Care in 2007 and have been attending births, teaching classes and loving it all since. I am happy to be the Birthing From Within instructor at OHSU, the only Portland hospital thus far that offers this alternative. I also enjoy connecting with my community as a volunteer with Nursing Mother's Council and ICAN.

I have two amazing young children, Reilly and Roland ages six and four. The birth of my children, my first by cesarian, the second one VBAC, or vaginal birth after cesarian, has transformed me as a woman, mother and doula. In only two births I experienced a wide array of birth settings, care providers, emotions and outcomes that have only strengthened my work as a doula. I look forward to sharing my experience and love of birth with you. Contact Katherine

Katrina

Katrina Bubas, a local herbalist in Portland, Oregon, is the founder of The Village Apothecary - a local resource specializing in herbal support for women. Katrina studied master herbalism at the Australasian College of Health Sciences, is a Level II Reiki practitioner, is currently studying indigenous botanicals and ecosystems with the Arctos School of Herbal and Botanical Medicine, and is the mother of the world's coolest kid (except yours, of course).

All of her products are handmade in small batches, right here in Portland, Oregon, and are Local, Organic, Ethically Wild Crafted, Home Grown, with Reduced, Compostable, Reusable, Recyclable Packaging, and delivered in a Veggie-Oil Fueled Vehicle. Contact Katrina

Inanna

Inanna (pronounced e-na-na) was a Sumerian goddess and priestess of seven temples, queen of heaven and earth, a mother, a wife, a friend, a poet, and a healer. Inanna is also regarded as a goddess of rebirth. Her story is the oldest and first known to be recorded in writing.

The Descent of Inanna

In our advanced mentor training with Birthing From Within creator Pam England, we carefully studied the Descent of Inanna, an ancient tale recorded in cuneiform and discovered on small clay tablets in the late 1800's. The Descent of Inanna is a captivating tale of one hero's journey into the Underworld. Inanna answers the call of the Great Below and in making her descent into the Underworld she is forever transfigured and ultimately reborn. At each gate of the Underworld passageway, Inanna must let go of something dear to her that maintains her identity. After her allies nurture her, she is strong enough to make the ascent back to the world above, a different woman than before she started her hero's journey. The Descent of Inanna is a perfect parallel to the journey a pregnant woman takes as she makes her own way through answering the call to motherhood, then surrendering parts of herself along the path of labor, and finally to great transfiguration and rebirth of herself in birth and postpartum.

Strength & Surrender

We chose Inanna as a figure to represent our doula collective because she is a symbol of great strength and surrender. We hope the energy of Inanna inspires you to answer your own call to new parenthood and prepare to embark on the journey of a hero. It is in this adventure of labor, birth and postpartum that you, like Inanna in her Descent to the Underworld, will be forever transformed and reborn.