Hello! We're Meredith and Alicia. We met as busy Bay Area doulas back in 2015—the bud of a deep friendship that has carried us through birth, life, and death together.

Not sure yet if the friendship was strong enough for Alicia to say yes, Meredith hesitantly invited Alicia to be her doula at the birth of her second child. Alicia enthusiastically agreed! Unfortunately Meredith never got to see Alicia in action. Her phone call came too late, and Adelaide was born before anyone (even the midwives) could get out the door. But Alicia made up for it by bringing over homemade broth, a stack of juicy memoirs, and delicious muffins that got Meredith through endless nights of difficult nursing.

Six years later, Alicia found out she was expecting a surprise fourth baby, only weeks before her husband Shane was diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma. Since their family had relocated for treatment without time to make relationships, Meredith drove to Colorado to be the sole witness of the powerful birth of Jacob, and then Alicia's companion in a three-day NICU stay due to congenital pneumonia. Three weeks after Jacob emerged, Shane died. (You can listen to their whole story HERE.)

On the day we met, we had realized right away that we shared values around physiologic birth, client education, birth room advocacy (and art and food and books...) and that we shared dismay over the deficits in our original doula trainings, and in typical childbirth education. Now having passed through a bit of fire together, we knew we also shared a purpose.

We drew from Meredith's past as a language professor and Restorative Exercise Specialist, and Alicia's success as a solo doula and agency owner, to create Intentional Birth. More than a decade of active birth work, serving hundreds of families with our robust prenatal systems and in-person support, led us to expand our reach. We now provide truly honest education both to birth workers and to families around the world, and we're grateful to see the ripples spreading: mothers taking personal responsibility, fathers stepping up as advocates, families being transformed through their own powerful choices and through respectful care, doulas finding their feet through solid mentorship and loving support. This is Intentional Birth.

Alicia relocated her family once again in 2023 to live in the same town as Meredith. Now we get to live our "community" value both online and off: teaching classes and running programs together, jumping in rivers and going to concerts together. Life is hard, you guys! Life is absolutely beautiful! We ride the waves as birth has trained us, claiming the power of each crest, and the joy of each rest.