Greetings! My name is Sondra Rose. I live in beautiful Washington State and am delighted to offer prenatal coaching to expectant parents to help them prepare for their child's birth. I also offer my services to birth professionals who wish to clear any trauma they may be carrying, so they can be more present and available to the moms they serve. I work with clients here in Port Townsend, as well as internationally, via phone and Skype.

Birth has been a passion of mine since college—and has its roots in my childhood. As the oldest of 5 girls, I was often with two or occasionally three little ones at a time and I must have shown some kind of confidence, since neighborhood moms would leave me in charge of their wee ones on a regular basis. My mother would always go to the hospital to have each of us; so though babies were easy to understand, birth seemed mysterious and vaguely dangerous to me.

My third year of college found me poring over books about natural childbirth, the Lamaze method and breastfeeding. I struck up a friendship with a nurse-midwife and learned about birthing centers and water births. Strange to think about it now, since I was determined never to have children and never to get married...funny how life changes those early decisions!

In 1999, I become friends with a midwifery student and she introduced me to the book Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin. I was introduced to the idea that birth can be pleasurable and even sexual. I opened to the idea that having a child might be a OK after all…as soon as I found the right partner! In 2001 I started my coaching practice and began working with individual and couples on creating conscious, loving relationships. In 2005 I was certified as a Body-centered Relationship Coach by the Hendricks Institute.

I was introduced to EFT in 2006 and used it to clear my own prenatal and birth trauma. I immediately became an EFT Practitioner and completed my AAMET Level 3 training in 2007 and my Matrix Reimprinting Practitioner training with EFT Master Karl Dawson in 2008. I also started a new relationship, with a lovely man (now my wonderful husband!) who is open to having a child with me, so I start researching birth and pregnancy again.

A friend mentioned a book called Birthing from Within, so I searched online and somehow ended up finding this site called Bornfree. The site is all about medically unassisted childbirth and something in me got really excited when I realized that this is a way of birthing that I had never heard about. Imagine that women can learn about birth and trust themselves and their bodies enough to give birth without medical assistance?! It was a whole new paradigm for me. I became even more passionate about birth.

In 2007, I started working with pregnant moms, helping them clear their fears and their own birth trauma to create the space for a more peaceful and easier pregnancy and birth. EFT and Matrix Reimprinting are fabulous tools that are empowering and transforming for my clients.

Over the last 3 years, I have been learning from many wise women and men and continuing my Birth education by taking 60 hours of advanced Doula training with Whapio Diane Bartlett, the founder of The Matrona, a midwifery school currently based in Washington State. Whapio is deeply grounded in unhindered birth physiology and with over 27 years of experience as a midwife and mother, she offers a unique view of birth as a spiritual right of passage and an opportunity for women to step into their power.

I was the EFT presenter for the 2010 Trust Birth Conference. I finally got to meet Laura Shanley, founder of the Bornfree site, Dr. Sarah Buckley, OB-GYN, mother and author of Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering and Carla Hartley, the founder of the Ancient Arts Midwifery Institute and many others. These women have been influential in the movement to show mothers how their bodies are designed perfectly to give birth.

I would like to see more Holistic Childbirth Education, specifically focused on educating women about unhindered birth. I intend to keep learning and exploring with folks who are just as passionate as I am about the huge potential for our culture, as we let go of fear around Birth and start seeing it as a powerful, transformative experience that can bring joy, connection and peace to our lives.