Childbirth Educator
Nikki has been teaching childbirth preparation classes since 1986. She has taught in every possible setting, from a busy clinic to the privacy of a home. Her style of teaching is an integration of her life experiences, her on-going education, and her personal philosophy.
Nikki gave birth to her first daughter, Vanessa, using the Lamaze style of prepared childbirth. This was a pioneering birth, as it was the first Lamaze labor and delivery in that hospital, in 1975. Her second daughter was to be born at home in 1990, but unforseen complications made a transfer to a local hospital necessary, where Clelia was born four hours later. Thanks to a wonderful midwife (Barbara d’Amato), all was well. Mother and baby went home 4 hours later. Both births were spontaneous and unmedicated; the first took about 24 hours from start to finish, and the second, about 18 hours.
Nikki recognizes that her births were fairly easy. She owes this to good genetics and physique, happy pregnancies (except for the lousy hemorrhoid with the second baby), luck, and choosing a birth environment where she was free to do what she needed to do, helped by the loving attention of her birth attendant.
As a labor and delivery nurse for years, Nikki has assisted in births in homes (Thank you to midwives Karen Pardini and Barbara d’Amato), in birth centers, in hospitals, and the occasional parking lot (at Booth Maternity Hospital)!
Nikki was certified through ICEA in 1997. She has since studied with Spinning Babies, ALACE, and Birthing From Within. Nikki has contributed to the revision of the ALACE Childbirth Educator Training Manual, assisting with the breastfeeding and postpartum depression sections.
Her personal philosophy is that birthing and mothering are natural and healthy. Her desire is to teach and encourage women and their families to create a safe and warm environment so that the mother can open and let the baby come out. Her goal for the family to have happy memories and to build a foundation for loving parenthood. Her classes are flexible so that the participants feel free to ask questions. Preparation for breastfeeding is another theme in Nikki’s classes.
