services offered:
- Labor Support, 120 births attended, experienced in home, birth center, and hospital births
- Postpartum Support, hundreds of families served, experienced with multiples
- Bereavement, Fertility, Surrogacy, and Termination support
- Childbirth Education, ICEA and Lamaze trained
- Placenta Encapsulation and Belly Binding
meet Jenna
I came to Portland the traditional way; in a caravan with my college band, but roots grow fast in the Pacific NorthWest and it never didn’t feel like home for me. While I made my living in music for a while, I also put my years of experience as a mother’s helper and au pair to work, employed in many Portland homes providing care for children and support to new parents. Since I grew up a big sister in a large family embedded in a tight knit religious community, I’ve never not been surrounded by infants and mothers. Babies are my native language and a great joy to me. Because of that background, my expertise in childcare can seem like intuition but it’s actually a set of skills that I love to teach mothers and fathers who find themselves in this entirely new territory. I’ve watched too many new parents struggle from a lack of modeling and support, and fall victim to the shaming and fear based information that abounds in a society geared away from children and mothers, parents and families. My interest in helping childrearing families has naturally shifted to support families throughout all of the childbearing year because my desire is to build a stronger foundation for the families of Portland to build, grow, and thrive on.
As a trained labor assistant and postpartum doula I strive to be the manifestation of the support a new family would traditionally receive; educating and nurturing new parents, assessing needs and providing referrals within the wider birth community, facilitating better communication and connection between parents and children, and above all caring for every member as a new family is born.
I’ve had the joy of supporting VBACs, teen mothers, Mood Disorder affected parents, ESL and bilingual households, families with nontraditional structures, and twins as a labor and postpartum doula and I look forward to serving many more. My work within the birth community also allows me to continue to further study my other passions: music, social justice, and women’s health and body image.
I live in the Montavilla neighborhood in my converted RV tiny home with my cat, Patrick, and my angora rabbit, Denise. In my free time, I enjoy dismantling the patriarchy, undermining capitalism, and playing my favorite pinball table Medieval Madness all over town. If you see the initials JLC, you know I've been there.
Education and Training
-DONA Birth Doula Training - Mother Tree Birth, Fall 2015 series
-DONA Postpartum Doula Training - Mother Tree Birth, January 2016 weekend intensive
-Collaborative Practice Advanced Doula Training at OHSU - PDX Doulas, Spring 2016
-6 month Birth Doula Internship - Mother Tree Birth, 2016
-ICEA-Approved Childbirth Educator Training - Doula Love Training Center
-CASC training, April 2017
-Adopting Trauma Informed Care for Birth Professionals- by Jesse Remer and Astrid Castro Jan 2019
-Oral Health Education for Doulas
-Adult & Pediatric CPR/First Aid/AED - American Heart Association Heartsaver
-Herbal Support for Lactation and Infants with Melissa Cole of Luna Lactation, June 2018
-Basics of Plant Medicine with Katrina Bubas Stevens, midwife, of the Village Apothecary, 2018, 2019
-Eat, Pray, Doula Advanced Skills Training 2019 in Ubud, Bali with Ibu Robin Lim, Debra Pascali-Bonaro, and Dr. Sarah-Buckley
-Seahorses and Unicorns: Supporting Trans, Genderqueer, & Gender Nonconforming Clients with Trystan Reese, April 2019
-SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion Training with Shafia Monroe, July 2019
Other Related Experience
-Volunteer Birth Doula with the Gateway Doula Project
-10+ years nanny & childcare experience specializing in infancy
-Independent Contractor with Portland Doula Love 2016-2019
-Mother Tree Internship Mentor 2017, 2018
-Doula Love Mentorship Mentor 2018, 2019
-116 births attended as a labor doula, hundreds of postpartum families served
Connect with Jenna
www.facebook.com/jennachidester.doulacare
doulamatch.net/profile/13806/jenna-chidester
I came to Portland the traditional way; in a caravan with my college band, but roots grow fast in the Pacific NorthWest and it never didn’t feel like home for me. While I made my living in music for a while, I also put my years of experience as a mother’s helper and au pair to work, employed in many Portland homes providing care for children and support to new parents. Since I grew up a big sister in a large family embedded in a tight knit religious community, I’ve never not been surrounded by infants and mothers. Babies are my native language and a great joy to me. Because of that background, my expertise in childcare can seem like intuition but it’s actually a set of skills that I love to teach mothers and fathers who find themselves in this entirely new territory. I’ve watched too many new parents struggle from a lack of modeling and support, and fall victim to the shaming and fear based information that abounds in a society geared away from children and mothers, parents and families. My interest in helping childrearing families has naturally shifted to support families throughout all of the childbearing year because my desire is to build a stronger foundation for the families of Portland to build, grow, and thrive on.
As a trained labor assistant and postpartum doula I strive to be the manifestation of the support a new family would traditionally receive; educating and nurturing new parents, assessing needs and providing referrals within the wider birth community, facilitating better communication and connection between parents and children, and above all caring for every member as a new family is born.
I’ve had the joy of supporting VBACs, teen mothers, Mood Disorder affected parents, ESL and bilingual households, families with nontraditional structures, and twins as a labor and postpartum doula and I look forward to serving many more. My work within the birth community also allows me to continue to further study my other passions: music, social justice, and women’s health and body image.
I live in the Montavilla neighborhood in my converted RV tiny home with my cat, Patrick, and my angora rabbit, Denise. In my free time, I enjoy dismantling the patriarchy, undermining capitalism, and playing my favorite pinball table Medieval Madness all over town. If you see the initials JLC, you know I've been there.
Education and Training
-DONA Birth Doula Training - Mother Tree Birth, Fall 2015 series
-DONA Postpartum Doula Training - Mother Tree Birth, January 2016 weekend intensive
-Collaborative Practice Advanced Doula Training at OHSU - PDX Doulas, Spring 2016
-6 month Birth Doula Internship - Mother Tree Birth, 2016
-ICEA-Approved Childbirth Educator Training - Doula Love Training Center
-CASC training, April 2017
-Adopting Trauma Informed Care for Birth Professionals- by Jesse Remer and Astrid Castro Jan 2019
-Oral Health Education for Doulas
-Adult & Pediatric CPR/First Aid/AED - American Heart Association Heartsaver
-Herbal Support for Lactation and Infants with Melissa Cole of Luna Lactation, June 2018
-Basics of Plant Medicine with Katrina Bubas Stevens, midwife, of the Village Apothecary, 2018, 2019
-Eat, Pray, Doula Advanced Skills Training 2019 in Ubud, Bali with Ibu Robin Lim, Debra Pascali-Bonaro, and Dr. Sarah-Buckley
-Seahorses and Unicorns: Supporting Trans, Genderqueer, & Gender Nonconforming Clients with Trystan Reese, April 2019
-SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion Training with Shafia Monroe, July 2019
Other Related Experience
-Volunteer Birth Doula with the Gateway Doula Project
-10+ years nanny & childcare experience specializing in infancy
-Independent Contractor with Portland Doula Love 2016-2019
-Mother Tree Internship Mentor 2017, 2018
-Doula Love Mentorship Mentor 2018, 2019
-116 births attended as a labor doula, hundreds of postpartum families served
Connect with Jenna
www.facebook.com/jennachidester.doulacare
doulamatch.net/profile/13806/jenna-chidester