Birth Doula and Birth Photographer Denver

My name is Kelly Contreras. I serve growing families in the Denver, Thornton, and surrounding areas. I have supported families in several different settings -hospital births, home births and birth center births. I have also had the pleasure of supporting families that are expecting twins, babies with known medical needs, and surrogates carrying for intended families.  

I grew up in Central Florida so when I speak passionately about something, my southern twang tends to come out. In my early 20's, I spent a couple summers volunteering with Youth With a Mission in Tijuana, Mexico. It was there that I met a sweet Santa Barbara boy who was also volunteering there in the summers. He and I dated long distance for a while until 2007 when I traded one coast for another and moved to Santa Barbara to be closer to him. Felipe and I got married in May of 2009. He and I have 3 daughters - Lilah, Macy, and Charlee. In June of 2018, my husband transferred job locations, which is what brought our family of 5 here to Thornton, CO.

 I am often asked why I became a doula. My answer is ALWAYS because of my amazing doula. She attended all three of our daughters births. She was encouraging, empowering, caring, loving, supportive, tender, our advocate and so much more. She helped me see how strong and capable I really am. She acknowledged my desires for birth and helped me see them through. Having her there made my husband feel comforted and helped normalize what can happen during birth too. Her compassion and continuous support was so inspiring that it made me want to become a doula so that I can help support other growing families.

My role as the birth doula is to provide physical, emotional, informational support, as well as advocacy during pregnancy, labor and birth. To me, there is no wrong way to birth. I am an advocate for the birthing person to birth in a way that feels right for them and their family. During labor, it is especially important for a laboring person to surround themselves with nonjudgemental people that believe in them and their body's ability to birth. I feel honored when I am invited into that group of support. 

One of my favorite parts about being a doula is the relationship that is built during pregnancy. I love getting to know my clients on a deeper level and find out what makes them unique! I enjoy the texts that start out like "This might be silly question, but..." There is no such thing as a silly question or "too much information" for me. I love it all! I want the families that I work with to feel comfortable with me so that I am not just another stranger in the birthing room. 

Photo: Katie Torres with @yourstoryDenver

-DONA-Certified Birth Doula

-Certified VBAC Doula (The VBAC Link)

-"Birth Becomes You" Certified Photographer

-Body Ready Method Pro

-Placenta Encapsulation specialist  

-trained in Spinning Babies techniques 

-TENS unit trained 

Other facts about me:

-Laughter is a huge piece of my personality. I love to laugh! I hope to bring joy in the birthing space. 

-I start every day with coffee -I'm a decaf gal now.

- I am a 1 on the Enneagram.

-I consider myself to be inclusive of all families. 

-I have a special place in my heart for families that want to incorporate their faith as birth can be a spiritual experience for some. 

-I am trying to be a plant mom. My indoor plants make me happy.

-I am a mom to a silly Labradoodle named Buddy.