Birthwork

Courtney (she/her) is a Cornerstone certified Postpartum Care Specialist/Doula, Doula Trainings International trained Full Spectrum Doula, and Placenta Encapsulation Specialist. She studied Biomedical Engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology before transferring to East Carolina University, where she studied human gross anatomy and recieved a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Biology.

Courtney is a direct descendant of the Mvskoke Creek Indians of Florida/Georgia/Alabama, and a former member of the Echota Cherokee Indian Tribe of Florida. She is currently transitioning her family's enrollment into the Santa Rosa Band of the Lower Muscogee. With a blended inter-tribal background rooted within the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Waccamaw Siouan Tribe, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Chickasaw Nation, Narragansett Indian Tribe, and Wampanoag Nation, tribal enrollement for her family is of utmost importance in order to preserve indigenous culture, community, and self-idenity for herself, her children, and future generations to come.

As an indiginous birthworker, Courtney strives to provide advocacy for cultural humility, birth equity, trauma-informed & gender-affirming care, evidence-based holistic support, personal autonomy, and reproductive justice for all individuals. She has specilaized training in reproductive health support, fertility & conception support, lactation & breast/chest/body feeding coaching, prenatal care & childbirth preparation, infant care support, labor & birth support, placenta encapsulation services, and supportive postpartum care.

With kind, welcoming eyes, Courtney radiates a familiar aura that harmoniously holds space for each and every individual she encounters. Her extensive experience is in close association with LGBTQIA+ & BIPOC families, survivors of sexual trauma/PTSD/self-harm, advanced maternal age, effective contraceptive techniques, cycle awareness, assisted insemination, surrogacy, ovulation tracking, gestational nutrition, loss & unforeseen medical termination, placental abnormalities, antepartum hospital transfer, prodromal labor, precipitous labor, holistic & medical-based induction, hypnobirthing, non-pharmacological pain management, hospital/birth center/free birth, abdominal-based birth (cesarean), TOLAC & VBAC, NICU admittance & overnight stay, induced lactation & supply maintenance, PMAD, IGT, sibling introduction, family expansion, and many more!

Permaculture

Courtney is the primary caregiver for her two 'free-range' children, who spend most of their days in their mother's shadow, seeking knowledge from nature. Since toddlerhood, Courtney has assisted in free-birthing & hand-rearing poultry, swine, horses, cattle, goats, working dogs, amphibians, reptiles, and pest control felines. Her everlasting appreciation for the birthing process is deeply rooted in her background of specialized animal care and survivalism.

With a post-secondary educational background in biomedical engineering, medical & anatomy-based biology, horticulture, and microbiology, Courtney offers a vast range of educationally-integrated services. She is currently hand-rearing artificially incubated poultry, documenting egg development & growth patterns, and cross-breeding F2/3/4 generations for optimal egg pigment variation. Her breed selections include North American, Australian, French, British, Chinese, Chilean, Japanese, Polish, and Malaysian poultry.

Courtney's permaculture services currently include: permaculture design support, pasture-raised poultry production, pasture-raised fertile egg production, surrogate-based & artificial egg incubation, seasonal herb cultivation, seasonal fruit & veggie production, live-edge woodworking, perennial bulb cultivation, pollinator plant propagation, heirloom seed banking & germination, and food preservation.

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Meet Courtney!

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I received prenatal care at the Women's Birth and Wellness Center of Chapel Hill for both of my reproductive journeys. My first pregnancy was textbook worthy, but sadly took an unexpected turn with a placental abruption that ensued at the beginning of a lengthy episode of prodromal labor. With my daughter's health as my top priority at the time, I agreed to be transferred to a hospital setting: I was medically induced, manually dilated, and still able to achieve my desired vaginal birth. I labored for roughly 57 hours, but eventually requested an epidural for some much needed sleep before baby's arrival. During such an unanticipated string of events, my midwives and birth doula, Abigail, helped us tremendously with navigating the uncharted territories of a medicated hospital birth. My daughter was born healthy, with no evidence of trauma. I breastfed her for 14 months until I conceived for a second time.

My second pregnancy, thankfully, was much more straightforward. I was able to labor & birth within WBWC's walls, non-medicated, and surrounded by my doula & midwives. My son, however, had other plans when making his grand entrance into the world; he, unfortunately, inhaled meconium/fluid during the final moments of delivery, granting him a 5-day stay at UNC's NICU. Minutes after birth, an oxygen mask was placed over his face & the birth center issued an emergency transfer. As my husband accompanied my son in the ambulance, my doula remained by my side, helping me muster up the strength to stand up, gather myself, and head to the hospital yet again. My son is now thriving, predicted to be 6' tall, and has the build of a champion rugby player. I was able to breastfeed him for 12 months, which concluded with self-weaning.

Medical intervention seemed to be in the cards for our family, but I'm eternally grateful for the humility and selflessness that Abigail poured out to us during anxious times. My "knowledge of the unknown" is something I hold onto dearly, and strive to apply to each of my clients' reproductive journeys.

My Personal Reproductive Experience....

My experience with the symbiotic relationship between livestock and agriculture began long before I could even walk! I was raised on a horse farm located in the Florida panhandle, where my parents continuously cared for & brought up horses, pigs, cows, goats, chickens, turkeys, guineas, ducks, geese, quail, working dogs, kittens, and pretty much anything else that decided to wander onto our property to give birth. I can remember the pregnant deer that nested in our front woods while preparing for birth; their fawns would join in grazing with our animals, unaware of any difference in their nature of existence.

Along with our ever-growing list of mammals and poultry to care for, we also directed our time & energy toward various fields of seasonal herbs, vegetables, legumes, and pollinator-friendly plants. Amongst our magnificent plant beds and pollinator gardens, were fruit frees, hardy perennial shrubs, and ancient hardwoods; achieving sustainable agroforestry was our greatest motivation! By following the guidelines of *silvopasture when planting crops, we have always had success in using our animals & poultry as built-in pest & forage management.

Since leaving Florida, we have lived in several southern states; we chose to always move our livestock with us, as well as create new permaculture-based setups with each new home. After years of relocating, we finally settled in rural North Carolina, where my parents have since retired from the livestock & agriculture life, leaving me to carry on our family traditions.

*Silvopasture is an agroforestry system that combines trees, forages, and livestock grazing. It is the deliberate integration of plants & animals designed to assist in animal nutrition and symbiotic uses.

My Homegrown Roots in Permaculture...