Back to Nature Birth & Postpartum Support

Rebecca Castka

Hi! I'm so glad you're here. I'm a 44-year-old mother of two girls, ages 8 and 11. I live with my husband, children, and two cats on the South Shore of Long Island. I have spent more than two decades in nonprofit community services, providing program development and fundraising support to organizations that offer an array of family and children's services. And now I'm a doula!

My own personal experiences with childbirth and the postpartum period are what inspired me to become a doula. My first daughter was born via a very difficult and prolonged labor process that ended in a C section. My second was a successful VBAC. In both instances, I found myself being heavily influenced by the medical model of care and swept up in myriad birth interventions that I didn't feel confident enough to push against, and I have always wondered how my experiences might have differed if I'd had more support and a bigger community to back me up.

I also suffered from postpartum depression, though I didn't know it at the time--I just thought I wasn't meant to be a mom. I don't want other women to struggle the way I did and I know there's a better way. My philosophy for birth and family support work is based on a return to nature, listening to and trusting our bodies and our intuition rather than succumbing to the noisy influences of the market-driven, medicalized, and social media saturated birth and parenting culture around us. I promote a minimalist approach to childbirth preparation and the postpartum period with an emphasis on personal confidence and community rather than having all the things and following all the trends. That said, I will always respect and support your wishes and preferences because above all I am here to support YOU in your childbirth and parenting journey.

I've completed my DONA International workshop requirement, earned my Intro to Childbirth and Lactation certificates, and I'm now officially a birth and postpartum doula working toward DONA certification. I would love to meet you.