From 16 weeks
Your own doula
Three visits before the birth, the whole labor beside you, and four visits at home afterwards.
First Breath · South Court Street · since 2016
A doula who already knows your name.
A free doula from your second trimester to twelve weeks after the birth. Photographs shared by First Breath families.
Request a doulaWhy we started
Too many women in this city were giving birth alone
In 2016, Gloria Pettway had been a labor nurse for twenty-two years. She kept seeing the same thing: young mothers from the west side arriving at the hospital with nobody beside them, frightened, and not being listened to when they said something was wrong.
So she trained six women from her church as doulas and started answering her own phone. Today First Breath has fourteen doulas, a lactation consultant and a nurse, and every one of our services is still free.
What's free
Care from the first visit to week twelve
You can have one of these or all of them. You never need insurance.
Tuesdays · 6 PM
Sister Circle
Supper and an honest hour with other mothers, pregnant or newly home. Bring the baby.
Weeks 1 to 12
Home visits
A nurse checks your blood pressure and your stitches, and your doula checks on you.
Weekdays
Feeding help
Rochelle, our lactation consultant, comes to your house or meets you at the office.
Saturdays · 10 AM
Childbirth class
Four Saturdays: labor, pain relief, speaking up at the hospital, and the first week home.
The numbers we watch
2025, counted
We track these because they are the numbers that tell us whether mothers are safer.
January to December 2025
Figures from our case records, reviewed by our board each February.
- Mothers paired with a doula312
- Births a First Breath doula attended1287
- Postpartum home visits1,904
- Mothers screened for postpartum depression2296
- Babies still breastfeeding at three months361%
- Cost to any family$0
- 1The rest were emergency or very early births where the doula met the family afterwards.
- 2At two weeks and six weeks, with referrals made the same day.
- 3Among mothers who planned to breastfeed.
From a mother
When the nurse said my pressure was fine, Shonda said, check it again. They checked it again. I had preeclampsia. I think about that every time I look at my son.
At 1218 South Court
This month at First Breath
Oct13
Sister Circle: sleep, and the lack of it
6:00 PM · Front room, 1218 S Court St
Supper from Mrs. Lyles's kitchen. Babies welcome.
Oct17
Childbirth class, week one
10:00 AM · Classroom
Four Saturdays. Bring a pillow and a support person.
Oct24
Car seat fitting
9:00 AM · Parking lot
A certified tech checks your seat in ten minutes. Free seats if yours has expired.
Nov7
Birth kit packing night
5:30 PM · Classroom
Volunteers pack 60 kits. Pizza provided.
Nothing in that category this month.
Request a doula
Any week of pregnancy. We call you back within one working day.