Founder and director
Gloria Pettway, RN
Gloria was a labor and delivery nurse in Montgomery for twenty-two years before she started First Breath at her kitchen table in 2016. She still takes the overnight warmline twice a month.
Our doulas
Fourteen women from these neighborhoods
Most of our doulas were First Breath mothers first. All are trained, certified and paid for their work.
The team
Who might be with you
You'll meet your doula before the birth, and you can ask to change if it isn't a fit.
Our story
Ten years on South Court Street
From one phone and six volunteers to a team that attends a birth almost every day.
2016
Six doulas and a kitchen table
Gloria trains six women from her church and answers the request line on her own cell phone.
2018
The front room on South Court
A donated storefront gives us a place for Sister Circle. Twelve mothers come to the first one.
2020
Births don't stop
When hospitals limit visitors, our doulas support labors by video call and drop off meals on porches.
2023
A nurse joins the team
Lorna starts home blood-pressure checks in week one, after we lose a mother to a stroke at nine days.
2026
Fourteen doulas, 300 births
Most of the new doulas were First Breath mothers who came back to train.
Who we work with
Neighbors in this work
We refer to each other every week. If we can't help with something, one of them usually can.
- RiverRegionDiaperBankSupplies
- West End Family ClinicPrenatal care
- Magnolia MidwivesBirth center
- Southlawn Car Seat StationSafety
- Capitol Heights PediatricsBaby checkups
- Dexter Avenue CounselingMental health