About Me

My journey to become a lactation consultant started after the births of my three children. My life dream and goal was to become a Labor & Delivery nurse in our local small town hospital. I pursued my Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing degree at Montana State University. Graduating in 2008 with my BSN and moving back to Central Oregon with my husband and establishing our life here. I worked on the Medical-Surgical unit in Redmond, OR from 2010-2013. In 2013 I was able to train and transfer to a Postpartum care position in Redmond Family Birth Center. I remained there taking care of moms and babies and doing A LOT of breastfeeding teaching and support in my role at the hospital.

In the midst of an advancing career we had our first child in 2011. She was born with a very obvious anterior tongue tie which significantly impacted breastfeeding. This is when I received support from a Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) for the first time. Our breastfeeding journey would not have been as successful as it was without her help and guidance in those first few weeks. Although I fell short of my goal to breastfeed for one year we did make it about 9 months of exclusive breastfeeding. In 2013 our second child was born. This breastfeeding journey was by far easier than the first. It’s amazing how much we don’t really know about breastfeeding before our first journey, and how something “that is so natural, and what your body is supposed to do” is so difficult at times and different with each child. In 2016 our third child was born. Breastfeeding started off well and was seemingly easy to manage with two other children in the house. It wasn’t until she was about 5 months old when I realized, “No, this actually isn’t easy!” She couldn’t maintain suction on my breast, I had to support it in her mouth during the whole feed. She couldn’t maintain suction on a pacifier or bottle. She wouldn’t or couldn’t drink from a bottle and I was still nursing her every hour and a half because she wasn’t taking in enough during each feed. It was then that I reached out and found a local Lactation Consultant who was doing in home visits offering lactation support to moms like me. She came to our home and assessed my daughter and I. My daughter was diagnosed with a Posterior Tongue Tie at almost 6 months old. We had laser release surgery in Portland a week or so later and this completely saved our breastfeeding journey. I was fortunate enough to continue our breastfeeding journey way longer than I ever intended, making it almost 2 years!

It was during this experience when I met Marilyn Watkins, RN, IBCLC. She was the Lactation Consultant who came to my home and helped us improve our breastfeeding experience. I had already felt a tug and passion to pursue lactation support and my IBCLC prior to meeting Marilyn. But it was after our home visits that I knew that I wanted to actively pursue my IBCLC and lactation education and eventually have my own private practice and offer in home consultations to continue to make this service available to moms and babies in Central Oregon. The timing wasn’t right until the fall of 2018 when St Charles Health System announced their intent to close the Redmond FBC and I was slated to lose my job in Redmond FBC; or be forced to change departments, or go work in Bend FBC. None of these options were ones that I wanted to pursue. It was at this time that I decided to pursue the education that I needed to sit for the IBCLC exam in October 2019. In June I reached out to Marilyn and approached her about mentoring me and taking over her private practice as she was preparing to retire. She was thrilled, as she was reluctant to retire and give up practicing lactation and offering this service to women in Central Oregon. She had been looking for someone to take over her practice and the right person hadn’t come along yet.

I am truly thrilled to be pursuing my dream of becoming a Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and continuing to offer home visits to moms and babies in Central Oregon. I love empowering moms to listen to their own voice and their baby. It is a joy to be such a special part of the mothering journey! Daily, I am amazed at the strength and perseverance of mothers. I look forward to many years of working with moms and babies!