Hello. I'm Ashley.
Eventually, I became just as fascinated by how we learn as by what we learn. I hold a master’s degree in Instructional Design & Educational Technology, and that work has changed the way I think about childbirth education. I don’t want to just give you more information. I want to help you make sense of it, practice it, connect it to your own experience, and feel like you can actually use it when you need it.
That’s where Braid Birth comes in.
I created Braid to bring together the things I love most:
- evidence-based childbirth education
- creativity
- movement
- thoughtful conversation
- practical learning
My classes are designed to feel less like studying for a test and more like figuring out how you want to move through this huge, strange, exciting, sometimes overwhelming transition.
I don’t believe there is one right way to give birth, prepare for birth, or become a parent. I’m here to give you good information, useful tools, space to think, and a little more confidence in your ability to navigate your own experience.
I’m a childbirth educator, instructional designer, creative, and lifelong student of birth, bodies, and how we learn.
My own journey into childbirth education started when I was pregnant with my first child. My husband and I were the people who wanted to know everything, so we signed up for a Lamaze class. I loved it immediately. I loved learning about birth, but I especially loved discovering that having information, practicing skills, and understanding my options could actually change how I felt going into birth. That experience set me on a path I’m still following. I trained as a doula, taught movement for pregnancy, became a Lamaze educator and educator trainer, and spent more than a decade learning alongside families and other birth professionals.
Why Braid?
The name Braid Birth is inspired by the many strands that come together around birth.
The body, mind, and spirit.
Parent, baby, and birth team.
Pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
Knowledge, skills, and confidence.
Even the umbilical cord reflects this idea: three vessels woven together to connect and sustain new life.
A braid is stronger because its individual strands are woven together. Birth is, too. Braid Birth is about bringing together evidence, education, embodied practice, and support so families can feel more prepared, capable, and confident as they navigate their own birth and postpartum experience.
