I am Martha Snyder, a Pacific Northwest Native. Although I’ve traveled and lived many places around the world, I always yearned for the beauty of the green forests, white capped mountains, and even the constant drizzly rain found this side of the Cascades. I live in beautiful Kirkland with my three children and husband. When I’m not supporting families, I love to knit, play board and tabletop RPGs with my friends and family, and explore the many wonderful parks on the eastside.

Before taking up birth work, I was a full time high school teacher, honing my educational skills in many spaces and locations around the world. I joke that I came to birthwork by accident, lamenting the unused birth tools I had packed for the extremely fast labor for my second child and half offered to be a friend’s doula so I could put the tools and skills I had researched to use. And then the idea of becoming a doula took root, and I couldn’t stop imagining myself helping families in their own birth spaces as they add to their families. Ever the researcher, I looked at dozens of training programs before settling on Bebo Mia’s Maternal Support Practitioner program, appreciating thorough education on the whole perinatal period from conception to postpartum and their commitment to continuing education and support for the graduates.

Philosophy and approach

I believe that each birth is as unique as each family, with different needs, backgrounds, and goals. As a doula, I work to educate you on your options, providing evidence based information so you know both advantages and disadvantages of any choice and feel empowered to make the right decision for you. Birth comes with a mix of emotions: stress, anxiety, joy, excitement, vulnerability, and more. As a doula, I am here to support and guide you and your partner through all these various experiences, helping you find peace and clarity. Finally, I support you and your partner’s physical need by reminding you both to eat and drink, rest when appropriate, and help you move into positions and places you feel most comfortable in.