Calm, experienced care for pregnancy, birth, and beyond
Hello! I’m Stephanie Hammond, a lifelong Ottawa resident, a mother of two grown children, and a proud grandmother to two.
For over 30 years, I’ve supported children and families through seasons of growth and transition. It began when I was young — if there was a baby in the room, I wanted to hold them. Long before I knew the word Doula, I was already doing this work, offering friends and families a steady presence, gentle guidance, and compassionate care.
After my maternity leave, I connected with a mother at an EarlyON centre, supporting her through postpartum. That experience naturally grew into working alongside families as a mother’s helper, deepening my path into this work.
Today, I support families through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum so you can feel calm, informed, and never alone during this transition
My role as your Doula
I provide steady, compassionate support to women and families throughout pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. This support is rooted in empowerment, helping you trust yourself, recognize your strength, and feel confident in your choices. I bring a listening ear, encouragement, and a calm presence, standing beside you when things feel overwhelming. I help amplify your voice when words are hard to find, offer guidance when clarity is needed, and provide nurturing, grounded care when it matters most.
As a birth doula, I offer emotional, physical, and informational support before, during, and after childbirth, helping families feel informed, supported, and respected throughout the birth experience.
As a postpartum doula, I support families during the early weeks—and sometimes months—after birth. This includes guidance with emotional and physical recovery, newborn care education, and the transition into parenthood, as well as referrals to other trusted professionals when needed
As a trained neuroscience practitioner, I also offer nurtured, evidence-based education and support to help families understand their babies and build confident, connected relationships. This care is calm, compassionate, and responsive—meeting you exactly where you are, especially during the early months of parenthood.
My support blends intuition with science and may include gentle, relationship-based care tailored to your family’s rhythm; co-regulation guidance to help your baby feel safe, calm, and connected; and brain-building connection through everyday interactions. Sleep support is nurture-based and respects your baby’s natural sleep patterns—without sleep training—honouring both your baby’s needs and your values.
The work of doulas helps lay a strong foundation for families and communities. By offering informed, compassionate support during one of life’s most transformative seasons, doulas contribute to a more connected, confident, and supported world.
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,
but they will never forget how you made them feel.” ~ Maya Angelou
Supporting the process
I am very excited to assist you in your birth and/or postpartum Period. This is a time where the family needs to form some routines and may need some physical and/or emotional support with this.
My heart is happiest when I am working with families from pregnancy to seeing families fly on their own. Whether you are doing this with or without a partner, a same sex partner, have a single baby or multiples, no what your household situation looks like, I come without bias or judgement. Whether you are looking for birth support, postpartum or both, I come with the evidence based knowledge, resources and experience to support you. No matter what the scenario, my commitment to you is always the same and is for every family I work with. I will support you during the day, for overnight support or both.
Pregnancy and birth come with joy but at times can come with some fear, anxiety or frustration so it doesn’t surprise me how many people find themselves online with ‘Dr Google’. I would much rather provide you with information to help you feel less overwhelmed in your process. With such a wide variety of technology/products available, trying to make sense of it all can be challenging. I will provide you with product knowledge, help you set up your space and can help you simplify it all. I am here to steer you into the direction where you feel empowered to do it on your own. Births look different for everyone and I will be there for whatever it brings from the beginning to the end.
I feel that the postpartum period can get overlooked by some care providers and that leaves mothers and families feeling lost and without direction. You come home with your new bundle and somehow find yourself alone and not knowing where to start. I would like to replace ‘Dr Google’. During the postpartum period there are so many questions and I am hoping to answer them for you.
Bottom line is…..I can help🤍
You might feel like your motherhood journey has more questions than answers
What does my baby’s birth look like when I imagine my special day?
How can I move past feeling overwhelmed?
I am feeling alone and confused, what can I do?
Who can I talk to, who understands?
Where can we find support for my partner to best support me?
I can help create a plan to guide you through pregnancy, birth and your postpartum period
Deciding How you want your birth to go can be daunting, especially if it is your first baby. I will help you with your birth preferences and deciding what works for you and makes you feel comfortable going into your birth.
I will listen, comfort, offer suggestions all the while giving you an unbiased experience. This is very important to me. This is your journey so I would like you to be in control and in the driver's seat. If you are unable to use your voice, I will advocate for you to respect your wishes and your plan but I will never speak for you.
Sometimes postpartum work is just taking twin babies out for a stroll while mom takes a much needed break.
