a labor nurse and nurse midwife turned doula, bringing 8 years of hands-on birthwork experience to families as they navigate pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

My passion for birth advocacy was born in nursing school, when I witnessed a delivery where everything that could go wrong did — and no one seemed to think to include the woman actually giving birth in the conversation. I watched her become a background character in the chaos of her own birth story, and I knew that day that I wanted to do something about it. I have spent my career trying to bridge the gaps in knowledge, confidence, and informed decision-making that too many families fall through.

Over the years, I have had the privilege of supporting over a thousand births — from peaceful water births to emergency c-sections and everything in between. My training in Spinning Babies and BundleBirth methods, combined with my clinical background, gives me a deep toolkit for supporting you wherever your journey leads. But if I'm being honest, my most formative education came from my own two pregnancies. I walked into my first pregnancy confident that, as someone who works with pregnant people every day, I knew what to expect. I could not have been more wrong. I ended that pregnancy with a premature baby in the NICU after a two-day medical induction for pre-eclampsia, exclusively pumping, and deeply grateful for the doula who carried me through it. My second pregnancy brought its own emotional challenges — and my doula carried me through those too. Those experiences didn't just shape me as a birthworker; they are the reason I became one.

For years, I loved the work I was able to do as a labor nurse and midwife, but I found myself constantly pushing against the constraints of a medicalized system that doesn't always put families first. Joining Thrive has given me the freedom to support families the way I always hoped to — on your terms, with your goals at the center.

I've trained in Spinning Babies and BundleBirth methods, and I am passionate about helping you make fully informed decisions so that your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience feels empowered — whatever that looks like for you.

When I'm not supporting families, you can find me slowly but surely tackling my builder-grade house with my self-taught DIY skills, staying up way too late after my two girls go to bed (I am a committed night owl and proud of it), and reaching for a Diet Coke before literally any other beverage. I can also say from personal experience — two unmedicated medical inductions, pitocin and all — that so much is possible with the right support. I can't wait to be that support for you.

Mallory Kahrs, CNM, CD