Katie Bertsch
Doula Mentor
Katie studied Human Development and Family Studies with a specialization in Child Development at Michigan State University. She taught preschool, was a nanny for 4 years, is the Children’s Ministry Coordinator at her church, and now gets to be at home with her 3 children. She is a Certified Birth Doula with DONA International, trained in Spinning Babies, and has her Advanced VBAC Doula Certification through The VBAC Link.
Katie absolutely loved being pregnant and witnessing everything her body was capable of doing, and had a very positive first birth experience, even though nothing went as planned. She was supported and encouraged through the whole thing, so it was still a beautiful core memory. But she heard from too many women that they felt like their birth happened TO them and they felt out of control, helpless, and vulnerable. So she decided to learn more about pregnancy, birth, and how to support couples as they did the incredible work of growing their families.
She took her birth doula training through DONA in 2018, and then took the Spinning Babies course in 2020 to further enhance her skills and support clients better. Katie loves anatomy and physiology and how the body was designed to work. Through Spinning Babies, she learned how to interpret where the baby is positioned based on the labor pattern and what mom is feeling, and how to move mom through a series of positions to help the baby rotate and descend into the optimal birthing position. Then, after supporting a few clients through cesareans, she wanted to know how to better support them later if they decided to prepare for a VBAC. She completed the VBAC certification in 2022 and added that tool to her birth doula toolbox! Katie has supported many different birthing options and truly feels unbiased to the “best” way to do it; “I just want to support my clients in whatever way makes them feel seen, known, loved, and secure!”
Katie lives in Rockford and has been married to her high school sweetheart since 2014. They have two sons and a sweet little red-headed daughter.
Katie is currently mentoring new doulas at Gold Coast and is not accepting new solo clients.
Testimonials
Katie gave us the gift of being able to be present and have courage, to help us trust our instincts and intuition. We had an incredible and positive birth experience.
Monica
Our experience was wonderful! My husband and I both agree that Katie’s support during the pregnancy as well as birth was extremely empowering. It was reassuring to have check-ins as well as resources during the pregnancy. Even just being reminded that I’m on track and my body and baby are doing exactly what they need to was really powerful. The birth experience was completely different from my first! Katie was so great at helping us understand and explain what the medical staff was doing as well as encouraging and cheerleading the birthing process. I was relieved to rely on her and not put pressure on my husband. She helped me every step of the way and kept my breathing on track and spoke affirmations that kept me going.
Katie gave us the gift of presence and courage. She helped me trust my intuition and modeled for me how to be attuned to my wife. This is what we desired most and she gave us that gift. Thank you!
Cory
Katie was so good! – calm and knowledgeable. She worked with the hospital team seamlessly. I noticed that I was much more relaxed during this birth than with my first. She was great at listening to me work through the decisions related to the birth and I felt supported advocating for things I wanted. My whole birth team was amazing and I’m very happy with how my labor progressed and my physical and mental state of mind when I welcomed our sweet baby into the world. I’ve even noticed a dramatically quicker recovery postpartum. I felt like I was a priority and cared for during labor which allowed me to focus on my baby and my body.
Cory
This birth was a much different experience (in a very positive way) than my first daughter’s birth. I felt much more supported, and truly felt like my doula team was watching out for my well being. Katie was on call with me the night/day I went into labor (Labor Day–LOL). She was fantastic with supporting my husband as well. They talked while I rested; she was there for both of us during the labor as support. My husband is so glad we decided to go with Gold Coast Doulas as birth support this time around.
Kendall
We loved our experience with Katie as a doula for the birth of our first child and would definitely consider working with her again. She made me feel very comfortable, was incredibly encouraging, and was always available for questions. Katie was experienced, prepared, and informative, providing lots of resources, such as benefits/risks of medication, principles from Spinning Babies, and birthing ball positions. Katie was there every moment during my labor and did amazing work providing counter-pressure on my hips. I don’t know how I would’ve made it through without this, because everything hurt so badly.
Katie helped me find strength within myself to believe I could do it and I completed an all natural, med-free birth. Katie also coached my husband to know how to be supportive and empowered him to be my greatest help. My husband guided me and breathed along with me through each contraction, held my hand, met my gaze, and encouraged me. I couldn’t have done it without him either! Another great thing about Katie was how she created a Memory Timeline from the moment I called her after my water broke until our son was born. She captured all the pivotal moments, even including quotes, and we processed this along with the postpartum experience in our final session. What a gift! The best thing about Katie was how much she genuinely cared. Katie was a great asset to our team. I would recommend her doula services to anyone!
Hannah
We had a wonderful doula for my first birth who recommended Gold Coast Doulas when we got pregnant again. I love that Gold Coast pairs the doulas into teams; it felt like I had two doulas for the price of one! Katie has training in Spinning Babies and offered so many helpful resources and great support when my baby was breech at 36 weeks, and Julie offered some great resources about breastfeeding and milk supply after the birth. Most importantly these two women are open about their faith. Having a Christian doula was very important to us, and we were happy to have Katie attend the birth and essentially worship with us though the process. I am so thankful for all the practical and emotional support we got from our doula team!
Deanna Birchard
Having a Doula during our pregnancy and birth was the best decision we made. I’d highly recommend it. Katie was always available to ask any questions we had during pregnancy and labor leaving us feeling supported and informed and took the worry out of the process. I was able to labor at home for quite awhile and wouldn’t have felt comfortable without Katie’s support. At the hospital Katie met me where I was at and helped support in anyway she could. She was very intuitive and knew what I needed. I highly recommend Katie and Gold Coast!
Devon Hamelink