Christine Frackelton, CD(DONA), CBS
West Palm Beach Doula & Breastfeeding Specialist
My Why & How
I am a doula because I love birth, love people, and desire to leave my world both healthier than I found it, and also with greater cultivation of the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (from Galatians 5:22-23). Seeing that families are well tended during the childbearing cycle helps me to achieve these goals for parents as well as the next generation.
Volumes of scientific evidence have been recorded supporting physiologic birth, the golden first hour, attachment parenting, and breastfeeding as promoters of optimal health outcomes. For that reason, I am happy to support these initiatives, too!
However, what shifts my otherwise black and white view of birth into one full of color is reverence for how my clients invite the Creator to bring new life through them, and ultimately, to make a family. Witnessing parents go within themselves, be transformed by the journey into parenthood, and then find the power to transform history by shining a light for their new family is my highest honor in this work. Because a fathers’ presence and involvement in his children’s lives is one of the strongest protective factors in growing up, I find a particular joy in helping dads discover their self efficacy to support the laboring and breastfeeding mother.
My theory and vision is this: that by expressing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control to the new parents — during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum — these parents will nurture the same fruits of the spirit in theirselves and their newborn children.
Every expecting mother deserves to know her prospective doula’s uncensored perspective on birth. Click to read mine.
Outside of birth work:
When not working with my amazing clients, I may be found tossing the frisbee to my kooikerhondje Dobby, cooking up fresh produce alongside my husband Rob (an award winning economics teacher), or playing hide and seek with our 3 children (ages 6-12), typically while reading a book or needlepointing from behind the door. I also love giving back to my community. Currently I organize a local doula support circle and serve in the Junior League of the Palm Beaches. A Georgia native and former resident of Alabama, the Carolinas, and Virginia, one of my bucket list items came true when we moved in 2014 down here to the coastal subtropics. My bucket list also includes hiking the entire Appalachian Trail (I’m over half way finished!) and attending medical school when my children are a little bit older.
Let’s hang out!
Once upon a time in this spot, there were buttons to social media pages, but I much prefer meeting in real life. Please contact me at tremendoulas@gmail.com or 561-827-3263 if you’d like to meet. I offer a complimentary 1 hour consultation at various locations near downtown West Palm Beach, or can meet by zoom or FaceTime.
honors, experience, & Education
The following is a sampling of my ongoing efforts to grow my knowledge and skills, as well as previously attended trainings, learning experiences, professional memberships, and certifications:
2023
- Joined and credentialed through theDoulaNetwork.com to improve birth doula access for those insured by medicaid
- The Science of Well-Being (ongoing) course via Yale University
- Belly Binding for Birth Professionals course & Self Binding for Postpartum Women course (ongoing)
2022
- Personally undergoing pregnancy, childbirth, & postpartum as a gestational carrier for a family member’s baby (with a doula’s support)
- The BirthRite Experience (education for use of birth seats)
2021
- Attained Certified Breastfeeding Specialist credential from Lactation Education Resources
- Completed 90 hour Lactation Consultant Training Program
2020
- Recertification as a DONA International Certified Birth Doula
- Joined Evidence Based Birth (EBB) Academy and became an EBB Pro Member
2019
- completed pre medical coursework (began in 2017) through FAU Post Baccalaureate Medical Pathway Program
2018
- DONA Summit, including a full day preconference workshop on the Practical Use of the Mexican Rebozo for Optimal Birth Outcomes. Other workshops attended include: Strategies for Advocacy; Reducing Emotional Trauma from an Unexpected Cesarean; the Art, Science, and Wisdom of the Cuarantena, and Destination Laborland: Setting a Fresh Course towards Physiological Birth.
- Joined the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH)
2017
- Shadowed home birth advocate OB/GYN Stuart Fischbein, M.D.
- CD(DONA) certification credential attained
- Touch for Health I (muscle testing and balancing)
2016
- Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy Self-Care Training
- Midwife designed childbirth education series from Abundant Life Birth Center
- Personally undergoing pregnancy, labor, and postpartum for my 3rd born child (with a doula’s support)
2015
- DONA International Birth Doula workshop & DONA International approved breastfeeding course for doulas
- ProDoula Postpartum Doula workshop
- ProDoula Postpartum Placenta Specialist training
- Birthing From Within Birth Art Process course
- K-Power (energy kinesiology) for Mind Body Therapists and Birth Professionals
- Red Cross pediatric and adult first aid, CPR, and AED
- Biologix Bloodborne Pathogens for Placenta Encapsulation Professionals
2014
- Bradley Method childbirth education series
Prior to 2014
- ICEA membership & enrollment in Prenatal Fitness Educator (2012)
- Lamaze childbirth education series
- Childbearing cycles for my two oldest children, with a hired doula at each birth
- BA in Studio Art from Wake Forest University
Christine Frackelton, CD(DONA), CBS 