MEET THE DOULA

I'm Diana, and my passion is better maternity care. I have over ten years of experience in local and national birth advocacy. Prior to becoming a doula, I practiced as a healthcare attorney with a focus on patient rights in birth, midwifery and increasing access to out-of-hospital birth. After my first son's birth in early 2017, I took the plunge to pursue doula work full time.
Since then, I have attended close to 150 births, with a focus on VBAC, planned home birth and low-intervention hospital birth. I have also served as an ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) chapter leader, and now founder of Western Wisconsin Cesarean & VBAC Support Group, providing peer-to-peer support for cesarean recovery and birth after cesarean. In my first two years of practice, over 80 parents and professionals attended my trainings on birth rights and informed consent. In 2021, following years of supporting other VBACers as a doula and through ICAN, I had my own VBAC in the comfort of my home attended by amazing midwives, my own doula, my husband and my older son born by cesarean 4 years prior.
My style as a doula is a blend of holistic, nurturing and informative. I enjoy helping clients claim their own intuition and power, and be present in their birth and postpartum experiences. Parents I've worked with describe me as passionate, warm and caring.
I'm so glad you're here. Toward better birth!
- Diana Snyder
BIRTH DOULA ~ Serving Eau Claire, Menomonie, Rice Lake, Hudson & more
I am trained in birth and postpartum doula support through DONA and CAPPA, respectively, and in full spectrum support through Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings.
In addition to my legal experience around patient rights and midwifery, I have significant professional training and experience in the following areas:
- VBAC
- out-of-hospital birth
- optimal fetal positioning (Spinning Babies trained + experienced, Body Ready Method certified)
- hypnosis for birth (I am a HCHD, Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis Doula)
- trauma-informed care (trained through several organizations)
- pregnancy & infant loss/perinatal bereavement (trained through several organizations)
I received my J.D. from Boston University in 2011 with a concentration in Health Law. Between 2011 and 2018, I practiced at major law firms in California and Boston, where I spent thousands of hours of pro bono time on the issue of patient rights in maternity care.
Pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period are significant life events with enormous potential to have a positive or negative impact on the mother's well-being, and by extension, child(ren), family and broader community.
Unfortunately, our current medical and social systems do not support healthy childbearing and postpartum experiences. I strive to fill that gap by offering clients the combination of information and support that I believe should be available to all expecting parents.
I approach pregnancy and childbirth as normal physiological functions that in low-risk individuals can remain normal and healthy with minimal intervention and proper support. Because birth and parenting are intensely personal, meaningful rites of passage, I believe my clients are at all times capable of making, and best positioned to make, the decisions that are right for them and their babies.
I also acknowledge and support the people and babies who require or desire medical intervention, or who face challenges or experience loss, and believe they should be honored, supported and celebrated equally alongside those whose stories are easier to lift up. Growing, having and caring for a baby requires great strength, beauty and sacrifice, no matter the path or outcome.
I practice trauma-informed care as a universal precaution and seek to elevate the fundamental legal and human rights of people giving birth in a system that otherwise actively subverts them.
Lastly, and importantly, I acknowledge that people with marginalized identities are experiencing life threatening discrimination and poor outcomes in traditional medical systems. Anti-racism and inclusive, affirming care for BIPOC and the LGBTQIA+ community are lifesaving measures that should be the norm, and that I strive to practice in my own work.
I live in Menomonie, Wisconsin with my husband Mike, sons Bennett & Miles, and our beloved Hungarian vizsla, Rocky. Together we enjoy exploring all that Western Wisconsin and Twin Cities have to offer.
When I am not doula-ing, I can also be found: adventuring in the great outdoors (especially state and national parks!), engaging in some amateur Northern Lights-hunting, attending my son & husband's sporting events, running, trying new food, cuddling with my boys & enjoying music.
I had a planned home birth that ended in cesarean in 2017, followed by an intensely challenging but beautiful VBAC at home in 2021. My own birth, postpartum & mothering experiences have greatly informed who I am as a doula. I am forever indebted to all the midwives and birthworkers who have graciously mentored me in my transition to birth work and supported me in my own birth, postpartum & mothering journeys.