The Midwife and Doula Dream Team

Concierge Midwifery + Dedicated Doula Support for Families Across Thousand Oaks, Ventura County, Malibu, West Los Angeles and Beyond

Big news from The Midwife & More.

I’m so excited to announce a new partnership with Mary Skinner of Lotus Doula Tribe, creating a true Dream Team for mothers who want more than standard pregnancy care. Mary is the founder of Lotus Doula Tribe, and while she has a strong team supporting families alongside her, she is the primary doula at the heart of this collaboration. Together, we’re bringing families the best of both worlds: expert medical midwifery care paired with deeply nurturing doula support, all through a local, relationship-based model that helps mothers feel safe, seen, educated, and genuinely cared for. Lotus Doula Tribe identifies Mary as its founder and describes the group as “a tribe of mothers supporting mothers in pregnancy, birth, and beyond.”

At The Midwife & More, I provide concierge-style midwifery care with hospital-based support centered around Los Robles Hospital, where I offer the midwife-led model of care in a setting that also has full medical resources available if needed. My role includes prenatal care, clinical oversight, labor and birth management, delivery, postpartum follow-up, and the kind of unrushed, personalized care that helps women feel informed and empowered throughout pregnancy and birth. That means mothers are not left piecing their care together on their own. They have a provider who already knows their story and is there to guide both the medical side and the bigger picture.

Mary Skinner and Lotus Doula Tribe bring the other half of that experience. Their support is centered on walking with women through pregnancy, preparing them for birth, supporting them through postpartum, and helping ease those early newborn days. On the Lotus Doula Tribe site, Mary and her team describe their work as helping mothers go from anxious, unprepared, and worried to calm, confident, and in control. They offer prenatal preparation, labor support, postpartum care, newborn guidance, and a warm, grounded presence that can change the entire feel of the birth experience. The site also explains that when backup is needed, the Tribe model ensures another doula can step in with the mother’s notes and birth plan fully briefed.

This is what makes the partnership so powerful. When a skilled midwife and an experienced doula work together well, mothers do not have to choose between clinical excellence and emotional support. They get both. I provide the medical care, prenatal management, labor assessment, delivery, postpartum follow-up, and clinical decision-making. Mary brings the continuous non-medical support that helps mothers stay grounded, labor with confidence, and feel held through one of the most vulnerable and important days of their lives. Her team also complements that care with prenatal visits, childbirth preparation, comfort support in labor, postpartum nourishment, breastfeeding support, sibling adjustment help, overnight support, and other practical ways of easing the transition into motherhood.

That is why this really is the ultimate setup. Most women are asked to settle for fragments. A rushed medical system. A provider they barely know. A birth plan no one has really absorbed. Postpartum support that disappears too fast. This Dream Team is different. It creates a fuller experience. Mary helps protect the environment, the emotional steadiness, and the continuity of support. I help protect the medical safety, clinical judgment, and individualized birth management. Together, that means mothers can receive thoughtful preparation, calm support, hands-on guidance, advocacy, postpartum care, and a team that understands birth is not just a medical event. It is also a deeply human one.

This partnership is especially meaningful for mothers who want a more natural, intentional birth in a hospital setting. That is one of the things I care deeply about. I believe women should not have to choose between a peaceful, low-intervention, supported birth and access to hospital resources if they are needed. With this Dream Team, mothers can prepare for a physiologic, supported, deeply personal birth while also knowing they have real clinical oversight and hospital access in place. My practice is built around that exact bridge: bringing the supportive art of midwifery into the hospital setting so women can have both comfort and safety.

Mary’s approach fits beautifully with that vision. Lotus Doula Tribe highlights care that includes customized childbirth education, prenatal yoga, meditation, sound bath offerings, labor environment support such as music, lighting and massage, and postpartum support like nourishing soup, healing tea, newborn care guidance, breastfeeding support, belly binding, massage, and overnight help. That kind of support can be transformative for mothers who want to feel deeply cared for before, during, and after birth.

This Dream Team serves families throughout the greater local region, including Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Oak Park, Newbury Park, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Calabasas, Malibu, Camarillo, Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Paula, Woodland Hills, West Hills, the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and surrounding communities. Lotus Doula Tribe describes itself as serving Ventura County and West Los Angeles, and Christy’s local model is rooted in hospital midwifery and concierge support for families seeking more personalized birth care in this area.

For local mothers, that means something real. It means you do not have to navigate pregnancy, labor, and postpartum feeling rushed, brushed off, or alone. It means you can have a trusted medical provider and a trusted doula working together on your behalf. It means your preferences matter, your questions matter, your recovery matters, and the emotional tone of your birth matters too.