BELLY TO CRADLE, LLC
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    • Our Office
    • What Clients Say >
      • Heidi's Story
      • Robert & Courtney's Story
  • Services
    • Doula Care
    • Sibling & Postpartum Doula Care
    • Childbirth Education
    • Lactation >
      • Book Your Consultation
      • Getting Lactation Reimbursement
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Discover the Benefits of
Collaborative Birth Care

As the first birth care agency in the Pensacola area, Belly to Cradle provides choices to meet your birth care needs from early pregnancy to long after you give birth! We provide a wide range of services and experience as well as pricing options so that you can match yourself with the perfect package of birth and postpartum services for you.

Our Labor & Birth Doulas

Our doulas ​provide back-up for one another, so that you can become familiar with them before your birth, and feel assured that there is always a wealth of knowledge and support available to your doula through her teammates. Our doulas have been serving the Pensacola & Gulf Coast area for more than 8 years, and attend all types of births -- from VBACs to scheduled cesareans, to medicated or unmedicated births. We commit to providing unbiased, unconditional support no matter what kind of birth you have! When you choose to explore your doula care options with BTC, contact us and we will set up a free consultation to match you with the perfect services for your needs. 
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Rachel Ley

Rachel is a veteran postpartum and birth doula with over a decade of experience in the wellness space. She is passionate about health, fitness, and nutrition, and enjoys incorporating this passion into prenatal education to ensure her clients have the most information possible for a healthy pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Her goals for her clients involve a supported birth AND postpartum experience--she loves providing postpartum doula care! A mother of two, she lives in Gulf Breeze with her partner and their blended family. 
Connect with Rachel!
Trainings & Certifications:
CAPPA, Hypnobirth & StillBirth Trained Doula
​Postpartum Doula
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Melissa Robinson

Melissa Robinson, also known as "Missy", is a BEST Certified Birth Doula, Certified Holistic Placenta Encapsulation Specialist through Woman’s Choice Perinatal Services, and trained childbirth educator and postpartum doula. Melissa was born and raised in Hartford & Bloomfield, Connecticut, but has recently relocated to Pensacola, FL with her husband and her three beautiful children. Missy has not just the knowledge, but also the experience to support, comfort and educate birthing families through their own birth and post partum journeys, while fostering connections and a great sense of community. Missy’s other hobbies include meditation, camping, kayaking, shopping, attending all of the local fairs, zoo’s, carnival and pop up markets. And she can always be found in one of Pensacola’s crystal shops!
Connect with Melissa!
Trainings & Certifications:
BEST Certified Birth Doula
Women's Choice Postpartum Services Placenta Encapsulator
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Mica Dray

Mica is a BEST certified birth doula. She became interested in doula work after her own first birth--she knew it was the calling for her after having an amazing experience the second time around. Mica knows that birth can be full of unknowns that can feel scary. She also believes that with the right education and support, the fear surrounding birth can be removed! She would be honored to help you achieve the beautiful, empowering birth you deserve. When she isn't attending births, Mica is a full-time mom to three little boys. She loves family, church, all things pregnancy and birth, and chai tea lattes. 
Connect with Mica!
Trainings & Certifications:
BEST Labor & Birth Doula Certification
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Heidi Hudgens

Heidi is a BEST certified birth doula & childbirth educator, and trained postpartum doula. A native to Pace, Florida, she now lives in Milton with her husband and three daughters. She is a former Kindergarten teacher who spends her days homeschooling and babysitting. She also enjoys teaching Bible class, reading books on the beach and staying up too late watching Neflix! Heidi has always viewed birth as a beautiful and life-changing process. During her first vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), she discovered the positive impact a doula can have before, during, and after birth. Heidi believes at every birth, a baby, a mother, and a new family is born. She will bring love and support during one of the most important days of your life.
Trainings & Certifications:
​BEST Doula Workshop—View Certificate
​BEST Childbirth Educator Workshop—View Certificate
VBAC Link Doula Training—View Certificate
​
Spinning Babies Workshop 
Connect with Heidi!
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Lindsey Roderick

Lindsey is a Doula certified through BEST Doula Training and The VBAC Link, a childbirth educator and certified birth assistant. She is also a USAF veteran and Georgia transplant to the Pensacola area. She was brought to birthwork by her own birth journeys and a desire to support families in whatever way they choose to give birth. She loves educating families on all of their options and helping them discover what their best births look like! Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) holds a special place in her heart, leading her to train as a VBAC doula through The VBAC Link. Lindsey contributes a sense of non-judgemental calm and understanding through whatever circumstances her clients' births present. As she likes to say, “I don’t hold babies, I hold mothers.”

​In 2020, she became co-owner and operator of BTC alongside founder, Amber Roman, and completed her birth assistant certification through the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC). She lives with her husband and their three kids—a boy and two girls—in Milton.

In preparation for the opening of the BloomWell birth center, Lindsey will no longer be taking doula clients.
Trainings & Certifications:
BEST Doula Certification Workshop--View Certificate
BEST Childbirth Educator Workshop--View Certificate
VBAC Link Doula Training--View Certificate
AAP Neonatal Resuscitation--View Card
CPR/BLS--View Card
​Spinning Babies Workshop
American Associations of Birth Centers Birth Assistant Training—View Certificate
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​Amber Roman

Amber is the founder of Belly to Cradle, a veteran Doula, and a Certified Nurse-Midwife. She is certified as a doula through BEST Doula Training, a childbirth educator certified through ICEA, and a placenta arts specialist trained through APPA. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of South Alabama in December 2019, and currently works as a labor and delivery nurse in Milton. In 2022, she obtained her Master's of Nursing in Midwifery degree at Frontier Nursing University and became a Certified Nurse-Midwife. Before she realized her calling as a birth educator and doula, Amber graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in Communications and Marketing and then worked for Regions Bank for seven years--it was during this time that her deep connection to birth rooted itself as she became a full-time working mother. Since then she has supported hundreds of families in the Pensacola area through their births, and served on the boards of multiple birth-related non-profits, most recently as the Treasurer of Project Birth Center Pensacola. These days, you can find her catching babies in the Belly to Cradle affiliate birth center, BloomWell. She has four children -- three boys and a girl --and lives in Milton, Florida.

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In preparation for the opening of the BTC birth center in 2022, Amber is no longer available to accept new clients.
Trainings & Certifications:
ICEA Labor Doula Workshop
DONA Labor Doula Workshop
BEST Doula Training Workshop--View Certificate
ICEA Childbirth Education Workshop
APPA Placenta Encapsulation Course
Biologix Blood Borne Pathogen Safety Course
Food Handler's Card--View Certificate
Farewell/Bereavement Doula Care
Spinning Babies Workshop--View Completion Certificate
BLS/CPR--View Card
AAP Neonatal Resuscitation—View Card
Bachelor of Science in Nursing, University of South Alabama
Master of Science in Nursing, CNEP, Frontier Nursing University
American Midwifery Certification Board

Our Lactation Consultants

Our lactation consultants are Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs), the highest crediential available for lactation specialists, and are members in good standing of the International Lactation Consultant Association with years of both independent and hospital experience. They provide both in-home and in-office consultations with a focus on your long-term breastfeeding goals! They commit to providing you with the most comprehensive, expert newborn-feeding support possible, no matter what your feeding journey might entail. ​Want to meet with a BTC lactation consultant? Schedule your appointment in three easy steps, here!
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Melissa McCann

Melissa is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and registered nurse. She has 9 years experience as a nurse in the NICU, 4 years experience with inpatient lactation in a children’s hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, and experience in telehealth lactation. She recently moved to Pace, Florida with her husband and two children and serves families from Pensacola to Milton. She is a firm believer in supporting families in their respective feeding journeys and has a passion for teaching as well. She has a love of plants, animals, the ocean, movies, and fitness.
Trainings & Certifications:
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Bachelors of Science in Nursing
​Registered Nurse
Schedule your consult with Melissa Now!
Trainings & Certifications:
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Registered Nurse

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The Belly to Cradle
Philosophy

Prayer is Powerful. Some expectant parents value this power as well, and choose to integrate it into their birth experience as a way to relieve anxiety, frustration, fear, and tension. 
 
Birth is a biological process. In a vast majority of cases, pregnancy and birth are not illnesses and do not cause illness, and in most circumstances (but not all) it is not an emergency. Therefore, childbearing should not be treated like an illness or an emergency unless the  mother, baby, or both are in danger, as defined by evidence-based medical parameters.

Evidence and science balance birth. While birth is generally a natural process, nature has historically proven itself as a harsh taskmaster in the absence of safe, smart, evidence-based medicine. Balancing nature with evidence and science is a fantastic way to optimize all aspects of birth care. 
  
Each woman's body is different, but specifically designed to give birth to her baby.
Each woman's birth will be different, and each woman will have different births each time she has a baby.
 
Patient autonomy is a necessity. Informed consent and right to refusal are key components to any birth.
 
Instincts are crucial. You will know what to do when the time comes--but you may find yourself seeking guidance, advice, and suggestions from your birth team. Thus, the people you choose to allow in your birthing space and on your birth team have a great influence on your birth. 
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Healthcare Providers should be respected. Without doctors, midwives, and nurses, many expectant mothers would face risks, complications, and health concerns that would not be addressed--to the detriment of mother and baby. These professionals deserve respect as key parts of the birth team. 

600 University Office Boulevard 
Building 4
Pensacola, Florida, 32504

​We proudly provide
Childbirth Education, Lactation Consultations & Doulas
​ in Pensacola, Milton, Pace, Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Crestview, Ft. Walton, Florida.

Copyright 2017, Belly to Cradle, LLC.
​Photo Credits: Kayla Reeder Photography, Lynette Sanders Motherhood Photography,
Savanna Morgret Photography, Finding Beauty in the Ordinary Photography,
​& New Light Birth Photography
  • Hello
  • Our Team
    • Our Office
    • What Clients Say >
      • Heidi's Story
      • Robert & Courtney's Story
  • Services
    • Doula Care
    • Sibling & Postpartum Doula Care
    • Childbirth Education
    • Lactation >
      • Book Your Consultation
      • Getting Lactation Reimbursement
  • Resources
    • Lending Library
    • Local Resources
    • Client Portal
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Our Birth Center