Welcome to North Star Birth Services

Offering a variety of pregnancy and labor support services in a relaxed and nurturing environment.

Congratulations on your pregnancy and thank you for visiting my website!

My name is Larissa Guran, I am a birth doula, childbirth educator and public health professional specializing in perinatal health (the health of women and babies during pregnancy and birth) and health care access.

I have been honored by each woman who has allowed me to support her goals for pregnancy and birth.


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My Vision

“To support women (and their partners) in a positive, self-empowered birth experience”

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My Philosophy

I strongly believe that all pregnant women deserve unconditional support of their plans for birth.

Whether you choose to birth at home, in a birth center or a hospital; whether you plan to use pain medication to cope with labor or want to give birth with minimal interventions; whether this is your first baby or an addition to your family; your needs and goals are unique to you and deserve to be respected and honored by everyone present at your baby’s birth.

As a birth doula, my prenatal role is to help you articulate your goals and communicate them to your birth care team (physician/midwife, partner, family members, etc.). During labor, I provide unconditional and continuous physical, emotional and informational support.

As a childbirth educator, my unique knowledge of public health, local hospitals, and our health care system complements my knowledge of pregnancy and the birth process. My classes and workshops reflect my vision and philosophy while integrating my varied experiences into engaging and interactive learning experiences.

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My Experience

Sept 1998 to Dec 2000 I studied at the University of Maryland College Park to receive my Master of Public Health degree with an emphasis in Perinatal Health, the health of women during the time surrounding pregnancy & childbirth.
July 1999 I attended a DONA Birth Doula Certification Training.
March 2000 I became a Certified Birth Doula through DONA.
November 2000 I presented several birth related projects to colleagues at the American Public Health Association annual meeting.
2000 to present My work as a doula has allowed me to support women in births at home, birth centers and hospitals in DC, Suburban Maryland and Baltimore.
Sept 2001 & 2003 My children are born - teaching me more as a person, mother and a doula than I ever thought possible!
April 2002 to June 2006 I founded a hospital-based doula program at a suburban Maryland hospital.
May 2005 Began working with the Takoma Park Birthing Circle to continue their work of creating a community-based information and support group for birthing women and their families.
December 2006 Received a Birth Networks Grant from the Lamaze Institute for Normal Birth for the Takoma Park Birthing Circle.
September 2006 Produced a local production of the play Birth which was attended by over 100 people and raised almost $1000 for the Takoma Park Birthing Circle.
March 2007 In response to the closing of two longstanding midwifery offices in suburban Maryland and DC, the Takoma Park Birthing Circle leads a community effort to support midwifery and all birth options for women. We get some great press and begin to transform the organization into a regional education and advocacy group.
May 2007 Takoma Park Birthing Circle transforms into Birth Options Alliance – Capital Area. Check out our website and our blog.

I have been honored by and learned from each woman who has invited me to support her birth experience. Some births went exactly as expected, but most had unanticipated developments. That usually meant we needed to change coping strategies or plans for the birth. Through it all, my clients were well supported in their strategies, their choices and their emotional experiences.

Professionally, I enjoy supporting women in their birth experiences. Personally, I enjoyed the support of my doulas a the births of my two children! Being a doula impacted what I knew about pregnancy and labor but it didn't reduce my own need for support! Giving birth also deepened my commitment to providing support to women in labor because I know what a difference it made in my own experience. Having a doula doesn't guarantee that everything will turn out just like you planned, it guarantees that however it does turn out, you can handle it because you will be continuously well supported!

In many ways, I have had the pleasure to serve a larger community of birthing women. I have founded a hospital-based doula program and grown a local support group into a regional community education and advocacy organization.

I enjoyed developing the birth doula program, hiring and training a fantastic team of doulas and working with expectant women and their partners with their many different goals, expectations and needs. This unique hospital experience has helped me to feel very comfortable in any hospital, allowing me to work with nurses, obstetricians and midwives as a team to provide the best care possible to my clients.<.p>

Transforming the Birthing Circle into Birth Options Alliance is my latest adventure and I look forward to having the organization make a positive impact on women’s childbirth options in suburban Maryland and Washington DC.

Click here to review my complete resume

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Doula Services

Birth Doula Support

My services include:

  • Two prenatal meetings to discuss coping strategies, past birth experiences, development of a birth plan and lots more!
  • Telephone and email consultation during the prenatal period.
  • 24 hour availability for labor support, starting at 38 weeks (of course, if you have preterm labor or other issues, we can make adjustments).
  • Continuous labor support starting whenever you feel you need me (not just upon admission to the hospital).
  • Postpartum care and support for a few hours after the baby is born and mother and baby are stable.
  • Postpartum follow-up by phone in the first few days, in person after you are settled in at home.
  • Postpartum telephone and email support to answer any questions or provide referrals for help you might need as you adjust to your new life with your baby!

I also provide the prenatal support and education as a stand-alone service as a birth planning consultant.

For more information about what doulas do and how we work with your partner and medical care team, check out my links page.

Classes & Workshops

Childbirth Education Classes

Childbirth education classes are an important step for new parents. Preparing yourself with positive and helpful information about birth can positively impact how you experience and remember your baby’s birth.

My Experience

As an experienced doula and public health advocate, I have been doing informal education and community based education for close to 10 years. As a hospital program administrator, I provided in-patient and community education within the limitations of the hospital policies. In 2006 I began pursuing certification as a childbirth educator through Lamaze International’s Experienced Childbirth Educator Program. I attended a training in April 2006 and completed a reading. In April 2007 I sat for the certification exam. To qualify for the Experienced Educator Program, I provided documentation to Lamaze of providing over 100 hours of childbirth education and more than 30 hours of Continuing Education Units in the last 2 years.

Why Lamaze?

There are a lot of options in perinatal health for receiving certification as a childbirth educator. I made a deliberate choice to get my certification from Lamaze. Lamaze is a philosophy not a method, this means that there aren’t specific ways that “Lamaze says” women should cope with labor, women are encouraged to use coping techniques that are instinctive and comfortable for themselves. (No more “hee hee hoo hoo” breathing like you see in movies!) Lamaze is a strongly evidence-based philosophy, supporting best practices that help achieve the best outcomes for mothers and babies. Lamaze offers its experienced educators a lot of flexibility in how they teach, what subjects they cover and how classes are structured. Lamaze has very strict requirements for certification and their certification exam is based on evidence-based care practices and the philosophy that birth is a normal, physiological process. All these factors mean that I can teach my classes based on what pregnant women and their partners need to learn, when and where the are available and that pregnant women know there is credibility to my qualifications and my certification.

Why Independent Childbirth Education?

Most hospitals offer childbirth education classes for patients planning to give birth at their facility. At first glance, it may seem best and easiest to take the classes offered at your birth site. However, a savvy consumer knows that independent sources of information are more likely to be accurate and objective. Hospital childbirth education classes are limited in many ways. Here are just a few that I’ve heard from colleagues and in my own experience:

  • All content of the classes must be approved by the medical staff – not just for the sake of accuracy, but also to ensure that the classes aren’t mentioning options or ideas the physicians prefer not to share with patients.
  • Teachers at one DC area hospital are forbidden to use the words “Birth Plan” in their class. If a pregnant woman brings up the idea of using this communication tool with her care team, the teacher is to actively discourage the practice.
  • Videos that show unmedicated births, some labor coping techniques or speak of the evidence-based risks of common medical procedures are banned from many classes.
  • Classes at one area hospital are specifically designed to “educate patients about hospital practices and procedures.” These classes do not provide balanced and accurate information, they actively attempt to limit the knowledge and options of women who enroll.

As an experienced independent educator, I can provide you with all of the “procedural” information about what birth will be like logistically at your birth site. Taking the prenatal tour offered by your birth site will provide you with logistical details like parking, visiting hours and admission procedures. In addition, I can provide you with evidence-based information that allows you to make the most informed decision bout your care. I don’t have an opinion about what you decide or how you give birth, but I feel very strongly that you should be allowed to make a truly informed decision. Women who are involved in and informed about their care are more likely to describe their birth experience positively.

Class Schedule

For Summer 2007, I will have 3 weekend intensive classes in Silver Spring, MD. Classes meet on Thursday and Friday evenings and then for a longer period on Saturday. Classes will meet Thursday and Fridays from 6:30pm to 8:30pm and on Saturday from about 9am to 2pm. Details of exact class times and location will be confirmed upon enrollment.

July 12, 13, 14
August 2, 3, 4

Intensive Class Outline

First Night – 2 hours

  • Icebreakers, getting to know each other
  • Birth – the overview
  • Coping with labor – so many options!
  • Emotions of labor – for mother and partner

Second Night – 2 hours

  • Birth – a more in depth look at labor
  • Relaxation, Repetition, Ritual
  • Creating a good Birth Plan
  • More tricks for coping – What laboring women need

Saturday – 5 hours

  • Review – you know so much already!
  • More about the emotions of labor
  • Negotiating and decision making skills for labor
  • Common interventions
  • Labor coping practice
  • Bag lunch break
  • Building a good care team
  • Navigating the health care system
  • Breastfeeding and Life with Baby
  • Review, evaluations, private consultation time

Private Childbirth Education Classes

I can come to your home and provide you (and your partner) with an individualized education about labor, birth and the postpartum adjustment period. These classes offer you privacy and personal scheduling convenience while providing you with an excellent knowledge base.

Birth Planning & Consulting

If you are not sure whether or not you would like to have the support of a doula during labor and birth, you may still benefit from the experience I have to offer. I can work with you on a variety of pregnancy and birth related tasks including:

  • Processing past birth experiences
  • Birth plan development
  • Private lessons on relaxation and labor coping techniques
  • Negotiating for the birth you want
  • Planning a Blessingway (What is a Blessingway?)

Program Development

I am available to provide consulting and program development assistance to community based organizations, health departments and hospitals on a variety of public health projects. Please see my resume for further details. I can be reached at larissa@northstarbirth.com

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Links to Interesting Pregnancy and Birth websites

For more information about what doulas do and how we work with your partner and medical care team, check out my links page.

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Why the North Star?

The North Star is a constant presence in our skies. For sailors and explorers, it has been a source of information and comfort, guiding them on new adventures and back home again safely. My goal in providing pregnancy and birth support services is not to make the journey for you but rather to be a knowledgable and supportive guide on your journey to motherhood.