Meet the Cast

Debbie's Calling: Twenty-six years ago I experienced a hospital birth with my first son. It was filled with unnecessary interventions and most importantly... it lacked the tenderness and intimacy that I believed is the core of childbirth. When I became pregnant again, birthing in a hospital did not sit well with my spirit. I sought the alternative, which was hard to find in 1995. My second and third sons were born at home surrounded by family and friends with Midwives. The indescribably beautiful and powerful experience of those home births inspired my pursuit of natural birth, education and choice for women... and eventually Midwifery! For the next 17 years I supported women as a Doula. In 2008 I decided to study Midwifery - which I did in California, Utah, and Florida. I am a member of the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives. and California Association of Midwives. 

Dr Sayida Peprah is both a licensed clinical psychologist and birth doula with specialty in multicultural psychology, trauma, suicide prevention and maternal mental health. Dr. Sayida earned her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, with a Multicultural Clinical-Community Emphasis, from the California School of Professional Psychology, at Alliant International University. She completed her undergraduate studies in Psychology and Religion at Spelman College. 

Dr. Sayida is the Founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit organization Diversity Uplifts, Inc., through which she regularly offers cultural competency, mental health and maternal mental health trainings and consultations throughout the US. In 2014, she was a featured speaker at the United Nations 65th NGO Conference on the topic of Mental Illness, An Invisible Disability.  Dr. Sayida is dedicated to contributing her expertise to uplift the community and improve the effectiveness of health care and social support services.

Kimberly Durdin is a Los Angeles based Licensed Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), licensed in 2005. Kim is also a Licensed Midwife having completed her schooling at National Midwifery Institute (NMI) in 2019 and gaining her license in 2020. As a mother of six and grandmother of four, Kimberly credits her children as her greatest teachers.

Over the last 28 years, Kimberly has interwoven her life with the lives of thousands of families throughout New York City, Washington DC Metro Area & Los Angeles. Be it through her work of providing lactation care, postpartum support, groups, counseling, childbirth education, labor support or through her work mentoring current and future birth workers, her dedication has allowed her to fully enjoy the fruits of her labor in the faces of the communities served

Kindred Space LA: Offering home birth in the greater Los Angeles area and Birth Center birth located in South LA. We also offer Lactation Consultations, Placenta Encapsulation, Childbirth Education, Prenatal Breastfeeding Education, Parenting support, Birth worker trainings and a whole lot more.

Codie is a producer of television and film.She is known for directing Black Love, which she co-created with her husband, Tommy Oliver. Codie shares her twin Vbac experience. 

Anja is a Mother of 3 living her purpose and shares her journey in Motherhood, the highs, the lows and everything in between as well as her journey from becoming a Doula to now a student Midwife. 

Stuart James Fischbein, MD was Board Certified in 1989 and became a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology in 1990. He has been a practicing obstetrician in Southern California since completing his residency in 1986. While well trained at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the standard medical model of obstetrics he had the respect and vision to support the midwifery model of care and served as a backup consultant to many home and birthing center midwives for 25 years. He is a preceptor for midwifery students from Nizhoni, NMI, NCM and Georgetown University School of Midwifery. Dr. Fischbein still actively cares for pregnant women while teaching hands-on seminars on breech birth around the globe. He has the goals of improving collaboration amongst the differing professions in the birthing world and the re-teaching of the core skills, such as breech and twin vaginal birth, that make the specialty of obstetrics unique.

The Braxton-Bey Family share their rainbow baby story and how it made them stronger as a family.

Jessica shares with us her home-birth journey and how she became a birth worker. 

Jennifer and her family share their first birth that was scheduled to be a home birth but was transported to the hospital for an emergency c-section instead. For her second birth she has a VBAC and we document it all. 

Vanessa and Ben take us on their 2nd home-birth journey. 

Julissa Calderon is an actress, writer, and comedy producer/director from Miami. 

Aida Margarita Rodriguez is a writer, stand-up comedian, and actor.