Midwife, Doula & Lactation Consultant

Renee holding a newborn right after a birth

Renée Lepreau, LM, CPM, IBCLC

Certified Professional Midwife, CA Licensed Midwife, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant

I am currently accepting Doula and Home visit lactation clients in the east Bay Area. I am Not accepting home birth clients.

I am accepting doula clients with due dates in December 2024, and January and February 2025.

I take some major insurance plans through The Lactation Network. Fill out their form to verify your coverage.

For private-pay initial visits, I charge $200-300 sliding scale.

I have been attending births for fifteen years, first as a doula, then as a licensed midwife. In 2019 I added the lactation consultant credential. I have worked in every setting: home birth, free-standing birth centers, hospitals and pediatric clinics.

I believe that within every birth is the potential for an empowered and transformative experience.

For most people birth is in fact painful to varying degrees (although I have seen a few euphoric births!), and the postpartum period has its inevitable difficulties. But I know from being with hundreds of families that with the right support, birth and postpartum can be a time of joy and grace as well as challenge.

This can be true no matter how far circumstances veer from the original plan. If there’s one thing I know for certain, it’s that birth is unpredictable. You planned a home birth but needed a c-section. You planned to exclusively nurse but had to supplement. You planned to get an epidural but ended up rocking an unmedicated labor and loving it.

I see my role as manifold: To help educate and assist you in feeling prepared for your birth and clear in your intentions and needs, to support you in informed choice and medical decision-making, and to be there beside you in agility as the birth and postpartum unfold into the wild unknown.

It is my honor and privilege to be with families in these most intimate and tender moments.


A beautiful safe home birth in Berkeley

Inclusive Care

 

I am committed to serving all types of families regardless of race, religion, sexuality, gender, age, or ability. I believe that health care is a human right and am active in the campaign for universal health care in California.

I serve the Bay area.