Kate Donahue, Owner of Portland MamaBaby Center

Hi, I’m Kate! I started the Portland MamaBaby Center after a year-long voyage through midwifery and doula life in Portland. An Oregon native, I left for seven years but returned a few years ago to be closer to family and to pursue my dream to become a midwife. I apprenticed with midwife Carrie Duncan and assisted in a number of water births at home and at the birthing center.

Mostly I discovered that while I loved helping Mamas and Babies, I didn’t really want to be an apprentice midwife at this point in my life… it was a really harsh reality to face, but it led me to create this amazing MamaBaby Space, and so clearly it was a very important part of my journey.

During that time I was also able to do several doula births, many in the hospital, balancing out the out of hospital births I was attending as an apprentice midwife. Now I feel perfectly positioned to support women through their pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum transitions. I prefer to do births in birthing centers or at home, or with clients who are planning for a home birth experience in the hospital.

I am a fully bilingual doula with clinical experience using the language. My initial training was working as a medical assistant for a Mexican physician and I continued to work with Hispanic families in Oregon through Salud Medical Center. I have a formal college and graduate school education (my BA and MA are in Spanish) as well as actual multicultural life experiences. I speak, read, and write Spanish fluently and have supported Mamas and assisted midwives and physicians entirely in Spanish. Serving traditionally underrepresented Hispanic populations has always been a part of my life’s work.

I am available for only one birth per month. This allows me to be a great doula, a great Mama, and and also do what needs to be done at the center.

Kate, the Mama

I have three children: my 19-year-old son lives in France and was birthed by another Mama; my 17-year-old daughter is a brilliant student and a talented photographer; and my 6-years-old daughter wants to be a farmer, midwife, baker, veterinarian, and Mama. She would like to be at the center every single day and wants to hold all the babies.

I’ve had all kinds of birth and parenting experiences: a hospital birth with a doctor and a home birth with a midwife, breastfeeding a toddler through her 24 month and bottle feeding my newborn from 24 hours old. Severe postpartum depression is also a part of my own personal MamaBaby history. I feel like my experiences give me the unique ability to personally connect with all kinds of Mamas in all kinds of different situations.

To contact me, please call
Portland MamaBaby Center at (503) 206-7715,
fill out the form on our contact page,
or email me directly at Kate@PortlandMamaBabyCenter.com.

–Photo by Rachel Hadiashar