Your Cincinnati & Dayton Doula Team
About Us
Welcome to Stork Helpers, one of Cincinnati's Best Doulas for the last five years, according to Expertise.com, supporting over 300 families and counting!
Tamara first knew she wanted to be a doula around 2006 when she was pregnant with her fourth child. She was addicted to the TV show, A Baby Story, on TLC when she first learned all about doulas. It fit so much of what she loves into one place - helping others, babies and a fascination with everything medical. She kept this a dream for 12 more years while raising her young kids and running a home daycare until she finally started her journey in 2017 to become a doula and become certified in 2018.
Tamara opened Stork Helpers with the mission to deliver personalized and affordable care to each family, knowing that no birth story is ever the same, whether it is the road to pregnancy or the pregnancy itself and prides herself on ensuring that every member of her team knows the importance of being there for you the moment you join our flock.
Our Doulas
Tamara Kankowski
I am happily married to my best friend, Jesse, a self-proclaimed nerd since before nerds were cool for almost twenty years. Together, we have raised a family of seven kids, some of whom are now adults themselves. Our oldest, Josh, is now married to our beautiful daughter-in-law Rachel and is currently stationed in Idaho in the Air Force. Our daughter, Skylar, works at a local website company with my husband. We have 5 other kids - Avarie, Jackson, Brynlea, Lucas, and Dylan that still keep us busy every day with school, work, soccer, their social lives, and their never-ending requests for more ice cream on the table.
When it comes to birth, I have experienced it all over the course of six pregnancies spanning just over ten years including a rapid one hour labor with my first daughter, scheduled vaginal deliveries via inductions, premature labor that was successfully stopped (twice), and a cesarean section on our full-term twin boys after 15 weeks of bed rest who came out at 10 pounds a piece!
All of these experiences helped grow my passion to become a doula. While I loved being pregnant, looking back there are things I would have changed with some of my births. I didn’t have access to the internet in its current shape today and wasn’t aware ofhow many options existed and sometimes just blindly followed what was told me. I aim to use my experiences and knowledge to give you evidence-based feedback about the many choices available so that you can choose how your birth story is written.
Certifications: Certified Birth Doula, Certified Postpartum Doula, Certified Bereavement Doula, Certified Fertility Coach, Certified Placenta Encapsulator, Certified Childbirth Instructor, Spinning Babies Certification
Sydney Smith
I am happily married to my soul partner Eric, together we have created a beautiful blended family. We have three sons ranging from twenty years old to ten years old and one daughter that is seventeen. Our eccentric children are continually teaching us about each stage of parenthood and how no two children are alike, but we love every second of it! We have found that patience, love and a little laughter can make the toughest of times seem that much brighter.
I have a background in Culinary Arts, which incidentally led me to doing research on lots of different foods and how food can heal/support your body. Through years of research and continued learning I made the choice once my children were born to lead a more holistic and healing life style. Once we started our holistic journey, I was curious to know what other types of healing I could learn about. We were working on healing our bodies but what about our emotions and our energy? After doing some research and talking with other likeminded people I discovered Reiki. I found a mentor and within a few years of practice I became a Reiki master. Reiki has changed my life in ways I never anticipated and I am beyond honored to share this gift, bringing healing, love and light into the lives of others.
Pregnancy, Birth and women’s health has always been something I have felt passionately about. I became a mother at a young age, my first son was thirteen weeks premature and was in the NICU for 2 months. Needless to say, that was a tremendous learning experience for me and gave me insight to a world that too many parents have to face. My second son was born three weeks premature and developed a mystery infection shortly after his birth. We went to doctor after doctor and no one could find anything to help my baby. Finally, we found a doctor that decided on a treatment that was worth trying and it worked! With that being said, in those moments I felt uninformed and unsupported. I thought to myself what could I have done better? Why did I have to learn all of this “stuff” the hard way and why doesn’t anyone tell you anything about pregnancy and birth when you become pregnant? So, I became a doula, and as a doula it is my hope that those I serve will feel informed, educated, supported and loved because of my services.
Certifications: Certified Birth Doula, Certified Hypnotist, Reiki 3 Master
