Our Birth Assistants
Alyssa Oprie, RN, BSN
Alyssa's interest in childbirth began when she was in nursing school over 15 years ago and then grew once she and her husband began having children of their own. They now live in Huntington and have four children, each a result of a wonderful, positive homebirth experience. In addition to birth assisting, Alyssa is a certified birth doula, works locally as a labor, delivery, and postpartum nurse, and serves new families as a postpartum doula with Fort Wayne Doulas.
Christina Perry, RN
Christina grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, then spent 10 years living in North Carolina, before moving back to Fort Wayne with her husband and son in 2020. She has been a nurse since 2017. Along with working as a nurse part time,she is also a birth and postpartum doula. She can’t imagine anything in life being more fulfilling than helping families navigate their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum time. For Christina, it is a joy to be a witness to these experiences and an honor to have an active part in helping during one of the biggest transitions in life. In her free time she loves spending time with family, weight lifting, hiking, traveling, and baking. She will never turn down the opportunity to try something new or visit a new place!
Skyler Monce, RN, BSN
Sky is a loving wife and momma to two ornery boys and one angel baby. She has been a nurse since 2020, after graduating from Purdue with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She has experience working on a high acuity labor and delivery unit, which provided her with experience in non-routine labor and delivery. During her time on this unit, she developed her ability to address difficult and unexpected situations during labor and delivery, while providing a calm and reassuring presence. Having benefited from that experience, she is now working at her local OB unit as a labor and delivery and postpartum nurse.
Sky has personally experienced labor and birth, both with interventions and without. Having that firsthand experience, her passion lies in supporting mothers to have the birthing experiences they desire. Her primary goals are to empower and guide women to make choices that will lead to their desired birth experience and advocating for them to carry out their birth plan.
Laura Kiefer
Laura Kiefer lives in Fort Wayne with her husband and three children. She has worked as a professional birth assistant since 2021, and a doula since 2020. She is passionate about supporting families during their births in every aspect. In addition to birth work, Laura enjoys reading, hiking, and treating herself to a really good cup of coffee.
Our Birth Techs
Emily Fry
Emily has been a DONA international trained Birth Doula since 2018. Helping families create a beautiful birthing environment and birth team is what she loves to do! She's worked in the health care industry since high school. It is safe to say healthcare is her calling. She has two children and she and her husband have been together for 8 years. They love to travel and explore with their children. They have also found a love for rescuing and adopting animals! Emily is currently pursuing a degree in psychology. In her free time, she loves to relax with a book, coffee, or even watch a movie with her kids.
Heidi Gross
Heidi has been a certified birth doula since December of 2019, and is also a birth photographer and videographer. She loves being in the birth space, capturing beautiful memories, and supporting women in one of the most important moments of their life.
She has three children, two of which were born at home and the experience was so vastly different than her hospital birth with her first. She will always choose home birth for her babies, and is so excited to help others who have chosen home birth too.
Madeline Benefiel
Madeline is a proud wife and homeschooling mother of four. She has worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant/Patient Care Tech and certified Doula. She is passionate about helping mothers and babies during this transformative time in their lives.
Ronae Cleland
Ronae has always had a desire to serve and encourage other women. Through her pregnancies and the births of her five children, she developed an interest and experience in all things childbirth and breastfeeding. Ronae became a lactation specialist in 2021, and since that same year, she has been supporting women through her role as a doula.
She has gained experience in all types of births: at home, in a birth center, and in a hospital. She believes every woman should be encouraged and supported throughout her labor, however it unfolds. Ronae feels it is very important to empower women so they can understand their options during labor and thus be provided with the necessary information in the decision they are about to make, taking an active role in their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
Alyssa Dickerson, Certified Nurse-Midwife
Alisa Perozo-Dickerson (Alyssa) CNM, CPM, DNP, MSN, RN, PMH-C
Alisa (Alyssa) Dickerson is a dedicated Certified Nurse-Midwife based in Huntington, Indiana, bringing compassionate care to her community since the onset of the pandemic in Spring 2020. With the growing need for innovative healthcare solutions, Alyssa stepped up to provide alternative access to essential services.
In 2023, she earned her Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) from Missouri State University, following her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) from Frontier Nursing University in 2019. A Registered Nurse since 2013, Alyssa has honed her skills in both Cardiac and Labor and Birth nursing, ensuring comprehensive care for her patients.
Recently, she collaborated with a talented team of OBGYNs and CNMs, focusing on fertility and midwifery care. Alyssa has provided prenatal support and attended births in both a CABC-certified out-of-hospital birthing center and a hospital setting. Over the past four years, she has been a pillar of support in her community, offering services in out-of-hospital births, women's health, and mental health, as well as new family coaching, newborn care, and childbirth education.
Alyssa is passionate about learning languages, teaching, and fostering connections through therapeutic communication, all while cherishing time with her family. Her practice emphasizes evidence-based approaches to childbirth, tailored to the unique needs of local families during their transformative journeys.
Her strengths lie in her empathy, ability to connect with others, and her optimistic perspective. Alyssa specializes in Linguistics, Perinatal Mental Health, and offers services in Spanish, English, and French, alongside her expertise in new family coaching and leadership.
photo courtesy of @thenaturaldoula