Krista is an experienced Registered Nurse specializing in postpartum wellness, and she is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She is also a certified Innate Postpartum Care Provider and teacher to parents, doulas, and postpartum professionals. For the past ten years, she has supported the mother-baby dyad in multiple hospitals throughout California, in homes, virtually, and in community spaces. She has witnessed the power mothers hold during rite of passage portals as well as the opportunity for healing and creativity that postpartum provides. Krista loves holding mothers and guiding them back to their intuition from pre-conception through postpartum.
Where do you find peace in nature?
Stepping outside and into my garden is a place where my body, mind and spirit find ease on a daily basis. I am blessed to live close to Big Sur and the magic of the wild coast. The sweet smell of the redwood forests both soothes and inspires me. I go there often to find peace in nature.
What were the breadcrumbs that led you to your career?
This is a long one! So many breadcrumbs have led me here.
My parents are very altruistic and both of their careers were focused on supporting people who were forgotten in our US systems. They volunteered their time a lot and brought their children along. Traveling to parts of the US, Africa, Mexico, and Central America and connecting to people with very little resources, I felt called and found value in becoming a registered nurse. The only area of nursing that was a full body test to me was in the Mother Infant unit where mothers needed love and gentle support as they began their birth recovery.
The first hospital I worked in was a county hospital who had a very supportive vaginal birth after cesarean program (VBAC) and was the nearest hospital to the farmworkers who pick the majority of the United States vegetables. Many of the mothers I had the honor of supporting did not speak English and many spoke one of the many indigenous languages of Mexico. I witnessed how their families would show up with warming foods and beverages that were rooted in ancient wisdom from their grandmothers. They would keep their bodies warm with hats and socks, even in the summertime. And I found that breastfeeding is one dialect we all have in common. It’s the language of love.
I felt like we were doing something very wrong by sending mothers home with no support. I felt in my bones that when we support mothers, we are supporting the babies and entire family system. I started reading and taking classes and learning how other cultures, including many of our own, traditionally centered mothers, knowing that when mothers are thriving, it benefits all of humanity.
I worked in two other hospitals along the California coast until I transitioned out of the hospital and started Earth Milk Moon, offering in-home postpartum wellness support. Cooking warm nutrient dense foods, offering breastfeeding and infant feeding guidance, holding mothers during the most tender time of their lives.
I quickly realized that just as mothers are not supposed to mother alone, caregivers are also not supposed to do this alone. Earth Milk Moon turned into a team hiring a couple amazing postpartum doulas and now we have nurses, doulas, and lactation consultants supporting families virtually and in homes in Santa Barbara, Monterey/Carmel, and in the Bay Area.
It’s such an honor to be invited into a mother’s space during the sacred postpartum time.
What is your own experience with motherhood?
I do not yet have biological children of my own but I have had the unique and deep honor of witnessing many through the transition into motherhood. Holding and supporting mothers on this tender journey has been the greatest medicine. Watching mothers surrender into the mystery and magic of birth and postpartum and softening into being the center of their babies’ world brings me to my knees. Mothers are the heartbeat of the home and the central nervous system to their children. May we all remember to center the mothers, for this is how we heal the earth.
What is on your vision board for modern motherhood?
Cacao, bowls of nourishment, a cocoon of natural fibers and soft knits, sunshine, a blanket in my garden, gentle music, and humans offering support.
What is a go-to meal you’ve been nourishing yourself with lately?
I always start my day off with our Earth Milk Moon cacao elixir. It has been a ritual of mine to take a moment in the morning to pause and check in with my heart. Starting the day from a centered place.
I have been loving a cup of bone broth and making what I call an egg nest with greens from our garden sautéed with an egg from our chickens in the middle. It’s so fun and yummy.
What are you currently working on or focusing on in life and career?
I have an incredible team of doulas and nurses that I work with and it has been so enriching to be a part of a community of postpartum revolutionaries. I am currently feeling really passionate about community support and education for people being called to postpartum doula work. I am starting my second course for postpartum providers this Spring!
If you had to name this season of your life, what would it be called?
Expanding Roots
How can we all connect with you?
You can connect with me over on IG @earthmilkmoon and through my website earthmilkmoon.com. I also love connecting with people over email krista@earthmilkmoon.com.
photos 1 & 2 by Kyra @wovenlens
photo 3 by Melissa @melissa.mcardle
