Meet your Doula and IBCLC
Welcome! I’m so glad you are here.
My name is Darcy Copeland, and for the last 18 years, I have supported families as they prepare for and welcome new life into the world.
As a Registered Nurse (RN), International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC), and Certified Birth Doula, my mission is simple: to provide you with clinically sound, evidence-based care while fiercely protecting your right to feel seen, safe, and empowered on your journey.
Whether you are planning a medicated hospital birth, an unmedicated home birth, a scheduled cesarean, or anything in between, I am here to ensure you walk into your birth and postpartum experience with confidence, knowledge, and peace.
My Journey: From Active Duty to Your Bedside
My path to this work began in 2003 when I took my first doula workshop while completing my nursing prerequisites. This shaped and deeply solidified my perspective on pregnancy and birth as normal and miraculous processes that our bodies as women were designed for. This is the lens I brought with me into nursing school at Pacific Lutheran University, and it is the perspective that has guided my entire career in maternal-child health over the last 18 years.
While in nursing school, I joined the Army ROTC, and in 2008, I was commissioned into the Army Nurse Corps with my Bachelors of Science in Nursing, and served as an Army Officer for eight years. I completed the Army’s unique OB Nurse Specialty Course in 2010, launching my career as a Labor and Delivery nurse. Over the years, my military and civilian nursing career has taken me everywhere from small, remote community hospitals with incredibly limited resources to large, high-volume medical centers with robust NICUs.
In 2012, while stationed at a remote hospital with very few maternal resources, I earned my clinical lactation credentials and become a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) and later that year became a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) to fill a critical need and become a dedicated breastfeeding resource for my community. Operating in these diverse clinical environments taught me how to think fast, advocate fiercely, and adapt to any birth environment. It also showed me a profound gap in care: families everywhere desperately needed evidence based prenatal education, and consistent, dedicated labor and lactation support.
After pausing for several years after leaving the Army to focus on my family and homeschooling our four kids, I re-entered the workforce again serving pregnant and lactating families, and re-earned my lactation credentials all over again! Today, I bring the totality of my clinical experience directly to you, bridging the gap between medical knowledge and the natural design of birth. I believe that pregnancy and birth are not conditions to be managed, but natural, incredible processes that your body was designed to navigate and should be supported with reverence, patience, and expert care.
How My Own Story Shapes Your Care
My professional qualifications are backed by my personal lived experience. I am a mother to four incredible children, and my own transitions into motherhood were beautiful, challenging, and profoundly transformative.
Empowered by a Doula: When pregnant with our first baby, stationed across the country from family, my husband and I hired a doula. That decision resulted in an incredible, deeply empowered birth experience that confirmed everything I believed about the power of continuous labor support.
Saved by a Lactation Consultant: Despite my training as a nurse, our first breastfeeding journey almost failed. On day three, overwhelmed, completely engorged, and struggling, I received help from a dedicated Lactation Consultant. I credit that pivotal encounter with my ability to successfully breastfeed all four of our children for a combined total of nearly eight years, and this also inspired me to deep dive into the world of lactation.
The Grit of a Pumping Mom: I served on active duty through all four of my pregnancies, births, and postpartum transitions. When my first baby was just six months old, I had to leave for nine weeks of out-of-state Army training. To feed my baby and maintain my milk supply, I pumped around the clock and shipped my milk home on dry ice for over two months.
I have been the working mom, the pumping mom, the stressed mom, the overwhelmed pulling-my-hair-out mom, and the empowered mom. I know the grit it takes, and I understand the deep emotional and spiritual weight attached to individual birth experiences and feeding your babies.
My Philosophy of Care
Because of my background, my care philosophy bridges two distinct worlds:
Clinical Excellence: I understand the medical side of birth, hospital protocols, and complex lactation anatomy. You can trust that your care is safe, professional, and evidence-based.
Honoring the Design: I look at your body through a lens of capability, not fear. Your birth is a sacred transformation. I protect your birth space, honor your choices, and support the natural rhythm of labor.
You deserve to birth on your own terms, with confidence. You deserve to be supported by someone who has been in the clinical trenches and the late-night postpartum hours, and trusts the way your body was made. I would be deeply honored to be a part of your birth and lactation team.