Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Todd.
Hi Ashley, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
For me, it started the day I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I didn’t know. Birth work wasn’t widely talked about. Even from a young age, I was intrigued and inspired by it. I loved playing with baby dolls, I enjoyed watching movies and TV shows about pregnancy, I loved to pretending to catch babies being born. I came from a large family with a lot of cousins. I was the oldest child and grandchild on all sides of my families. I got to watch family members as they were expecting, having brand new babies, and raising toddlers together. I came from a teen Mom and Dad. They didn’t stay together. I lived with my single mother most of my life and visited my father’s family in the Summers.
When I had my first child, I was 20 years old. Everything was going great until I got pregnant with a set of fraternal twins three months later. I had a pregnancy loss of one fraternal twin at nine weeks three days of pregnancy on February 14th, 2009. It devastated me. I felt compelled to include that today on pregnancy and infant loss awareness day as it is important to break the silence on what was once considered a taboo subject.
What I didn’t know then was that I lost a great deal of my breast milk supply. My oldest was eventually hospitalized as a result, things were so much different back then we didn’t have as many resources on social media or research and information on lactation, and even lactation consultations were different then too. It took advice from a sage lactation consultant in the hospital to mix the breast milk and formula to help my baby gain weight again. I later went on to successfully breastfeed other children of mine but those journeys were not always without struggle and I ended up using devices like a supplemental nursing system paired with donor milk with babies #3 and #4 and a nipple shield also with #3 and #4. I’m currently nursing my 7th child and we’re coming to the end of that breastfeeding journey slowly but surely since she turned three earlier this year.
I helped out with what ended up becoming human milk for human babies for a while, during that time, I gained a great deal of experience and encouragement to start my own education and eventually business in birth work.
Heart of Texas Placental Services was a long-term dream for me, being able to work for and with new families has been an honor and a privilege.
In 2009 also I learned about placenta encapsulation from a friend in Montreal. I was already beginning my studies as a student midwife which continued for just over a year. Due to personal life issues, I faced hardships and had to start over again.
This time across the country from all family and friends. I had no choice but to end my studies as a student midwife. While getting back on my feet, I felt a deeper calling in the field of encapsulation and the processing of placentas. I felt drawn to it, having been a financially underprivileged single mother myself, I wanted to provide affordable but high-quality placenta services to everyone I could that could not afford the full cost. Helping new and new again families as they recover and heal from childbirth appealed deeply.
I provide birth work alongside my amazing coworkers at Heart of Texas Birth Arts, support our local communities with our mobile baby carrier lending library Bluebonnet Babywearing, and also for cloth diapers with Heart of Texas Cloth Diaper Community, I’m also an admin for Pass the Milk Project on Facebook which is another milksharing resource. I am the host for the Big Latch On for Killeen, Texas and have done a yearly event celebration of world breastfeeding week there since 2016.
I am now a Multiple Certified award-winning Placenta Encapsulation Specialist, Breastfeeding Advocate, Lactation Counselor, Placenta and Childbirth Educator, Certified Birthworker (doula), and Birth Artist. I have assisted nonprofits around the area, as well as around the US in getting started and volunteered many hours to them.
When you choose Heart Of Texas Placental Services, you are supporting a hard-working mama that is putting her heart into making certain your placenta is handled safely and processed with love. You are also choosing someone who has been fighting for many years for rights for lactating parents in the workplace, as well as improvement of the birthing businesses and industry in general.
My services have been recognized by Austin Birth Awards for the past three years in a row.
My certifications:
ServSafe Certificate of Achievement for Food Handlers
Biologix Bloodborne Pathogens Certificate of Completion
Brilliant Birth Academy Placenta Encapsulation Program Certificate of Completion
Association of Placenta Preparation Arts Bloodborne Pathogens Training for Professional Placenta Service Providers Certificate of Completion
Association of Placenta Preparation Arts Certificate of Completion COVID-19 Resources and Strategies for Placenta Arts Specialists
Completed International Placenta and Postpartum Association’s placenta training course
I use a method of encapsulation that is different from anyone else in the area and it is a bit more sanitary. I do keep my process private for clientele knowledge only. This is to keep other people from taking my methods of encapsulation and using it for their own.
I do take placentas from all over Central Texas as well as the entire state and US. You can always feel free to contact me about an out of area placenta encapsulation because if you are not comfortable having your placenta shipped to me overnight in a dry ice cooler in a controlled climate courier, or are out of country, then I also have an extensive amount of resources across the globe on placenta encapsulation specialists as well.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I definitely used my struggles to propel me forward. I took the knowledge that I gained to help other families and that’s been what has kept me moving forward along with my beautiful seven children.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am the most proud of all seven of my children. I feel like what sets me apart from other placenta specialists aside from my trade secret process, is that I have had a background in working with insurance companies so I’m really committed to making sure that people know the right avenues to file complaints if they’re unhappy with the services they’ve received in regard to birth.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I honestly have so many favorite childhood memories because I had my mom’s family in North Carolina and my dad’s family in Florida so I can’t put my finger on just one because it would be unfair to have just one favorite. I did have a really great childhood! I got to travel between those two States during the Summers and I feel like I gained a lot of experience from that as well. Having spent some summers in Florida, I did get to enjoy sometimes at Disney world though and those are among some of my favorite times.
Contact Info:
- Email: heartoftexasplacentalservices@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.heartoftexasplacentalservices.weebly.com
- Instagram: @heartoftexasplacentalservices_
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/heartoftexasplacentalservices
- Twitter: @htxplacentaserv
- Other: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM8jYPQuC/
