Author, Doula, Childbirth Educator, Birth Counselor

Penny Simkin, PT, is a physical therapist who has specialized in childbirth education since 1968. She estimates she has prepared over 9,500 women, couples, and siblings for childbirth. She has assisted hundreds of women or couples through childbirth as a doula. She is the author of many books on birth for both parents and professionals. Her latest products for birth educators and doulas are The Road Map of Labor a birth video, titled The 3Rs: Relaxation, Rhythm, and Ritual, and a Birth Sling--an aid to the dangle position for second stage labor.

Currently, she serves on several boards of consultants and editorial boards, including the journal, Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care; the International Childbirth Education Association; and the Seattle Midwifery School.

Through independent study and her work as a birth counselor, she has developed a counseling approach for pregnant survivors of sexual abuse. This work is described in the book, When Survivors Give Birth, which she co-authored with Phyllis Klaus.

Today her practice consists of childbirth education, birth counseling, and labor support, combined with a busy schedule of conferences and workshops.

Penny and her husband, Peter, have four grown children, eight grandchildren, ranging in age from a 1 to 20 years, and a pug, Hugo.

Contact Information:
1100 23rd Avenue East
Seattle, WA. 98112
206.325.1419
penny@pennysimkin.com

The Birth Partner, 3rd Edition
A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and Other Labor Companions

The definitive guide to helping a woman have a healthy and emotionally fulfilling childbirth experience.  The third edition includes all the information that husbands, partners, relatives, friends, and doulas have relied on for nearly two decades and has been updated to include:

-Expanded information on "the 3Rs" (Relaxation, Rhythm, and Ritual) for coping with the pain and unpredictability of labor;

-Non-drug techniques to relieve pain and enhance the woman's sense of well-being;

-Up-to-date information on medications, tests, technologies, and interventions, and how, when, and why they are used;

-Information about the rapidly increasing rate of both first and repeat cesarean deliveries;

-More about the growing popularity of doulas, and the increasing presence of other partners and supporters in the birth room.

© Penny Simkin. All rights reserved.