Welcome, and thank you for your interest in Spruce & Sapling….
My name is Cecilia Otvos Pratt (she/her), and I am the owner, founder, and primary postpartum doula at
Spruce & Sapling Doula Care.
I live just north of Central Austin in Leander with my husband, 11-year-old daughter, and our four 4-legged companions.
Originally from Northwest Chicagoland, I studied sociology & anthropology at Harper College before putting down roots in South Austin in 2011.
I have been deeply passionate about the importance of postpartum support during the unique & sacred “4th Trimester” after the birth of my daughter Jules in 2012.
I trained as a Postpartum Doula with DONA International in 2018, and am currently perusing a certification Postpartum Care with Austin Baby Guru.
I am currently an on staff doula at Austin Birth Company as well as Your Village Consulting. I am also a member & 2023 Treasurer of our local Central Texas Doula Association (CTDA). Additionally, I have done work for the Pregnancy & Postpartum Health Alliance of Texas (PPHA), supporting birthing people suffering from perinatal mood disorders.
In the fall of 2020, in order to further expand the way I practice and dedicate myself to my continuing postpartum & newborn care, I began a mentorship program with a local Austin area doula with nearly 15 years of life in the local birthwork under her belt. In 2022 I transitioned into a role of an on-staff doula within that agency. My work there includes being on a team with highly regarded professionals in the Austin birthwork community with a wide array of experience & specialties.
I have extensive personal experience struggling with and recovering from postpartum anxiety & depression, and feel it is the foundation of my calling to become a doula. I am a firm believer that maternal mental health matters, and that we should break these stigmas surrounding mental illness to allow birthing people who are suffering to open up and seek appropriate care. I am an advocate for making available quality & equitable mental health care resources and community support for all who seek it. I have further expanded on my knowledge & compassion in this area doing a perinatal mood disorder training as well as working with birthing people suffering from these dynamic & challenging issues.
I have also trained in trauma informed care to better support birthing people who have a past history of abuse or trauma of varying sorts that can often be triggered by pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period.
I also have a passion to assist new families to feed their sweet little sapling in whichever way they feel works best for their baby & family. I support chest feeding, having been so passionate in my own breastfeeding journey, as well as bottle feeding routines of all sorts. However new parents chose to feed their little ones can always be a beautiful, unique, and deeply bonding experience with whatever choice you decide to make.
As an aunt to two amazing black children, it is also a personal & professional journey of mine to pursue ongoing anti-racist & anti-biased work in order to run a completely inclusive, accepting, and diverse business, as well as to reflect on my own implicit bias, and educate my daughter in these important areas of growth. I have been fortunate enough to further pursue this work via an online group set up by a couple wonderful BIOPC Austin doulas when my schedule allows, who are treasured friends & colleagues, for fellow birthworkers in an online group setting to present & processes literature & other media covering these important & urgent topics. I have taken Re+Birth Equity training to further expand supporting black birthing people which was also such a mind & heart expanding blessing. I am also a proud & dedicated member of the Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity Committee (DIE) within the Central Texas Doula Association (CTDA) which has been formed in order to better serve all marginalized communities, promote equality & education, and support & seek out doulas of color to better serve our BIOPC populations. I of course also embrace families of all gender & sexual identities, and I continue to pursue ongoing education on these topics of inclusivity & anti-bias work as well.
In my spare time I enjoy photography, playing guitar & violin, listening to my favorite music, seeing as many concerts as I can with my husband, family, and our friends, travel with our daughter whenever wherever, and spending quality time with those I love most.
Being a postpartum doula is my calling & life’s work, and I feel honored & blessed to work with any family that chooses me to support them during those precious early days of parenthood.