Cary House

460 Franklin St

Our Story

Rebecca and Pauline came together initially as two solo parents navigating the unpredictable, spontaneous work of supporting childbirth. They joined forces officially in 2018 and began the search for a collaborative space which led them to the 1869 Italianate historic building lovingly refered to as The Cary House, historically named for George Cary, a prominent architect of the Pan Am Exposition who is known for his work with rod iron. The gates of Forest Lawn are his creation and you can see his touch in the added iron elements around the building.

The mission of this collaboration lies in creating a team of doulas and a sustainable, accessible, inclusive practice that dives deep beyond labor support; that houses community, that addresses and actively works to dismantle the culture of fear around birth and create avenues of support to effect not only outcomes but the way families FEEL about their experience. Working as a team means client access to passionate, well rested, fully present, wholly supported doulas at all times. Working as a team means more than one critical thinker tackling every issue that comes up as labor unfolds. It means more ability to support our growing community of doulas which is very important to us.

Our philosophy centers the recognition of the value, magic and raw power of pregnancy and birth through engagement in the process itself. We focus on the non medical avenues of support and help families find their way to confidence, understanding and ownership of their experience no matter what it looks like. Through education, bodywork, labor / post partum support and community, we know this experience can be SO very different from the status quo. Our culture has normalized highly managed care around a natural, physiological process. We see through the tracking of our client outcomes that what we are doing works. We know that a low, well positioned baby is a smooth labor yet nothing in our current medical model addresses any of the things we can be doing – starting in pregnancy – to support this.

We work from a combined two decades of sitting with labor in all of the different environments, with all of the different providers, witnessing the myriad ways a labor can unfold. Labor is unique to each individual - there is so much nuance, while we cannot predict the labor you will have, or the way you will respond to it, what we can do is provide tools in order to do the work of it while understanding the system you are navigating. Knowing what is happening during the process whether it is the unfolding of a spontaneous labor, an induction or a scheduled C Section makes all of the difference. What we have found is that it is not necessarily the outcome that determines a positive, empowering experience. It is how you FEEL while you are doing the work of it, the support and comprehension and trust in your own body and its capabilities, that inform the experience. It is our wish that everyone comes through their birth experience with full ownership of their choices, having felt informed and aware throughout. Birth is something we DO, not something that happens to us, understanding this to be able to participate in your process is the difference between empowerment and trauma.

This collaborative effort is truly a yin/yang situation. Rebecca approaches this work through a philosophical, spiritual and somatic lens while Pauline is data driven and rooted in evidence based care. Together they cultivate a whole person approach through the physical and mental fortitude, trust in the body and its process, and navigation of a model of care that does not address any of this, determined to help families feel heard, seen and involved in this peak human experience.

THE YIN

Rebecca spent most of her adult life traveling the world, studying in Ashrams of India, teaching English in Japan, guiding people diving in the crystal clear waters along the Caribbean coast of Central America, drinking in the wide perspective that living nomadic life outside the box offers. Her experiences culminate in the central theme of the inner architecture- the capabilities of the human body and the expansive nature of the mind. She approaches life with a sense of curiosity and flow, intrigued & delighted by the way ritual and ceremony cultivate community and is dedicated to the restoration of this around the continuum of the childbirth experience. The oldest of six, she grew up in a role of caretaking and leadership, which instilled in her a strong work ethic and sense of social responsibility & collective care. The birth of her son was so powerful, so fully and intensely out of body, otherworldly incredible, that it changed the trajectory of her life and led her to this work. In 2013, she returned to Buffalo with a one year old to be closer to family at a time when there were only a handful of doulas in the community, met Pauline almost immediately (because you could count the number of doulas on both hands in 2013), slowly built a practice out of a space in Allentown known as Village, wrote for and received a 43 North Ignite Buffalo grant in 2018, with Pauline’s tech savvy assistance. It became very clear very quickly the two had an aligned vision around what they wanted to be putting out into the world. The Ignite grant was the seed that grew into Cary House, their “baby” together.

THE YANG

Pauline is a designer by day, working her magic in publication. She lends her skills to political publications in support of causes that are rooted in body autonomy and feel meaningful to her. She is the grounded, impressively even-keel mother to a blazing fire of a daughter and a passionate, dedicated doula & educator. Clear in her intention, integrity for miles, Pauline knows her way around a tool box and, as a typical type A, is extremely attentive to detail and can fix almost anything. Hers is a data driven, deeply pragmatic mind. Pauline makes our work actually WORK!!! She is the steady stoking of this fire. She is a Spinning Babies Instructor and teaches with wit, humor & grace as she gushes about hospital policy & pelvic alignment. Her technical brain and structured approach take the free flow of those yin ideas and give them form. Originally from WNY, she returned to Buffalo after spending her formative years in DC where she started her own design firm and found her way to political activism. Her daughter was born here at home, something that was beyond her comfort level at the time but felt more aligned for her than the medical model. A lifelong athlete, she knew the capabilities of her body and trusted her ability to meet the physical demands of labor. Her journey with a midwife and a doula opened her eyes to other possibilities and approaches around birth and her data driven soul considered the statistics. The autonomy of birthing the way she wanted was the overriding factor in her decision to stay home. Within hours of her daughter’s birth there was a pizza party and champagne flowing, which is a story Rebecca loves so much because ritual and ceremony!!!

While our own personal experiences with birth were in the care of midwives and outside the walls of a hospital, we recognize the value and necessity of the medical model in high risk pregnancies, we have absolutely witnessed it saving lives. Currently over 90% of birth happens in hospitals, this is not the same as being in the medical model of care. The hospital is the environment, the model is one of management and intervention. We are here to help families understand the difference, to navigate and advocate within the medical model. We honor all bodies in all choices and believe wholeheartedly, and want you to as well, that no matter what your birth looks like, you are the power source in the room.