Hi, I’m Lana

I've spent the last decade in birth rooms as a doula, a childbirth educator, and a photographer, across two continents and over100 births.

I'm certified by DONA International, a LAMAZE Certified Childbirth Educator, The VBAC Link trained, and Body Ready Method certified. My work has been published by HuffPost, Gulf News, and Baby & Child.

And I'm the only Muslim doula in Chicago who is also your birth photographer.

Why I do this

In 2015, I had my first baby and couldn't find anyone who photographed birth.

My mother brought her camera. She managed about ten pictures before she gave up and did what mothers do, held my hand and forgot the camera entirely. Those ten photographs are still among the most treasured things I own, and they are the reason I do this work.

Because I know what it feels like to stand on the other side of the most important day of your life holding almost nothing from it.

I started with the camera. But you cannot spend long in birth rooms without seeing that women need more than documentation. They need someone who knows what's happening, who can tell them what's normal, and who will ask the question they're too overwhelmed to ask.

So I trained as a doula, then as a childbirth educator. Ten years later I do all three, usually at the same birth.

A decade of birth work, on two continents

I built my practice in Dubai, serving families from across the entire world: the Gulf, Middle East, South Asia, Africa, South America, Europe, North America, Australia; all expatriate families far from their mothers and their own traditions.

That range taught me there is no single Muslim birth. Modesty looks different in a Palestinian family than a Pakistani one. Postpartum expectations differ. Who's in the room, who cooks, who has opinions, all of it varies, and I've learned never to assume.

I now serve families across Greater Chicagoland. I serve families of all faiths and cultures, and always will. I speak and write Arabic fluently.

And when I'm not at a birth

I'm a mother of three. I love everything vintage and sentimental, I can never turn down cinnamon tea or Belgian chocolate, and my oldest dream is still to see the whole world.

I live for the moments that make your hair stand up on your arms. Birth is made almost entirely of those.

I believe that the work women do to bring their babies Earth-side is some of the most intense, the most life-altering and the most deserving of being supported and documented. Birth is monumental. The day you become a parent is one of the most important days of your life, and who you choose to be on your team can, quite literally, alter the trajectory of the entire experience.