I Will Carry You: Birth + Bereavement Doula Services

01/12/2026

If grief had a message for us, what would it be?

Take my hand.. ❤️

04/11/2025

Meet This Year’s Spotlight Speaker: Shady Honaker ✨

We are honored to have Shady Honaker as this year’s spotlight speaker at The Angel's Gala. Shady, a Texas native who moved to Louisiana in 2009, is a passionate Women's Health Nurse Practitioner with a mission close to her heart. She’s currently working alongside Dr. Lauren Bonnette in Rayville, Louisiana, and has dedicated her career to improving women’s health and bereavement care.

Shady’s story is deeply personal. She is the proud mother of three children: Luke (6), Chandler (3), and Samuel, who was born sleeping on January 27th, 2021. With her unique blend of professional and personal experience, Shady shares her journey to provide hope, healing, and transparency for other families navigating similar losses.

In addition to her work with the Angels Gala, Shady runs Sam’s Love, a nonprofit organization she founded to improve bereavement care and decrease the stillbirth rate in America.

We are incredibly grateful for Shady’s unwavering passion and commitment to supporting families, and we can’t wait for you to hear her powerful story at the Gala. 💙

05/08/2024

I am returning home today from Washington, DC today with a full heart! Healthy Birth Day, Inc. organized an incredible trip and I am so thankful to have played a small role in the work we did this week and even more honored to have been asked to join this phenomenal group of women.

We had two BIG victories this week that will help push the SHINE for Autumn Act (H.R. 5012/ S. 2647) and the Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act (H.R 4581/ S. 2231) forward to the next steps. Thank you to everyone who prayed for and supported us, and to our incredible Louisiana legislators Senator John Kennedy, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, Speaker Mike Johnson, Congresswoman Julia Letlow, Congressman Steve Scalise who we were able to meet with and make significant progress.

We won’t stop until we get these two life-saving bills passed into law, so please keep praying and if you would like to help, let me know! We always need Louisiana constitutes to make calls and emails to our legislators.

Last but not least, I just want to say what an honor it was to serve alongside Lisa Rowell with Julianna Grace Ministry and Shady Honaker with Sam's Love on this project. They are a force to be reckoned with and I love it! I learned soooo much from these ladies and the other 15 women from around the country who joined us on Capitol Hill this week. It makes my heart so full to see women walk out of a season of brokenness into a season of empowerment and fulfillment that can only come from the Lord. 🙌🏻

Ecclesiastes 3:11 🐰

05/06/2024

05/05/2024

May 5 is International Bereaved Mother’s Day and we are sending love and lifting up in prayer those who this day was set aside to honor. Your motherhood story matters 🩷

🌈 If you are a mama who’s lost a baby and is on or moving toward the journey of pregnancy after loss, you may be interested in my book, Courageously Expecting, which empathizes with and encourages those who have lost a baby and courageously want to try again: https://amzn.to/3NCUWRG

👉For more empathy and encouragement for pregnancy after loss, join the IG community: https://www.instagram.com/courageouslyexpecting

05/02/2024

Hey guys! Kila here.

I will be traveling back to Washington DC this Sunday alongside Shady Honaker with Sam's Love & Lisa Rowell with Julianna Grace Ministry to fight for stillbirth prevention. We will meet with law makers to try and gain support for our two bills and give testimony to the impact of stillbirth on families. Please pray with us over the SHINE for Autumn Act and the Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act. Both are noncontroversial, bipartisan bills that will literally save baby’s lives and prevent families from enduring indescribable heartache.

Here is a little more info on each bill that I copied from my wonderful friend, Lisa. 🩷

The Stillbirth Health Improvement and Education (SHINE) for Autumn Act, H.R. 5012/S. 2647, is the beginning of a longer-term solution towards the prevention and reduction of the incidence of stillbirth in the United States. The SHINE for Autumn Act aims to reduce the U.S. stillbirth rate by providing critical resources to the CDC, the NIH, and state health departments to improve data collection and increase education, research, and awareness around the issue of stillbirth.

The Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act, H.R. 4581/S. 2231, clarifies that stillbirth prevention activities are an allowable use of funds under Title V of the Social Security Act to further support stillbirth prevention and research. This bill recognizes that stillbirth, and the disparity in those impacted by stillbirth requires further research, support, and prevention programming.

Both bills are critical in stillbirth prevention. Stillbirth is a neglected public health crisis that tragically accounts for the deaths of over 21,000 babies every year in our country. Many of these deaths are preventable, and are happening in otherwise healthy, low-risk pregnancies. Losing tens of thousands of babies every year should not be acceptable. I believe Senator Cassidy would agree that we must do everything we can and speak up for those that cannot speak for themselves.

We can save many generations.

04/19/2024

The second annual Angel Invitational will be held held on October 5th, 2024! Sponsorship opportunities are available now! 👏🏻

We really appreciate your continued support as we work to build the bereavement suite at St. Francis Medical Center, Monroe, La.

04/06/2024

Find you one of these friends, mamas. They are like gold ❤️❤️❤️

💛

03/28/2024

Yesterday, our founder, Kila Gonzales, was invited to the State Capitol to give testimony in the state senate health and welfare committee in support of SB 325 (The Compatible With Love Empowerment Act. This bill will require doctors to give mothers who receive life-limiting perinatal diagnoses an informational pamphlet with the resources she needs to carry her baby to term.

I am happy to say that SB 325 passed committee yesterday as favorable! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

Ecclesiastes 3:11 🐰

Thank you to Senator Edmunds, Louisiana Right to Life, and the health and welfare committee for making this happen. This is an excellent step in the right direction! ❤️

If anyone wants to listen to the testimony, here is the link! Kila starts testimony at about 1 hour 17 minutes in. https://senate.la.gov/s_video/VideoArchivePlayer?v=senate/2024/03/032724HW

03/25/2024

03/13/2024

“Some people say it is a shame. Others even imply that it would have been better if the baby had never been created. But the short time I had with my child is precious to me. It is painful to me, but I still wouldn't wish it away. I prayed that God would bless us with a baby. Each child is a gift, and I am proud that we cooperated with God in the creation of a new soul for all eternity. Although not with me, my baby lives.”

― Christine O'Keeffe Lafser, An Empty Cradle, a Full Heart: Reflections for Mothers and Fathers After Miscarriage, Stillbirth, or Infant Death

03/03/2024