My Background
I decided to become a naturopathic doctor in 1998, when I finished yoga training and opened up my first studio. My quest to learn more and more about natural medicine, nutrition and herbs led me to Bastyr University and I became a licensed ND in 2005. I worked mostly in family medicine over the next 15 years, and also in pediatrics and in midwifery/birth centers.
My own family grew in 2010, and then my desire to blend my knowledge of medicine with my experience of parenting, and work with other new moms and caregivers began. Specifically helping women balance work-home life, energy, and hormones became a new focus for me and has created my desire to teach workshops and public speaking. Read More
My True Story
With the birth of my first son in 2010, I went back to work part-time in a midwifery family medicine practice in Seattle WA. It was a beautiful experience because I could bring my young son to the office, nurse him during the work day, and I felt like I was winning. I had a career, time to nest and take care of my family, and a great support network. Then we moved – first abroad, then to Hawaii and finally to California. By that time, I had started several practices from scratch, and I was back working full time as my son went to preschool. I had been trying to get pregnant again, but between our schedules and my stress, it wasn’t happening. I began my own fertility journey, and began being my own doctor, as well as visiting several fertility centers. We did become pregnant again – when I was 39 years old…with TWINS! While I had wanted this for so long, I spent much of the next 9 months tired, worried, and still treating patients full time. After the twins were born, I had the same expectations for myself as I had with my first child. I would have a natural childbirth, nurse them exclusively, and practice attachment parenting. Two days in, I was exhausted and barely sleeping. When I was awake, I was pumping or nursing. I gave in to formula, and I felt like a failure. I had many ups and downs in those first few months, as I wrestled with my own limitations, and not living up to the example that I was trying to be. I had to sleep train, for my own sanity, as I was back to work after the twins turned 2 months old. My husband and I were both doing our very best, but still coming up far short of perfect! With three kids to juggle, two careers and a full house, it was all feeling like a circus ride. We carried on this way, with me just struggling to keep up with my own self, and feeling like I was juggling on a high wire, while progressively becoming more and more depleted. Until 2017, when the twins turned two and I decided to take a leave of absence from work and take time for myself – to heal and recover. I had to do a lot of soul-searching and nurturing to get back to a place where I felt well again in body, mind, and spirit. The practice of holistic medicine is a giving practice that requires so much energy, thought and emotion, and parenting requires many of those same facets. I found I was drained dry. I couldn’t GIVE any more. I couldn’t even take very well. So we hired help, and I recovered myself one day at a time through self-love and many of the practices that I recommend to others: yoga, healthy nourishing food, exercise, journaling, and time in nature. I found the gifts of being enough. And I am excited to share that gift with each and every one of you! Love to you…
Dr. Kemby ND 