My name is Andrea Lythgoe, and I am a busy woman.
Currently I have my own childbirth education business, Pampered Birth, I teach natural childbirth classes at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah and I am a doula and birth photographer.
My degree is in Health Education, and I have been a childbirth educator since 1997 and a doula since 1999. I have always been interested in research, but I am not a math person! So I set about learning as much as I could about research and how I could understand it. My Understanding Research site has been the result. I past years, I’ve been a regular contributor on the Lamaze International blog Science and Sensibility, writing about how to find, understand, and critically read research. I also taught a course in how to read and understand research for the Midwives College of Utah for several years.
My most recent venture is photography. I’ve always loved taking pictures, and the last few years I have been busily learning how to best capture the beauty I see in expecting parents and new families. I also thoroughly enjoy taking very close up photos of random things like water drops and bubbles. Looking at the small details makes you see things you might otherwise miss. If you’d like to see my photos, they can be found here.
I have three daughters and a husband who are all as busy as I am! My husband owns and run a genealogy software company as well as working full time. Our three girls keep us hopping to various rehearsals, performances, and volunteer work as they are getting older and busier. I don’t have any “spare time”, but I try to find time for reading, traveling (especially if I can see the ocean), and learning more about photography.