I found Labor of Love by doing some of my own research online. And thank God I did! My doula,…read moreKaren, was my rock throughout my labor and was 100,000 percent amazing--I'll definitely be working with her for my second! A little backstory: I was overwhelmed and so nervous about finding "the one" person to be a part of the most important event of my life. After doing my research and reading through all these bios, I honestly was left feeling overwhelmed, especially knowing how indecisive I can be. I knew I just had to trust my intuition and my gut on this one! After looking at Karen's bio on their website, I had such a good feeling. Staci (the owner), who was super friendly and professional, helped me get connected with Karen, and I booked an interview right away! Karen was so sweet and asked me about my pregnancy experience so far. We discussed how I wanted my birth to go and any concerns I had. There wasn't any pressure to hire her, and it just felt like she was already invested in me, like I was already family. I even had her video chat with my husband to make sure we both felt comfortable and vibed well together--and we sure did! Overall, Karen ended up being the perfect balance of knowledge, experience, and professionalism. It was the most perfect amount of care I could have asked for. She was also such an advocate for my birth plan to work out. Before, during, and after my labor and birth, she was always naturally in tune with what I needed. She was never overbearing, worked so well with my husband, and gave him space to be a part of my support team as well. I am so grateful to have come across Labor of Love

The business owner is quite the opposite of the type of person any vulnerable new mom should have…read moreto work with. My experience with Labor of Love was almost two years ago now but continues to upset me when thinking back on my experience. We hired Lauren as our doula, who made it clear she expected us to go far past my due date as a first time mom. While it's possible for that to happen, it didn't in my case. At 39 weeks and at 5am while in active labor and getting ready to head to the hospital, she let us know she had Covid. Her backup was Karen, who I wish we hired to begin with as she is far more caring and professional. Though unfortunately our experience still fell short and we ultimately delivered without Karen present. We were left feeling like we invested a lot of emotion and money into this process with ultimately no help. Staci has been incredibly rude to us since then and even revoked our access to watch her training videos, sending me a link to pay her once again when wanting to rewatch for our now second baby on the way. Karen herself even recommended we ask for a partial refund due to our experience, but Staci lacks the professionalism and courtesy to her clients. Truly mindblowing that she revoked access to the training videos after we had already paid for them. I would stay far away and recommend a more experienced and caring doula group.

The Mommy Center has been such a wonderful experience for both me and my daughter. Michelle and her…read moreteam have created such a fun, welcoming, and judgment-free space where moms and their little ones can connect, play, and feel supported. I've taken two of their mommy-and-baby class series, and I loved both of them. Each series includes special touches like each week is a different topica mini photoshoot, a swim party, and so much more, which makes it absolutely worth every penny. Carmen, who helped lead the group, is amazing. She is incredibly knowledgeable, patient, and always makes me feel heard. She gives thoughtful advice and truly cares about the moms and babies she works with. You can tell she genuinely loves what she does. I've also attended several music classes with Michelle, and those have been some of my favorites. My daughter absolutely loves music time, and Michelle does such a great job keeping the kids engaged and entertained. We truly love The Mommy Center and are so grateful for everything they offer!!

I had such a great experience with my newborn here for the mommy and me session. It felt a lot more…read morepersonable compared to other centers that offered these kinds of classes. Prior to class, we had a group WhatsApp which made it so easy to communicate and get introduced to each other. I love that the center organized mommy outings for us, planned family picnics, as well as provided professional photography. I was never stressed out when I was at the center, knowing that there's a diaper station with plenty of diapers in many sizes, formula in case mamas forget to bring sustenance for baby, bottle warmers, and everything we need to feel comfortable. It felt above and beyond. I highly recommend trying one of several classes they offer! I'm excited to continue onto their 4-6 month old sessions and try out the baby music class.

5/5 - Highly Recommend for First-Time Parents…read more My wife and I took a birthing class with Lia, and we are truly happy with the entire experience. As a first-time dad, this class taught me so much about how to stay prepared and how to be a strong advocate for mom while she's in labor. I went into this wanting to make sure I could actually help and not just be "dead weight," and this class delivered exactly that. I really appreciated how Lia explained that every birth is different, and showed us a variety of experiences from other couples. It helped me understand what to expect and how to support my wife through whatever direction our birth might take. I also loved that I had to actively participate--taking notes and learning alongside my wife really prepared me for the big day. We also enjoyed meeting other couples who are going through the same process. It made everything feel more real and more supported. When the time came and we arrived at the hospital, I genuinely felt prepared because of this class. As first-time parents, we absolutely recommend taking this class with Lia. It made a huge difference for both of us.

I'm an RN. I work in a hospital. I'm no stranger to the Labor & Delivery world. Even so, Lia's…read moreclass was amazingly helpful, not only to me, but also to my husband, who is definitely NOT in the medical field :) It is clear that she has so much L&D experience; she educates using scientific articles and her doula experience. Lia is entertaining too! Her bubbly, casual demeanor make classes fun. She provides education and her opinion without judging if you choose something different. I really appreciate that she promotes participation and camaraderie among the parents in the class. She responds quickly & thoughtfully to questions via email and text. I repeated her class for my second pregnancy. I've now successfully delivered 3 babies 'the Bradley way' and I could not be more grateful to Lia for helping me prepare for such unique, miraculous, athletic events! #dates

Long review short: if you are considering hiring Cindy, you should do it…read more Long review medium: a good friend of mine used Cindy with her kids and recommended her highly. We interviewed her amongst other Postpartum Doulas and we decided to go with a duo team because we thought it would be more reliable if one was unable to make it. Oh boy, we were wrong. That duo ended up being very unreliable despite being two people. It was especially difficult being Postpartum. We were suddenly stuck without any help and just feeling really scared and frustrated. We turned to Cindy, not knowing if she was available or if she would consider working with us. Cindy was already in a new contract (which I'm not surprised by at all). But she welcomed with us with open arms and came by that very night because she had a night off just to help us when we were at our wits end. She offered us any nights she could due to her other contract and has continued to be a source for us in times of need. She is extremely reliable and will always show up when she says (I assume absent a real need) and, for a postpartum mother and father, this is necessary and reassuring. Cindy comes over and immediately takes care of your baby, the most precious thing in the world to you. She actually allows you to get some sleep even if you're breastfeeding and have to get up every few hours. She has tons of expertise and knowledge to help guide you if you want it. On top of it, she made a red date and Goji berry tea and the most amazing Lactation breakfast bars (I woke up to the best smell of delicious baked goods). She folded laundry without being asked and it included some of our stuff, going above and beyond just taking care of the baby. She has provided our family with information and solace as well as a shoulder to lean on with any questions or thoughts. My partner absolutely adores her, as do I. I don't give out five stars lightly, but Cindy is more than deserving.

We hired Cindy as our postpartum doula, and it was the best decision…read more When we first brought the baby home, it felt overwhelming. But having Cindy help us with the baby brought us such calmness. She has such a wealth of knowledge and is so loving and sweet. And not only does she help with the baby, she helped my wife with her recovery as well! If you are at all considering a doula, you can't do any better than Cindy.

So grateful that I found this amazing doula team and mama community!…read more Krista Jawin worked closely with my husband and I to prepare us for the birth of our first child. She has truly been the guiding light through our journey into parenthood. We had the amazing, magical, beautiful, empowering home birth that we visualized during our birth education sessions with Krista. We know we would not have had this experience if it were not for her guidance before, during and after the birth of our baby. Thank you Krista for the amazing selfless work you do for mamas, babies, and families!!!!

I love Maureen and the team at In One Breath Center! I'm so thankful that I was referred to…read moreMaureen: I was halfway through my first pregnancy and my yoga instructor encouraged me to become educated about labor, birth, and postpartum life. I am SO glad I received that encouragement and Maureen's name from her. I had interviewed a couple doulas who I found on Yelp, but my 3rd call was Maureen and I knew by the end of our first phone conversation that she was the one who would be my teammate and would be there to witness the birth of my first baby! We opted to do a hospital birth (although I loved the idea of a midwifery center or a home birth, my husband's desire was to have our son born in a hospital setting) and I knew that I wanted the wisdom and support of a birth doula to assist my husband and I in making the best decisions possible during the labor & delivery process. My goal was to have a natural birth and I knew that might be challenging in the hospital setting. As a side-note, I had previously thought birth doulas were mainly for people who had extra money laying around - but now I don't know why I had that idea because it's not true in the least bit! We made a point to save where we could so that we could spend some on a doula. Before "The Day" arrived, we met with Maureen in person. She asked great questions about our wishes, fears, uncertainties and she helped us to write a very simple birth plan (or 'birth preferences'- since most of the time things DON'T go exactly as you plan for with birth!). She was in contact with us often in the weeks leading up the my due date, especially because at 34 weeks I needed to go to the hospital Triage due to intense/frequent Braxton Hicks and we also found out that baby was breech and would need to turn - and soon! She and Krista gave me excellent advice that I wouldn't have otherwise received - little suggestions and tricks for taking care of myself at home leading up to my due date. We wanted to keep the baby in the womb until he was closer to (or at) 40 weeks and we were hopeful he would flip around, too! So, Maureen advised me to rest, calm my mind, listen to hypnobirthing mp3s, etc. We kept in touch regularly for the 3-4 weeks before my water broke at 37 weeks + 1 day - baby boy waited until he was considered full-term and then wouldn't wait a day longer! He was placed in my arms 37 hours later! For the actual labor & delivery she met us at Hoag while we were still trying to get labor going (unsuccessfully) and then she supported us as the nurses suggested Pitocin to get things going. PItocin wasn't in our "Plan", but with Maureen's support, my husband and I asked that we start the process very slow & steady... LONG story short, I was able to deliver the baby vaginally without any drugs or intervention with exception of the Pitocin. Thank God we had Maureen - she helped with massaging, bathroom trips, various labor positions, pep talks, and she really supported my husband. I think that's the biggest takeaway- my husband had the confidence to tell the hospital staff our desires (when needed) because Maureen was his teammate when I was out of my usual mind during the labor process. Maureen is sincere, hard-working, loving, and just an all-around JOY to be around. God knew what he was doing when he set us up together. It's been nearly 6 months since my son was born (another pregnancy isn't in our imminent future) and when the time is right I know I will be dialing Maureen as soon as we make plans to have Baby #2. I encourage anyone who read this long-winded review to connect with Maureen before making your final decision if a birth doula is right for you! As my husband has told several other of our expecting couple-friends: "Talk to Maureen (or any doula you're considering), it's the best money we chose to spend during this season!"

This course was absolutely enlightening. 10/10 recommend to anyone thinking of taking a class-…read moreyou'll learn things that are NOT on tiktok, IG or Google- these classes have structure and cohesiveness! Both my partner and I came away with confidence, knowledge and resources feeling empowered to face birth and post partum. There were lots of thought provoking and conversation starting moments for expecting parents that we're so thankful to have explored because of this course. Kortney is so well paced, knowledgeable, and engaging! There were great learning activities, group projects and workshop moments that were thoughtfully implimented. We enjoyed being in a group setting where we could ask and hear questions from others, to share and hear others share and have an interactive experience, it was a collaborative team that we liked participating in! It's clear how much Kortney cares, she'll make sure you have every question answered and provide any and every resource available that you're interested in and is truly invested in providing every tool available to help you navigate your birth plan, post partum and more. Four weeks practically flew by, I looked forward to meeting weekly and am so thankful to have taken these classes with a great group of people. We're full of gratitude and looking forward to implimenting everything we learned as we enter parenthood!

My husband and I just took this class with Kortney and enjoyed every moment! The class is once a…read moreweek for 4 weeks, with each class being about 3hrs. We only had one of couple in the class and learned so much about pregnancy, labor/delivery, postpartum. The class also gets you and your partner to think inward about your own wishes, fears, and concerns! We can't thank Kortney enough for the experience and have already started suggesting her to other pregnant friends!

We were planning a cross country road trip with our toddler and for peace of mind I wanted to make…read moresure our car seat was installed correctly and there were no changes we had to make to it. We hired Amanda to come to our home and help us out. It was so convenient and she was amazing! She recommended some changes to make safety wise and showed us how to install them and let my husband and I each do it in our own cars so we felt comfortable, especially since I will be getting a new car soon and will have to learn to. She gave us some great tips and sent us a follow up email with a ton of resources and information. Overall I would highly recommend this service to make sure everything is correct with your car seats, car seat safety is so important and I feel so much better knowing my son is as safe as he can be.

AMAZING experience with Amanda. She helped us installed two different car seats in two different…read morecars. She is very knowledgeable, I learned a lot from installing the car seats to how to keep our baby safe in them, because it is not only about strapping the harness around your little one, it's about doing it right. Thank you Amanda.

Lauren is an exceptional doula and we feel incredibly grateful to have had her as part of our birth…read moreexperience. She is extremely knowledgeable about all things labor and delivery, works seamlessly with the staff at Hoag Newport, and is fantastic at collaborating with the husband (me) both leading up to and during labor and delivery. Lauren even came to our home ahead of time to see our space and provide education, which was such a thoughtful and comforting touch. She truly has a gift for bringing calm, clarity, and confidence to the birth process. She was texting us consistently leading up to going to the hospital, which made us feel deeply supported, cared for, and never alone. We would absolutely recommend Lauren to anyone looking for a doula who is skilled, compassionate, and genuinely invested in your experience.

Lauren is super nice and very attentive throughout the process! The only thing id like to mention…read moreto other mamas, is that she possibly overbooks herself. While in the pushing stage of labor, lauren was texting on her phone and took a phone call (probably another mama in labor). I totally understand there may be other things that need her attention during my 18+ hour labor, but I was disappointed she was preocupied on her phone during the pushing stage. She also video taped my birth, which i specifically told her I do not want. She told me afterwards that my husband told her to last minute, but this seems like a lie to me. I did not want to be filmed below my waist, and when i brought this up to her, she stated " well why dont you just delete the video". She also provided no breastfeeding support despite this being a contractual obligation. I bet other mamas have had a great experience with lauren, and she was an immense help throughout my labor.

Taking the Bradley Method with Christy was really one of the best decisions my husband and I made…read moreto prepare for birth She's made us feel so much more confident going into doctor's appointments and being able to advocate for the type of birthing experience we're hoping to have. Even going into conversations with other people who have who have gone through pregnancy and birth--the confidence we have speaking about what we want, what we want to avoid, and why has been amazing to share with people who weren't given even the basic information/options by their medical team. Truly couldn't recommend Christy and her approach enough

Christy is seriously amazing. Finding the right midwife was really important to me because birth is…read moresuch a personal experience, and I knew I needed someone I felt 100% comfortable with. From the moment we met her, we just knew she was the perfect fit for us. This was our first baby, and she guided us through everything. She answered all of our questions, made us feel so supported, and honestly exceeded every expectation we had. I also really loved that she's the perfect balance of holistic, but will absolutely speak up if something medical is needed. You can tell her top priority is always keeping both mom and baby safe. We also took her Bradley Method class, which was so helpful and made me feel way more prepared and confident going into birth. We learned so much, and I've already been recommending it to everyone. I fully trusted her the entire time, which made such a difference for me going into labor and birth. Throughout my labor, she was there at any time of day to answer my calls and questions, and she always helped me feel calm and educated about what was happening. On the day of the birth, she was calm, confident, and completely in her element. She made the whole experience feel so smooth and magical. I recommend Christy to anyone, and I already know I'll want her as my midwife for all of my future babies

Pretty fun I did a year and was very fun and a very great learning experience great time.read more

Hi, I called to inquire about the summer program, and when I was told it was $900 a week, my jaw…read morehonestly dropped. That pricing makes the program completely out of reach for many middle-class families. At nearly $4,000 a month, especially in Orange County where families are already struggling just to cover rent and basic expenses, it feels pretty outrageous. I really hope your team reconsiders the cost of the program or offers more affordable options for working families. Programs like this should be accessible to more kids, not just families with extremely high incomes.