Christine is such a great doula and I highly recommend her…read more We hired Christine for the birth of our second child. I didn't have a doula for my first birth and I knew I wanted some support the second time around. Even though she was out of the country when we first contacted her, she was super responsive and was a great communicator throughout the entire process. Christine met us at our home to discuss the details, such as our birth plan and an overview of her services. She was very knowledgable and professional and helped with all of the birth related questions we had. She constantly checked in to see how I was feeling and eased my mind during the weeks before my labor. On the big day I kept her informed by text as to my progress. I wasn't convinced I was in true labor and didn't call her to join us until much later. When I knew we would be staying, my husband and I decided to have her join us when we were checked into a room (the triage space was so tiny there was barely any space for even my husband). Unfortunately it was such a busy night we ended up in triage for 5 hours! They kept telling us it would only be another 30 minutes...another hour, etc. as the time ticked away. By the time we did get a room and asked her to come, I got an epidural. She drove all the way to Alta Bates in the middle of the night. I think it was around 3 or 4am. When she arrived she took charge by calming me down, talking to the nurses, and answering questions the nurses would not explain. She massaged my hands and helped me turn from side to side/change positions. When it came to the pushing part she helped me gather my strength and even held my leg back as I pushed. After the birth she assisted with communicating our wishes like delayed cord cutting and immediate skin to skin contact, no eye medicine, etc. She stayed for several hours after helping me with breast feeding positions, my baby's latch, and getting me anything I needed (like water and food). Most importantly, my husband and I were able to bond with our baby together since Christine took care of everything we needed. During the weeks after the birth of my son she checked in with me many times. She sent me resources about breastfeeding and my local leche league meetings, and during my post partum meeting she even helped clean my house and do dishes. The birth of my son was so amazing and Christine was a huge part of that. I look forward to using her again for a third baby and highly recommend her to anyone looking for a birth coach!

I loved having Christine as my doula, she has been such blessing to our family…read more Like the other reviewers mentioned Christine met with my husband and I to review our birth plan. She informed us of what goes on during labor so that we could have a better understanding. I wanted a natural birth and Christine shared with us different techniques and positions that would help with that and we also got to practice some of them. She help my husband and I to come up with questions to ask for our hospital tour. Christine made herself available anytime I had questions or when I wanted to update her on how my pregnancy was going. She had laminated scripture cards that she let us borrow and my husband read those to me during the early stages of labor. When I was ready for Christine to come to the hospital she arrived quickly. Once there she was ready to help me get into a better position that would encourage labor to progress. When trying out the different techniques she would ask if I felt comfortable or if I wanted to try something else. She genuinely cared for how I felt. When my contractions were getting stronger she reminded me to breath, talked me through them, and held my hand, comforting me with the fact that each contraction would bringing me closer to seeing my precious baby. She again checked with me to see if I was ok with her talking and touching me or if I preferred her not to. I found her words comforting and focusing on her voice really helped me get through each contraction. My contractions got more intense and I felt that I couldn't continue, Christine reassured me that everything was progressing well and that I would soon see my baby. I was able to refocus and continue to have a natural birth. My baby's head came out without the nurses or dr present and Christine was calm and did a great job calling the nurses and dr in, since my husband was kind of in a panic mode and didn't know what to do. Once my baby was here I tried breastfeeding but was having trouble getting her to latch, Christine stayed to help me. She also visited me the next day to continue to help. Christine also provided resources and referrals which was very helpful. I highly recommend Christine to anyone looking for a doula. Christine listens to your needs and does her best to accommodate them, she provides great support and comfort. My husband and I are truly grateful for Christine.

I called to inquire about post-partum services to help my wife and I with our newborn. The person…read morewho answered said, "Hello", I asked if they offered post-partum services & she said, "We don't offer services to men because men can't have babies." What a joke. I'm trying to be a supportive partner and call on behalf of our family and was greeted with that BS. Absolute trash.

From the owner: Providing birth doula services, postpartum doula services, placenta encapsulation (preparation),…read morebelly casting, breastfeeding home support, and many classes to get you ready for your new bundle of joy in Vallejo and surrounding areas.

Serena truly is a gem of an IBCLC! Not only is she kind, patient, and understanding but she is also…read moresomeone who guides gently and uses positive language which is immensely helpful for someone like me who is dealing with a low milk supply. She helped me with my first baby 8 years ago and I knew I had to reach out to her asap when I found out that I was pregnant with my 2nd. I knew my breastfeeding journey needed to be established right away and it required Serena and her knowledge of low milk supply. She did a house call about a week postpartum and did a weighted feed and assessed baby for ties which he does have. She was able to ease my mind and helped guide me on what to do and how to get my supply up. I've been able to message her with my many questions and she has been so responsive and so kind. She has made the journey great so far despite me not making a full supply (I make about half of baby's needs). If you want an amazing ibclc who wants to see you and baby succeed then look no further!

It is no wonder Serena has 5 star ratings. Our 8 wk old baby started showing slow weight gain and…read moreas a first time parent, I was so worried and overwhelmed. From our first call, Serena was kind, thorough and asked all the right questions. She made time to come over within days, immediately pinpointed the issue, and created a clear feeding plan that gave me so much relief. She even reached out to our pediatrician right after and they called me the same day to schedule a weight check by end of the week! Serena's care doesn't stop at your session -- she checks in often and is always available by text, making me feel completely supported and never alone. She's warm, friendly, non-judgmental and turned a scary situation into something manageable. We're still working with her but I couldn't wait to share. Even though we're not out of the woods yet, I feel a million times better knowing Serena is by our side. If you're considering working with her, don't hesitate -- she's a gem!

I sought help from Kelly as a last resort after a month of baby struggling to get back to birth…read moreweight. I was prescribed triple feeding which was totally unsustainable. She helped tremendously and gave us so much confidence as parents. She was so patient and knowledgeable, and professional. We got the latch down and were able to drop the triple feeding routine. Here we are almost a year later still nursing and growing right on track!

Kelly is the best lactation consultant any mama could ask for!!! A week into my breast feeding…read morejourney with my first baby I was ready to give up. (We saw a horrible lactation consultant at Kaiser who made me feel like I was starving my baby and tried to move us to formula immediately.) Thankfully we found Kelly on Yelp and she was able to see us the next day. She listened to my concerns/frustrations with breastfeeding, then watched me nurse my baby and gave such compassionate guidance. She gave me so much confidence!!! Fast forward to today, my baby girl is 9 months old and I am still exclusively breastfeeding!!! Breastfeeding is so much harder than anyone ever told me it was going to be. My recommendation for any first time mama would be to make an appointment with Kelly and get all the support you didn't even know you would need, it makes a world of a difference!

Sarah provided me with compassionate and expert support in my journey feeding my kiddo. I greatly…read moreappreciated her warm, non-judgmental approach and her wise advice. She was able to meet with me on short notice, followed up via text to check in on me after our first appointment, and has fielded several questions via email, even while she was traveling. I am very grateful for her support and would highly recommend her!

At 5 days postpartum, I was feeling incredibly stressed and overwhelmed, but Sarah came to our home…read moreimmediately to help. She spent several hours with my husband and me, teaching us everything from the basics of breastfeeding and milk supply to the specifics of breast anatomy. Her calm demeanor was exactly what we needed; she completely eased my anxiety and gave us the confidence we were lacking. This was truly the most helpful support we've received since coming home from the hospital. If you are looking for an expert who is both knowledgeable and deeply compassionate, look no further.

My wife and I hired Amy for the birth of our daughter Bowie. Her presence was so warm and…read morewelcoming. My wife decided on no epidural and Amy helped out so much with my wife in helping her stay grounded through the pain of birth. She was great in helping me as well. She talked me through the process and help calm my worries because this is our first child and my first time experiencing child birth. Amy is knowledgable and experienced in the best way possible when it comes to hiring a doula. I would absolutely not hesitate to hire her again in the event that my wife and I have another child. If you are looking for a doula that will listen to your needs and make sure that your birthing experience goes smooth and comfortable look no further. Hire Amy!

Amy was such an incredible support during my pregnancy and birthing process! She was very…read moreinformative with helping me know my options as a woman in labor, which helped to ease my overwhelm in structuring my birth plan. When the day finally came for our baby girl to make her debut, I had a great sense of calm and confidence thanks to Amy. I chose to have a natural birth and let me tell you, it is not easy to stay focused! When the pain started to overwhelm me, Amy helped me bring my focus back to center and remind me of how strong and capable my body is. My husband had a hard time watching me in such great pain and she helped to calm his worries and support him in supporting me. Birth is a team effort and I was so fortunate to have Amy on my team. I am forever grateful for her and I highly recommend her to anyone!

I recently had the pleasure of working with Rebecca as a lactation consultant, referred to me by my…read moremidwife. Rebecca made a fantastic first impression with her quick email replies. Maybe she could sense my desperation? Either way, we quickly set up an in-home visit (an invaluable bonus of not having to leave the house with a 2 week old baby). She not only had a very reasonable rate, but even offered a sliding scale. After struggling with breastfeeding in any and every way possible (latching, positioning, etc.), Rebecca's help was extremely welcomed. She was calm, confident, reassuring, caring and knowledgeable. We worked together for over 2 hours at that session, calling it quits at the baby's discretion. Although I don't have a "miracle worker" story about how everything was magically fixed and we lived happily ever after, I do have a happy ending the breastfeeding saga. It took a few more weeks (and a few more tricks) for me to really apply everything that Rebecca taught me in that session, but now my baby and I are pros, and I really do owe much of the success to Rebecca's help. I would highly recommend her services as a lactation consultant to anyone!

Rebecca Plum is an extremely talented, composed, and compassionate Midwife. I worked with Rebecca…read morewhile she was the primary Midwife for my doula clients, and from the very beginning I was impressed with the quality and the individually tailored care that she provided. I was first exposed to her work ethic and birth philosophy during our homebirth -team meeting. This is a time for everyone who is planning on attending the birth to gather and discuss the women's birth vision, discuss roles and prepare for various scenarios that might unfold. Rebecca smoothly moderated the session so that everyone knew what was expected of them which allowed us to all see ourselves as a team working to provide this couple with the love, respect and care that they deserved. What really stood out to me was Rebecca's deeply intuitive nature and her ability to address under currents and subtle signals, bring them into the conversation and positively harness all the unknowns and natural anxieties that can accompany birth. While being ever professional and remarkably prepared, she sparked an excitement in the air and made it down right fun. During the birth Rebecca continued to be the ever calm, smooth and joyful presence. As a doula, I have been a part of many birth teams and seen many provider's styles. Rebecca's style is at the core about trusting the birthing woman, the natural birth process, and giving the woman space to trust herself. She imbued the birth space with laughter and a true love for her work and the family that she served. It was contagious. Knowledge, experience, choice, and laughter- not a bad combination for a midwife!

As a new parent, the postpartum period is challenging enough without having to deal with the stress…read moreand disappointment of a difficult agency. While Stork and Sprout does have some excellent doulas on its team who provided great support and coaching, my experience with the agency's leadership was overwhelmingly negative. We had a particularly difficult time with Brittany. She demonstrated a pattern of manipulation, gaslighting, and lying, both to us and, from what I understand, to her own employees. Our contract promised consistent coverage, but the scheduling was erratic and communication was poor. We were left to wonder many nights if we would have support, and for several weeks, we only received 1 to 2 days of support instead of the 6 to 7 we paid for. When we requested a refund for the services not provided, Brittany refused and even fought our bank with out-of-context emails and more lies. She claims she "offered a refund" but is even today refusing to honor it as she says in the response. The lack of professionalism extended to some of the staff as well; one sick doula was sent to our home and intentionally caused our newborn physical pain. Brittany treated us like we were the difficult ones and responded with empathy-less chatGPT emails to manage the situation. We were also led to believe we would have one primary doula with a backup, but over the course of our service, we had seven different doulas come to our home. This complete lack of continuity made an already difficult period even more stressful. Based on my experience, I would advise new parents to skip Stork and Sprout and work directly with an independent doula. You will not only save the 30-40% extra fee the agency charges for scheduling, but you will also avoid the toxic and difficult management. This experience is unacceptable for a service that costs tens of thousands of dollars and demands payment upfront months ahead of providing the service. We were not able to switch easily due to the inflexible Carrot reimbursement process through the employer.

I truly couldn't have accomplished my VBAC goals without the incredible support of the Stork and…read moreSprout birth doula team. From the very first moment I needed them through labor and all the way until I was settled into the maternity floor with my new little boy, they were there every step of the way. Their calm presence, deep knowledge, encouragement, and advocacy made all the difference during such an intense and meaningful experience. I felt supported, empowered, and never alone. I am beyond grateful for their care and dedication and would wholeheartedly recommend Stork and Sprout to anyone preparing for birth--especially those pursuing a VBAC.

Made an appointment, got multiple confirmation emails, including an hour before the appointment…read more She never showed. I also emailed her two days before to try to get a response since I assumed the confirmation emails might be automated. She never responded. Phone number listed on Kaiser goes straight to voicemail. Unprofessional - can't imagine trusting this person with anything

Davon is just the BEST person you could ever have as your Doula! My husband and I are extremely…read morehappy for choosing her and will definitely recommend her services for everyone we know. Since our first interview, we felt a deeply connection with her and we chose her because of her KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, NATURAL APPROACH to pregnancy and childbirth and, most importantly, because we just felt that she understood us and would support us in the way we needed. This is my second baby and I've had a very traumatic experience with my first kid birth, so I wanted to have someone by my side who I could trust and who would help me to trust myself and my body to have a positive birth experience. My husband was a little reluctant to hire a doula, but after meeting her he was already feeling supported and more confident in the birth process. During the pregnancy she was always making herself available for questions and/or concerns and sharing resources to help us navigate through the different stages of this process. She also has an amazing Childbirth Course, that helped us to prepare for the big day. During the prenatal visits, we had an amazing time together, just like friends hanging out. She would spend enough time talking to us about everything we needed; she was never rushing out and would listen to us carefully. Davon is so KIND and she made us feel so comfortable from the very start. She is also very knowledgeable and would help us with our questions, doubts and insecurities. The whole time she was showing her trust in me and my body to go through the birth. On the birth day, she was available right away when we contact her. She arrived at the Birth Center at the same time we did and was there for the whole time. We arrived there at 2am and my baby was born at 7:30am. She never left my side and stayed there until the first hours of postpartum were over, making sure we were both fine. During labor, she always knew what to do and what to say to help me cope. She had many comfort measures for me during my painful contractions. Although I was almost giving up and asking for medication, she never got discouraged or let me feel that I couldn't do it. Her positive affirmations, calmness and confidence were definitely the reason I was able to go all the way through with the unmedicated birth, even when I thought I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't have done without her!!! She also has an amazing back up doula (Tanara), who we met virtually and then in person at our last prenatal appointment. This made us feel even more comfortable because we knew that if Davon couldn't make it to the big day for any reason, we still would have someone we trusted to support us over there. She also encapsulated my placenta. She took care of everything in the birth center and brought the capsules to my home on our postpartum appointment. She also made a cute keepsake out of my dehydrated cord, which was a special touch. Davon is like family to us know! We are extremely grateful that she came into our lives and will never forget this experience.

I don't think words can truly describe how amazing this woman is. Charlee is such an amazing person…read morefirst and foremost. I had the pleasure and honor to get to work with her for not one of my babies, but two of them. I had given birth January 2023, she came to our house for every appointment. She listened to all of our concerns. She was so thorough and in depth. Never missing a single thing during any appointment. We Explained to her that we wanted something to where we could be the most hands-on during our birth, and that is exactly what we got. Throughout the entire pregnancy, she educated us. Answering all of my questions. She is so funny, but also extremely professional and truly just a joy to get to work with. When I went into labor, she was there a heartbeat more ready than we were we were taking our time we had two other kids lol. She always asked for permission before doing anything. I felt like I was being treated like a queen. After giving birth, she was so accommodating so attentive. She came to do checks on myself and the baby she always asked before even touching the baby. She respects everybody boundaries. I got the honor to become her friend and kept in contact giving her updates on our baby that she helped bring into this world. Then we got pregnant again and knew that we wanted to have a free birth. But we still knew that we wanted prenatal care and we only knew of one place we wanted to go to get that.. Charlee helped guide us to make sure that we got our blood work done during pregnancy, our anatomy scan, and even made sure that baby was headed down a few weeks before giving birth. Unfortunately, we were moving to Texas to give birth, so there was no way for her to be our midwife. But she helped us by making sure we had a healthy pregnancy the entire way. We made it to full-term and gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. After giving birth, though my placenta was being a little stubborn. I gave Charlee a call on FaceTime and she picked up it was a little late into the evening and she still answered! (That's because she's truly that awesome) she helped by simply telling me to stand up and cough and sure enough that did the trick! Talk about being such an amazing midwife over the phone in a whole other state. The financial aspect of it all she works with you. Some people are concerned that they want to have a homebirth with the midwife, but they can't afford it. She can come up with a payment plan for you and let me tell you 100% worth it with Charlee , if you were to invest your money anywhere for the birth of your baby every single time I would put my money into Charlee. The medical aspect of it all let me tell you when you see the bag that she brings to every appointment. She is ready for the impossible. I swear she's got like a mini hospital in that bag. The all natural aspect if you are somebody who is trying to avoid as much medical stuff as possible, she's also your go to woman. She will give you different stretches and things you can do to avoid medication pain relief etc The overall aspect of Charlee as a midwife is, she's the woman you want to go to . She's the one you want on your team. I'm so lucky that I get to share this intimate photo of my most recent birth just to show how amazing she is and how much she cares about her past, current, and future clients. Thank you so much, Charlee for everything you've done for me and my family . Words truly just don't express how amazing you are not only as a midwife, but as a person.

This is my second birth, but my first being a home birth. I didn't know what to expect but felt…read moresupport since the beginning to the end. Charlee is nothing but incredible in the care she provides and lets natural really take its course, very through, nurturing, trusting, and takes her time with you through the whole journey. I do have to pay out of pocket, but it's worth every penny for the experience. My toddler who was 23 months at the time was able to witness her little sister being born, and i strongly believe to this day, it's the reason why she's so in love with her sister. My husband even got to catch our baby with his hands, that's something you can't always say happen. The whole experience is what made it worth it, Charlee is the experience. My pregnancy, labor, and delivery were all smooth and calm, not once did i feel stressed. I even had a scare with some bleeding, but Charlee made sure i got all i needed for piece of mind, and getting checked out. I keep telling everyone how amazing it all was and i will be doing my next birth with Charlee, she's family. I highly recommend, if you can do a home birth, it is a must do, & Charlee & her team are the ones to do it with. Thank you for the amazing care, journey, and the experience you gave to my family and i, there aren't words to express how grateful we are, all great things to feel and say.