I decided to hire a birth doula because I knew I was going to need the emotional and physical…read moresupport for an unmedicated labor/birth (I can imagine having a doula even medicated is just as important with first baby). I labored for 18 hours and Francesca was a huge support from the moment I started to feel my contractions. She really listened to my needs, was hands on, and so helpful the entire time. Looking back I wish I even hired her for the postpartum care. I love Francesca. Thank you for doing what you do to support us mamas. You are amazing!

My very first prenatal yoga class I was 4 months and I got lucky! I met Francesca and immediately…read morefelt I'd met a genuine spirit. Not only were her prenatal classes amazing but I find out she's a doula I attended a few of Francesca's classes but sadly my schedule changed and there was a conflict of time. So I stoped attending and wouldn't you know Francesca reached out to me. Asked me how I was doing and that she missed seeing me in class. I can't tell you how special that made me feel. So I tried my best to make it to her classes .... But then in walks Covid with all its stay at home quarantine SAS! At this point I'm 7 months. And I now feel my pregnancy plan to stay active is going down the drain. But wait... there's a rainbow at the end of this freak show. Francesca to the rescue ... she starts offering online prenatal classes and I'm so happy I cry. *all those hormones* talk about hot mess. I now attend her classes just about every day AND I ask her to be my Doula She and her classes helped me get through a lot of anxiety. Being pregnant and so close to giving birth during a pandemic..... it got pretty dark there for a min. But Francesca is very informative and has this calmness about her.... She's all the good things you need/ want from a prenatal yoga teacher/ doula While she could not be with me in the delivery room she was with me through phone and text guiding me through. My husband and I couldn't have been more grateful. So in conclusion Francesca is a Unicorn! And I love her... but you'll find that out once you take her classes or have her as your doula

My husband and I had the most incredible experience with South Coast Midwifery! All through my…read morepregnancy they gave us the most intentional and specific care. They never seemed rushed with us, but took the time to answer all our questions and concerns. The midwives are so knowledgeable and full of wisdom regarding pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. I felt so at ease, knowing they were taking care of me. It felt like they truly cared about me! I highly recommend SCM to anyone looking to do a natural birth - they made my experience everything I could've hoped for. I'm so thankful for this team and my experience with SCM! We will be back again :)

There truly aren't words to describe what this experience meant to me…read more All I can say is that I had my dream birth~ the birth I had hoped and prayed for. More than anything, I wanted bringing my daughter into the world to feel sacred, and that's exactly what it was. From the moment I arrived, I felt deeply heard, respected, trusted, loved, and cared for. My amazing midwives, Dorian and Lorri, along with my incredible doula Kennedy, the wonderful Amy, and the entire team, held such a beautiful space throughout my labor. Even during the hardest, most intense moments of my life, I never felt alone. I trusted them completely, and that trust allowed me to stay present, listen to my body, and surrender to the natural birth I had envisioned. There were so many moments I'll never forget~ from Lorri playing her sound bowls to Dorian's calming presence, touch and steady reassurance. Every interaction was filled with such reverence, compassion, and genuine care. They didn't just support my birth plan- they honored it. They encouraged me to create the environment that felt meaningful to me while adding their own wisdom, intuition, and calming feminine presence. It was beyond anything I thought to even hope for. Giving birth naturally to my baby girl was the most challenging and most magical experience of my life. Looking back, I truly can't imagine welcoming her into the world any other way. I'm forever grateful that this was my first birth experience. It was healing, empowering, and something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Thank you to every single person at the birth center for helping bring my daughter into the world with so much love, respect, and heart. You gave our family a gift we'll cherish forever. And especially for me, as a woman and now a mother, I am soul grateful.

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.

This was my 3rd baby, and my 2nd home birth. We had recently…read moremoved to Orange County so I had to rely on the internet to find someone. With 2 little kids already, I really wanted someone that would come to my house for prenatal visits. I'm so glad we found Lio. She is so down to earth and real. She is very knowledgeable and honest person. I thought she was incredible especially during my labor and at postpartum. We knew we could trust her during the whole labor, where she gave me so much support without "getting in the way" and/or disturbing my natural labor needs. She was kind and empowering and every visit postpartum after that was such a light to have her. Thank you Lio for helping making sure our baby boy was born safe and healthy.

Lio's care is above any care I ever received / even before kids. She truly made me feel…read morecomfortable, safe, heard and honored throughout my pregnancy and delivery. It took my placenta longer to come out than my labor and delivery combined and while I was nervous, she never wavered in her trust of my body and the honest, calm and truly loving care she gave me while we waited. I would HIGHLY recommend Lio to anyone considering a home birth. And bonus - she provides women's care after pregnancy and beyond. She is a shining example of how women's care should be done.

I had a fantastic experience with my doula, Jaymie! She is very knowledgeable about physiological…read morebirth. If you find yourself to be on the crunchy side, she'll be right up your alley! I felt supported during my pregnancy and labor and my husband appreciated the extra support as well. She helped me to advocate for myself and to feel empowered to have a natural, intervention-free birth. I hired her when I was 36 weeks and wish I would have done so much earlier in my pregnancy. Kaiser covered the doula service if I gave birth at a Kaiser hospital, so that was awesome! She took care of all of the billing with Kaiser, so that also was very convenient. If I have any more babies, I'll make sure Jaymie is by my side!

Working with Jaymie during my pregnancy and delivery was…read moreone of the best decisions I made. She was incredibly supportive when I was diagnosed with cholestasis, helping me feel informed, encouraged, and as ready as a first-time mom can feel. During labor and delivery, she was a calm, reassuring presence every step of the way. Even though my birth plan didn't go how I had hoped and ultimately resulted in a cesarean, I am so grateful she was there to reassure me that whatever decisions I needed to make in the moment were okay. I truly can't imagine my pregnancy and delivery without her and would wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone looking for compassionate, knowledgeable doula support.

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!"

Having Jessie as a midwife enabled me to have the most beautiful pregnancy and birth experience. I…read morefeel so grateful that I had the ability to have a home birth because it was a life changing and transformative experience, and that was in no small part due to who Jessie is and how she works. Contrasting from OB care where every appointment is hurried and routine, Jessie invests in you as a person. Appointments are up to one hour and explore all aspects of health: physical, emotional, mental, etc. Jessie has a magical way about her in the way she advises you and listens that's non-judgmental but supportive. I felt so empowered and supported through it all. During the birth, I'll never forget when Jessie looked me in the eye as I neared the end and told me the only way out was through and I took a big breath and powered through. We did a home, water birth and it was the most special experience. I hope more and more women are able to navigate pregnancy and birth with Jessie or midwives like her. And overall I left this experience wiser about my own body and health, prepared to care for our baby, more confident and more.

This review is long over due. First and foremost the quality of care you will receive from Jessie…read moreprenatally and postpartum is like nothing you will ever experience from a traditional OB/ Provider. She is genuinely caring, compassionate, nurturing and responsive. We had a few scares during our pregnancy that of course had to happen later at night and she was quick to answer and respond in a calm but urgent way. The same has been true postpartum. She ALWAYS has you & your babies health and best interests in mind when discussing options and care. She is informative and relays the perfect mix of holistic/ evidence based medicine and western medicine if needed. Once you have a conversation with her you'll understand why she is the best. Jessie, We love you so much and we are so grateful that you were with us every step of the way to bring our baby girl into the world happy and healthy.

I absolutely love Sherry! She has the best down to earth educated advice for any mama! I could not…read morebe happier with my babies Baltic amber teething necklace from her shop! A visit to her shop is a must for any mama! Thank you again sherry! You truly are a genuine person!

I was so blessed to have found Sherry to be my doula! It was definitely a God-send! My son was born…read moreNov 2015 and I couldn't have done it without sherry by my side. Her support and service were outstanding. She was not only there for me but for my husband and baby as well, to guide us all through the process (before, during, and after). She met with us before hand and was very thorough, comforting, and encouraging. We felt so prepared from all the advice and expert insight. She provided us with material and even demonstrated labor techniques during prenatal visits. Her presence during my labor and delivery kept me calm and focused (she was even hands on when the nurse solicited help- thank you soooo much Sherry!!!). And to this day I still apply the advice, tips, and tricks she gave during our postpartum visits (best diaper rash ointment!). If you're looking for a doula, your search stops here. Sherry is simply the best!