Joanna was an absolute godsend. We (my husband and I) ended up with unexpectedly high risk pregnancy and Joanna was there every single step of the way. She was so KNOWLEDGABLE and WISE about pregnancy, birth, child rearing, and homeopathy and naturopathy.  As for my story: I found out I was pregnant with twins in July 2018, and although we envisioned an unmedicated natural birth, we ended up in an emergency C-section at 7 months, due to placental blood flow issues. Let me how Joanna helped us surmount these incredible challenges...  Joanna helped me build a list of questions for providers, and was my strength when I needed to switch providers to one that much better matched my desires. Joanna showed me that I could STILL have the sort of birth I wanted, even if it wasn't in a birth center.   I called her before and after nearly every single appointment, because each new appointment left me feeling swamped with information and not sure how to sort my own feelings out. Joanna helped us work through all the questions and desires and expectations we had about the pregnancy. S helped my family with all the thousand mundane tasks of deciding on the best multivitamins, planning a diet around nausea and appetite loss, tricks for keeping up fluid intake.. She also kept us from freaking out every little scare--speaking me through experiences of spotting, discharge, and movement as natural parts of the pregnancy and birthing process. We traveled alot, and this meant alot of minor scares in a lot of different cities, and she was there for every call, email, text, and video chat, counseling us in every sense of the word. In December, Joanna worked with us in Fernandina Beach, teaching us a slew of methods for stretching, massage, and pain relief as the twins began to really put pressure on my hips and back.  Drawing from her experience raising three babies by herself, Joanna taught us all about cloth diapering and other earth-friendly approaches to parenting, which was amazing!   Unfortunately, when I was in Philadelphia a few weeks later, the doctors found restricted blood flow in twin A.  It got worse very rapidly, leading us to decide on an emergency cesarean within 72 hours, before the steroids for lung development could even take full effect.  Joanna stayed on the phone with me so much during those 72 hours, video chatting in, as we met with groups of high risk doctors, NICU nurses, and went through test after test. The twins were born at 32 weeks, and our son's apgar scores were 1,2, and 4 (these are very low). NICU was a harrowing experience and there was intense medical pressure to take every intervention possible. I would have felt totally shamed and alone if Joanna wasn't on the phone with me so much, INFORMING me and EQUIPPING me with research about kangaroo care, the value of colostrum for preemies, and their far better outcomes on breastmilk, as well as the need for me to take care of my mental health by seeking a psychiatrist and a therapist. With her help and guidance, I demanded that the twins receive donor breastmilk and I pumped and pumped and pumped.    At 6 months in, we are still going strong, I am providing enough breastmilk for both of them, cloth diapering, AND working full time, while also NOT feeling completely insane (most of the time). It was so emotionally VITAL to have Joanna's support in the tremendously difficult postnatal period. We feel so lucky Joanna was there for us, and it has allowed us to look back on that difficult period of time as one to be proud of. read more

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Joanna has become part of my family. She did an amazing job helping me throughout the process of my pregnancy, labor, and delivery. First when she contacted me after I was able to find her she made me feel so comfortable with her. She is very down to earth and real and understanding when it comes to anything. She answered all of my questions and even sent me verified articles on the information that we discussed. She helped me through the planning process of what I wanted at my birth. She asked me questions that I never would have thought of and it made me feel so at ease that she knew so much and wanted to help me birth my way. She did research on every worry I had and helped me put my mind at ease. She took notes on everything I wanted and put it into a customized birth plan. She helped me to think of everything i could safely do and she let me in on all the freedoms I have as a mom in the birthing process. I told her I wanted a natural birth and I needed someone to stand up for me and she did just that. She made sure I had everything I wanted and she consulted with me first before letting the doctors just do whatever they wanted. She talked to me, she came over to my home for a whole day and night and watched me through the night to watch my contractions. She was on call for me. She massaged my ankles and back and had some amazing techniques to dispel the contractions when the came on hard. She helped to coach my husband so he could help me. She is overall an amazing doula and someone you need on your side. I had a totally natural birth and she stuck by my side and made our family feel so confident and comfortable I will recommend her to anyone and everyone. Don't doubt the powers of this doula! She is awesome, intelligent, caring, professional, and she just fits right into our family! I love her for helping me! read more