Amanda was our midwife for our second child and we had a better experience than we could have…read moreimagined. We used east bay midwives for prenatal care, home birth and post natal care. Amanda brought both experienced midwifery care (our son was her 314th birth!) and a strong level of personal care. She is a birth worker that truly loves what she does, is incredibly skilled in her work, and has a deep sense of care for the mothers, families, and babies she works with. We were so impressed by how supported we felt during the entire pregnancy, birth, and post partum period. I truly wish every mother could receive midwifery care as exceptional as east bay midwives. We also had excellent experience with Grace and Sophia- the team that Amanda works with are also amazing birth workers. I highly recommend east bay midwives to someone that wants a safe, supported home birth with experienced and loving help!

Had the home birth of my dreams; Amanda was with me starting 10 weeks gestation. She helped me…read moreovercome my worries, carried my troubles and showed up for me even during her own maternity leave. She was committed, confident and graceful. Amanda was excited for my birth and respected what I needed. From pregnancy, labor and delivery to postpartum; she showed me how the right care can make the world of a difference in one of the most powerful, challenging and vulnerable times. What an amazing way to bring life into the world.

I'm currently 7 weeks postpartum and I miss our visits with Michelle and her team so very much. My…read morepartner and I were undecided about where we'd give birth. We had an uncomplicated home birth with my daughter and another midwife 4 years before. Now, at the age of 43, I felt it might make more sense to have our second child in a hospital. I feared I'd have more complications. After sitting with it for some time, my chiropractor gave me the referral for Michelle Borok's midwifery services. When I met Michelle I went from being unsure about where we'd give birth to an absolute whole body yes to a home birth. My husband felt the same. We're so glad we chose Michelle as our midwife. I've worked in health care throughout the Bay Area for over 15 years, Michelle is a unique blend of warmth and professionalism. She is direct, transparent, honest, clear, wise, and knowledgeable. She's truly a gem! We would work with Michelle again if we were ever to have another child. Michelle was a grounding force that guided me through my fears. Every prenatal appointment we left her home feeling secure, loving, and afloat on that pink pregnancy cloud every person and partnership deserves to tap in to. Thank you from the depths of our hearts, Michelle, for ushering our sweet child Earth side.

I received prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum care from Michelle for my homebirth…read moreexperience in 2014. I continue to see her for annual exams because she'll come to my home and I can wear my own clothes. This provides me a whole other level of comfort that I didn't get during my anxiety-inducing check-ups at traditional medical offices. I had a hospital experience with my first child that was without complications, but wasn't the culture or environment that I truly wanted. My second pregnancy was low-risk and I was much more confident about birth that I sought out a midwife. Michelle taught me so much about pregnancy, my body, nutrition, and beyond. She helped me make better, more authentic decisions for myself and new baby. I still benefit from her lessons to this day. She is warm, takes her time, and considers my whole self (holistically) when giving advice. I cannot recommend her enough. She's someone you'll want on your team for the rest of your life.

After reading Shannon's beautiful and transformative book Born Far From Home, I felt so drawn to…read morehaving a homebirth. I loved reading about Shannon's journey to Islam and birth work, and how her faith and spirituality intertwined with her midwifery care. I also enjoyed reading the compelling birth stories and the beautiful way in which she writes about birth. I especially felt connected to her book as a Muslim woman who was curious about homebirth, but wasn't sure if it was for me. Once I finished the book and had my first appointment with Shannon I felt confident, reassured, and excited about having a homebirth for my first baby. Since the start of my prenatal care with Shannon, I felt so comforted by the amount of time and personalized care she dedicated to us by listening to our concerns, answering our many questions, and providing the guidance we needed during this special time in our life. Her level of knowledge and expertise combined with her warm and comforting presence brought us ease during such a delicate time. I also have the same great things to say about Tara who was the second midwife to be present at the birth and meet with us for the postpartum appointments. Tara also has such a warm, beautiful, and comforting spirit and has been such a pleasure to meet with. When expressing the troubles I have with breast feeding, she has been so sweet and reassuring and I really appreciate the level of care she not only provides for our baby, but to me. I feel so fortunate and blessed to have had a successful and empowering homebirth with the utmost care and support from Shannon and Tara and I highly recommend them. I am so grateful to have been in their care.

I don't have enough good things to say about Shannon and her business. She was absolutely…read moreincredible from start to finish. From the very first phone call I felt so comfortable and genuinely heard. She took the time to answer every question and listen to my previous birth story and never made me feel rushed. She listened with understanding and compassion and for the first time I truly felt like a care provider was really listening to me. For my first birth, I had a typical hospital birth with a typical OB. Although I did not have a traumatic experience, I wanted something different for my second time around. I found Shannon and it truly was a blessing. The level of care and attention to detail was above and beyond anything I had experienced before. When the day came to give birth, having her there made me feel so safe supported and empowered. If I was ever to do this again, I would not hesitate to use Shannon and her team and have another home birth. It truly was a defining experience and something that I believe that all women should be able to experience. If you're looking for a quality Midwife service that treats you like family and truly listens to you look no further. I cannot recommend Shannon enough!

We LOVE Kristen!!! We interviewed 3 midwives in our search and picked Kristen because she is a…read morecompetent nurse (has the technical skills) and also so compassionate and down to earth. She has a lot of experience and that was clear the whole way through. On the rare occasions when she didn't know the answer to a question, she would investigate and get back to us. (My wife and I are writing this together.) Her visits to our home were relaxed and really informative. We didn't realize that we even had so many questions, and she would just talk with us and they would come up. She has great diagrams and handouts the whole way along that helped us understand exactly what we'd gotten ourselves into. The birth plan meeting was great and she facilitated all 5 people we invited, getting them ready for anything. She loaned us DVDs and books the whole way through so that by the time of the first contraction, we felt ready and confident that it would all go well. The labor was everything we hoped. We called Kristen in the morning and calmly assessed the situation, coming over while I was still in the beginning stages of labor. She talked with us and we laughed and walked the house together like old friends. She has a real knack for making me feel comfortable and reminding me to listen to my body. She was completely present when the going got tough, reminding me to breathe in a way that didn't make me crazy. Her midwife assist, Eva, was also a gem. At one point the baby's heart rate went down for awhile and she gave me oxygen and showed me how to help bring it back up. It worked like a charm. When his head seemed stuck, she was an amazing cheerleader and after about 90 minutes of pushing in our bed, I delivered the most wonderful, healthy baby boy. The aftercare has been great too. My mom was so impressed with how she checked in with my emotional as well as physical state. She has taken great care of us the whole way through. Did we mention she teaches prenatal yoga, and is a lactation specialist, and a part time school nurse, and speaks Spanish, and, and, and!?! Also, we're a queer couple and she of course was wonderful and open to that, asking all the right questions with a confusing extended family. We hope to have another child someday and would most definitely ask Kristin to midwife it into the world. See was wonderful in a million ways. We could write another 3 paragraphs why, but the baby's up and we're off to enjoy him! Good luck with your search. You won't go wrong with Kristen. (ps. read the filtered reviews!)

My husband and I always knew that we wanted to have a home birth so, practically the day after I…read morefound out I was pregnant, I started researching midwives around the Bay Area. I arranged to meet with four midwives, Kristen being the last one and, almost immediately after our interview, we knew we had found our midwife! Kristen fit everything we were looking for. She is warm and friendly, very trustworthy, extremely well qualified and very open about her policy of transparency through honesty in every aspect of her care. We started prenatal care so early on in my pregnancy (11 weeks) and, because of that, Kristen was the only provider I saw throughout the entire time. The care she gave was amazing and I can't imagine having seen anyone else. For each visit, Kristen came to our home and spent time discussing the medical/physical aspects of pregnancy as well as the emotional and mental experiences we were going through. She never judged or belittled our questions and was always open to answering them fully with her own knowledge, PDF articles and the books or DVDs from her own library that she lent us. Everything was so comprehensive that we really felt like we were in control of our birth process and the decisions surrounding it. Kristen really emphasized that we were a team and active participants in our birth and that we were as responsible in our learning and preparation as she was in monitoring the growth and development of our baby and my body. That shared responsibility, and the homework and exercises Kristen gave us along the way, really gave us the means to grow both as a couple and as new parents-to-be going through this experience for the first time. Kristen was extremely flexible with our needs throughout. While she recommended certain diagnostic tests, she never forced her opinion on us. She gave us the information and allowed us to come to our own conclusion about what tests and procedures we wanted to have done. Kristen also readily accepted and encouraged a lot of partner participation. This meant that she was flexible in changing around her schedule to meet with us when my husband was home from work. Those times were extremely necessary in making sure that he was as prepared as I was for what was to come. Finally, there was never a doubt that we could always reach Kristen whenever we needed her. We always had options of getting in contact, whether it was an emergency or just a quick question. That level of availability was invaluable. For my birth, Kristen was so calm and supportive. She refocused my breathing so that I could easily birth my baby and made me feel safe and secure throughout the whole process. The immediate postpartum was precious and Kristen made sure to take care of me and my baby while still respecting the new family bonding time. Postpartum care has been equally as wonderful with Kristen monitoring my healing process, the baby's growth and our transition into parenthood. She helped us troubleshoot breastfeeding issues in the very beginning, showed Papa how to properly burp his new bundle and offered suggestions for diaper rash and all sorts of other first-time parent woes. While I could go on and on about everything we love about Kristen, the bottom-line is that she was the best choice for us personally and for the birth we wanted. We love her dearly and have come to regard her as more than a midwife; she is a friend. There is no doubt that, when baby #2 is on their way, I will make sure Kristen is there to see that baby come into the world. We are so grateful that such a beautiful, caring, gentle, qualified midwife was with us when our little girl made her debut.

Nova was recommended to me for a home birth VBAC (already had one successful one). After finding…read moreout I was a woman of plus size, I was denied service with them. Their claim was that their VBACs need to be "pristine" because of liability reasons. My being plus size is not evidence based and is in fact, the same kind of shaming that I would expect from a typical medical doctor and not someone who practices midwifery. This was deeply disappointing. I'm grateful they can offer home birth options for women but if you don't fit their mold, you won't be accepted. Huh.. I went on to have a successful unmedicated 2nd VBAC.

We found nova midwifery through a friend... we were interested in having a home birth but weren't…read moresure, so we reached out to a friend to learn about their experience. They recommended Mason at Nova, so we called for an initial consult. Our son was delivered in 2015 at kaiser without intervention, and we liked the experience... except for all the medical stuff like wearing a heart monitor and sleeping in a hospital and all the worry that seems to come along with being in a hospital. For our second birth, we wanted a natural birth, but maybe a little more comfortable. We ended up hiring Mason and Melissa at Nova for our prenatal care, delivery, and recovery, and had a really nice experience. First, they're both 5 star people. Good bedside manner, good sense of humor, a nice wealth of knowledge. They are very good at quelling your fears and questions that come along with pregnancy and delivery, and appointments are typically really positive (you got this girl!). I would say from the husband side that a homebirth was WAY more enjoyable for me. My own bed, my own home, my own food, and I got to catch my daughter as my wife leaned over the ottoman. What an experience! I'll never look at that ottoman the same. I feel like these women checked all the boxes, professional, fun, empathetic, and knowledgeable. I hear they have new space in Walnut Creek, but one of the nicest things for us is they did some home visits for prenatal care since they had other clients in our area. Towards the end, we saw them in the office, and it was always a tranquil environment, very different from the kaiser waiting room. I think the recovery is the biggest advantage to the homebirth. These ladies support you through the first few weeks, and being home with your newborn is sooooo nice in the first few hours of life. I don't think I would have been comfortable with my first child at home, but now that I know what I'm doing, homebirths and nova are the only way I would go for an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery.

Ellen and her team of apprentices (at the time, Jaime and Kristina) are the epitomy of what…read moreguidance "for women, by women" should be during a natural birthing experience. That's what "midwife" means. And that's what Wombservice Midwifery is! We received care from them during the last two months of my pregnancy (as I'd just moved to the area...hmph, nesting!), our successful homebirth, and post-partum, and I couldn't have chosen a better option. None of the other midwives we'd interviewed in both Santa Cruz and the SF Bay Area "felt" right. None had the mixture of medical expertise, gentleness, presence, kindness, openness, and "can do" attitude that Ellen and her team have. I received hours upon hours of person-to-person (even text messaging!) support in our planned prenatal appointments. I felt nurtured, deeply cared for, and in experienced, sound, professional hands. We discussed back-up plans and she honored all my preferences. I'd say there was even a bit of emotional counseling in there for us as a soon-to-be-parents-couple. :) During the birth, I felt held, nurtured, and in the midst of pain and terror (and joy and ecstacy), they "had" me. Between the 3 of them and my partner, they all "had" me. I FELT SAFE. Jaime breathed EVERY single contraction with me, with her hand on me, moaning with me. I lived 4 blocks from the hospital but did not need to go. I pushed for 4 hours with an arm coming out first but DID NOT TEAR. Ellen's use of olive oil is second to none!! ;) And when my baby needed a little help breathing when he came out, my midwife team's medical expertise exceeded anything I'd ever expected. Quick, efficient, caring, and safe...they helped our baby off to a positive, healthy start. Post-partum, I received care & encouragement that every new mother would die for!! From spending 4 hours after the birth to clean up, check on me and the baby, and give us helpful guidance...to the many post-partum appointments that come with a midwife (and not a hospital birth...not in the same way...not nearly so personal or emotionally supportive!)....Our new little family were well taken care of!! My boy is now 12 months old (healthy and shining and bright!!) and when we have another baby we will DEFINITELY hire Ellen and Wombservice Midwifery as our midwife team AGAIN. (I can even still text Ellen with questions and she always makes herself available...I don't know how she does it! I *highly* recommend these ladies to anyone wanting natural, extensive, thorough, gentle, loving, encouraging, medically-sound guidance during the prenatal, birth, and post-partum phases of a woman's childbearing year!! PS - Ellen's apprentice, Jaime, and Kristina (who was an apprentice at the time) run a business called Placenta Apothecary - Jaime dehydrated my placenta the day after our birth and made it into Chinese medicine, tea, and prepared the umbilical cord as a keep-sake!

I was just emailing to recommend Ellen and her midwifery team to a friend and went on their website…read moreand it seriously makes me want to have another baby!! Ah.... to go through the process with these incredible women again - to be able to see them on a regular basis has enhanced my life, my husband's life and the lives that they helped usher in - our two daughters! So much! Ellen and her team helped us with our first pregnancy - which we lost - they were completely there for us and helped us feel safe to go through the intense process of miscarrying at home. They then were our primary providers for our pregnancy with our daughter, Zoe, and helped guide us through a very challenging 3 day labor - they were right there the entire time and helped us transfer to the hospital when it became clear we needed that and were there for another 1 1/2 days in the hospital with us advocating and supporting us. We ended up having a very necessary cesarian birth that with their support and care was really a beautiful experience. They helped to keep both the baby and me safe. And then they helped us have the most triumphant birth of our little baby Stella - at home - a home birth after C Section!! I love these people and am so grateful for them.

My husband and I are both nurses. Given all the tragedy we witness in our line of work, it was…read moreespecially important to us that we found a highly skilled midwife with solid experience. Michelle was our second midwife we interviewed and we knew she was highly qualified after meeting her. My husband, being a family nurse practitioner was quite nervous about my decision wanting a home birth. After meeting Michelle and drilling her with lots of questions, especially from my husband, we both decided she would be the perfect fit for our home birth. Michelle is warm, patient, an AMAZING listener and is extremely flexible with scheduling appointments and payments. Michelle includes appointments in her Berkeley office, Walnut Creek office and also makes home visits especially as it gets closer to delivery. After delivery Michelle schedules appointments the next day, 3 days later, (4 days later for an extra appointment that I felt I needed), 2 weeks after and 6 weeks after. Michelle made an extra visit to my home because I wanted her to check on me and make sure my pelvic organs were doing well after delivery. She was gentle and reassuring and guided me to rest when I REALLY needed to. I started seeing Michelle around 4 months pregnant. She was especially patient with me as I experienced a high stress load with a new job (December 2017), new pregnancy (January 2018), and a new move (February 2018). I started seeing Michelle in March 2018. I appreciated the resources on Michelle's website. I used Paula Santi for a Lactation Consultant, who is also phenomenal!! I reached out to learn about renting a birthing tub through Michelle's website. I had SO MANY questions for Michelle about water births. The BIG DAY was October 4, 2018 at 02:08 am. I went into active labor about 9 pm October 3. I communicated with Michelle frequently and when my water broke at 12:45 AM and the contractions were MORE THAN INTENSE, my husband quickly called her and explained to come to our home as soon as possible. It was perfect timing. Michelle arrived about 1-1:15 AM and our baby girl came into our lives at 02:08 AM. I could have called her earlier but I had so many inconsistent contractions October 2 into October 3rd that I was in denial this was IT! My husband and I both LOVED the home birth experience. Factors that were so different than my first birth in a hospital setting were the following: - listen to your body and get in ANY position you feel you need to - olive oil on a hot wet towel on my perineum as baby was descending-- NO TEARS, such a big deal after having a 3rd degree in the hospital - they stayed for about 2 hours and we had privacy and family time - they were especially patient with the first breast feeding experience and waiting until we were ready for the assessment of the baby - they allowed the placenta and cord to be attached for as long as I wanted until we were ready to cut it - they allowed the baby to get pink on her own and didn't have to rub her so hard like they do in the hospital - I didn't have an IV or loud machines or bright lights or numerous people coming in and out of my room - I had candles, music and my husband and my mother at my bedside in my home I can't thank Michelle enough for her expertise. Amber and Sophie, her assistants, also attended the home birth and were extremely helpful. I also had my doula Kathryn Webb present, which was important to me, since she attended my first birth in the hospital. My home birth experience with East Bay Home Midwifery was truly magical. If you have any further questions or want to talk to me on the phone as a reference I'd be more than happy to help. 925-448-0686

From start to baby, East Bay Home Birth Midwifery enhanced my pregnancy and birth experience as…read morewell as making sure my son was healthy afterwards. Michelle was gentle, strong and skilled all the way through. Her vast experience in home birth was evident as my birth plan had to change. I felt supported and empowered through it all.

I cannot say enough wonderful things about Morgan and Evaly. They supported me through my…read morehomebirth, and even four years later I still look back on that experience with deep gratitude and respect for their care. My baby boy is now 4 years old and absolutely thriving--and a huge part of that is because of the knowledge, skill, and calm presence they brought to one of the most important days of my life. From the beginning, Morgan and Evaly were patient, attentive, and incredibly supportive. They took the time to truly listen to me, explain everything clearly, and make sure I felt informed and empowered throughout my pregnancy and birth. Their confidence never felt rushed or arrogant--it was grounded, reassuring, and deeply professional. After I pushed my son out, I experienced a situation that could have quickly turned into a serious medical emergency. Morgan and Evaly handled it with remarkable skill and composure. They recognized what was happening immediately, acted decisively, and supported me through it with such calm and competence that I felt safe the entire time. Their ability to manage that moment made all the difference, and I truly believe their expertise prevented a much worse outcome. They are extraordinary midwives and incredible humans.

Morgan is an insanely talented and skilled midwife whom I would put my life into. She navigated my…read moredeepest fears in prenantal care as I have a long history with loss. She also navigated both of my difficult births with such strength, confidence and precision. There's no one on this planet I would walk into birth with other than Morgan. I will forever call her the Vanessa whisperer. I stand with her in all her future endeavors. She is a mother to us all.

It's 8pm on a Saturday night and I am relaxing on my couch having a glass of wine. My little man…read morehas been sleeping in his crib since he fell asleep there, ON HIS OWN, SEVEN minutes after we put him down - without a peep. You read that right. Since I have such ample time, this review will be a long one. I gave you fair warning. I'm not so rigid to think or expect that every night will unfold like tonight. There will be teeth! walking! talking! more regressions to come. However, a month after starting this process, it has become a reasonable reality for me to expect that on more days/nights rather than not (meaning NAPS and bedtime), he will go to sleep. It is a work in progress, but Dahlia guided us through it with the confidence and clarify we ourselves needed to provide to our son for the process to work. The backstory: At 11 weeks old, my son morphed from our lovely sleeping newborn waking twice a night to waking EVERY HOUR, needing to be soothed back to sleep...while sleeping in our bed. As the weeks dragged on, it became clear he was not going to outgrow this hiccup in an amount of time that would preserve my sanity (or marriage lol), and things were snowballing from bad to dreadful (more on that below). He eventually settled on a pattern of waking 4-7 times per night; however, he started having negative sleep associations to most every soothing trick in the book. I won't waste time listing such strategies or the gimmicks I bought on Amazon. Well-meaning folks always shared their soothing strategies. Well, if you can envision it, we tried it. Don't start to tell me about white noise and black out shades. Eventually, NOTHING WORKED except the boob. So sleep - meaning all naps and bedtime plus the night wake ups - became an hour long battle with raging, screaming, kicking, tears. All of which did not guarantee an outcome of sleep in the end! This was a vicious cycle on repeat at least 4 times daily which went on for almost two months (give or take some days where baby was so exhausted he slept well for a night or two). On top of this, I had impending abdominal and oral surgeries. Just icing on the cake. We knew we had to sleep train. After pouring through blogs and books about the various sleep training techniques and studies, I still had reservations (and extreme anxiety subjecting my baby to this), and needed someone to lead me through its ups and downs. Alright I'll be honest - sleep training is mostly down. It is painful. Gutwrenchingly PTSD painful if your baby is anything like mine. Enter Dahlia. She is honest, positive, supportive, respectful, and above all, will use her knowledge to SEE YOU THROUGH IT. She makes herself available and genuinely wants to help you. I cannot thank her enough and I definitely promise you will not get that from a blog. So dread. I used to DREAD naps and bedtime. The clock would hit 5:30pm and my heart would sink a little. My soul would wail a sad song. Now, I think about the time I can spend writing long reviews and blogging while he's sleeping. And the biggest plus? The little man wakes up RELAXED and RESTED and happy to see me. THANK YOU DAHLIA!

Dahlia is the BEST! We hired her for 3 months of postpartum work, which is no small task with…read moretwins! She was so caring, nurturing, and gentle with our babies, her experience was only outweighed by her sweetness and profound gift for "twinning". I feel so lucky to have had her work with us, she taught us (first-time parents) so much, from swaddling to bathing to infant massage! Every morning when Dahila arrived it was a ray of sunshine and positive energy, my babies responded so well to her songs, her feeding techniques, and her cuddles. We were so sad to say goodbye to her when it was time, and are almost jealous of the next family that gets to work with her! :) :)

Yelp seems like a weird place to find a midwife but these reviews gave me the confidence to choose…read moreJinny and now I'd like to pass on the favor. Jinny is an incredible midwife that I'd recommend to anyone in a heartbeat. The least you can do is get in touch with her and see if you like her style. The Jinny we met at our first meeting was the same Jinny that showed up at every appointment, every diagnoses, and most importantly - at the birth. She is a knowledgeable professional that is supportive of your decisions. And the level of calmness she presents in the most intense situations is remarkable. Jinny provided thorough care from pregnancy to postpartum. Communication was easy and consistent. She heard my concerns about the birth and showed up 100% to help mitigate them as best as she could during the birth. I'm forever grateful to Jinny for giving me the home birth experience I had hoped for.

Jinny Pagle is an outstanding midwife who does both home births and can do pre- and postnatal care…read moreif you want a hospital birth. After several days of labor at home, she supported me at the hospital in making sure to remind me to remind staff about my wishes for how I wanted the birth to go, which enabled me to very narrowly avoid a C-section! She has a great roster of related experts in her network too including an acupuncturist who came to my house during labor and really helped a lot with the process. It was also really wonderful to be able to have her come to my house to check on me and the baby in the first few weeks after the birth. She offers her clients choices of a spectrum of options from alternative wellness resources to standard medical practice depending on your inclinations. Her attitude is very empowering! It was also super convenient for her to be able to do bloodwork at my house and save me time going somewhere else for that. She also does placenta encapsulation. If you're considering a homebirth, or if you want a hospital birth but want to have 60+ minutes per appointment and not the 10 min you get at an OB's office for pre/postnatal care, contact Jinny.