My partner and I started working with Hannah for the birth of our first child about 20 weeks into our pregnancy. We knew from the beginning that we wanted to work with a doula and get additional support throughout the pregnancy especially during COVID. She is an incredibly compassionate person and really listened to our worries and desires and always gave us her honest opinion and helpful resources along the way. If there was ever a question that she didn't know the answer to, she would do her own research and follow up with a helpful email. Due to COVID, we did our prenatal visits both virtually on zoom as well as masked and outdoors. Hannah made us feel completely supported throughout our pregnancy and offered words of encouragement and frequent check-ins as we neared our due date. For my partner, she provided book recommendations, comfort measures, and advice for how to offer support and what to expect in the hospital. Fortunately we were able to have Hannah with us during our delivery and while labor didn't go quite as expected (does it ever?), Hannah was ready to spring into action with position changes, comfort measures, etc. She did a great job with my partner and I to support us differently during labor. She helped us step aside and discuss the pros and cons of suggestions that the doctors were making even when the doctors weren't really encouraging our feedback and decision making in the process. When my labor slowed down, she leapt into action and negotiated with the staff to get me into different labor positions despite having an epidural. After our delivery, she continued to check in with us via text message and was both encouraging and sympathetic. She came over to our home for her postpartum visit and we chatted through our birth experience and she helped us fill in some gaps that we had forgotten or were unsure of. My partner and I have often commented that without Hannah, we definitely would have had a different birth outcome. I would absolutely recommend working with a doula and we're so glad that we found Hannah! She is incredibly warm, knowledgeable, and is a wonderful listener and resource. read more

We are so thankful for finding Hannah to help us through the birth of our first child. In the months leading up to our due date, we met with Hannah for prenatal sessions. She went above and beyond to answer our questions and provide us with evidence based learnings for everything that came up during our pregnancy. We can't imagine making it through our birth experience without Hannah being there to support us. Hannah helped us navigate dealing with doctors and nurses, and making sure we got the care we needed. Beyond that, she made the birth environment and experience as peaceful as possible; she even brought tea-lights to the delivery room! We really appreciated our final postpartum session with Hannah. After a tumultuous journey, Hannah made sure we had the tools for a successful fourth trimester. We can't recommend Hannah strongly enough, and she will be at the top of our list when it is time for baby #2. read more

Our experience with Hannah as our doula for our first child has been absolutely excellent. If you value knowledge over dogma, intentional decision making and extremely high quality communication, a calm and collected demeanor, and an utmost commitment to clients, you can't go wrong with Hannah. The rest of this review details what we most appreciated but if you're reading this review debating whether or not to work with Hannah, you should for sure go ahead. We researched and interviewed several doulas and birth workers and discovered a disheartening trend that many seemed to hold overly strong opinions that they'd energetically and almost evangelically thrust upon their clients. Hannah is the total opposite. She listens intently, is always calm and collected, and her top priority is ensuring that your birth experience will be exactly as you want it. No matter what decisions or thoughts we had ahead of time, Hannah was informative and supportive, bringing to bear her knowledge of biology and medicine, her knowledge of pre and post birth care, her first hand experience with births, and drawing on her network of birth workers. What matters to Hannah is that you as her clients are informed and that you can have the birth experience that YOU want. She communicates with an incredible compassion paired with precision and intentionality -- whether via email, text, or in person. This is so important as a doula as even a slight nuance of language can change the atmosphere and impact how you feel about your pregnancy, labor, or delivery. She was extra thoughtful and diligent to indicate how and when we should reach her during the most sensitive times (when she'd have reception, when she'd be driving, when to text vs. call, how far away she was, etc), which again was much appreciated. During our pre-birth home visits, Hannah was thorough, educational, and supportive, and we were especially impressed at the speed and thoroughness of her follow-through via email and text. She never lets a hanging question or task slip through the cracks and kindly let us borrow some of her resources as part of our pre-birth education. She drew upon a wide variety of resources (books, online videos and audio tracks, pamphlets, articles, her network, even Instagram accounts) to help us get educated and confident. And she thoroughly walked through every single step of the process with us at just the right times during the pregnancy, helped us create our birth preferences doc with love and care, and set up thoughtful contingency plans that we wouldn't have even known to consider. As we approached labor Hannah was especially thoughtful to check in with us on a regular-but-not-too-regular basis, which felt extremely supportive. And when it came time for us to labor, Hannah was available in person at a moment's notice whether it was 2pm, 10pm, or 2am. During labor itself, Hannah was especially compassionate, comforting, and confident during the most intense moments. She advocated when that's what we needed, and thoughtfully helped us consider the pros, cons, and downstream implications of various one-way medical interventions, empowering us to confidently make informed decisions when we had to. During delivery Hannah captured the most important moments in videos and photos -- memories that will be with us for a lifetime. Post-delivery Hannah has been kind and supportive as ever -- quick to respond to questions, and thoughtful during her post-delivery in-person visit. Last, she has an epic career as a world class cellist which you should totally ask her about at some point! read more

Having Hannah & Marta by my side through the pregnancy was one of the best decisions my husband and I made. I highly recommend working with Hannah & Marta. They were the dream team, and we're so grateful to have met them. At first, I was skeptical about hiring a doula because I didn't quite understand the value doula brings to the pregnancy journey. However, many of my good friends highly recommend working with someone. Through research and connections, eventually, we were fortunate to meet Hannah & Marta. We want to be informed enough to make the right decisions about my well-being and preparation for birth, mentally, physically, and emotionally. There was a lot of the unknown, given that this was our first pregnancy journey. While we have lots of trusted friends & family with a ton of helpful information, it was too overwhelming. Marta & Hannah guided us through the process and provided us with the right amount of information we needed at the right time. It was so important to have them by our side, to hear our concerns, and provide a sense of calm and reassurance in our preferences. I felt confident and at ease about my childbirth experience. My husband was prepared and knew that he had the support he needed to take care of me. I wanted a natural birth. I ended up with a 36 hrs long labor at the hospital with very little intervention. We had a healthy baby boy. It was long and intensive, but I appreciate every moment of it. Marta & Hannah were there by my side the entire experience. It would have been much more challenging mentally and physically without their support. They made sure that I moved around, explored different positions during labor, and helped me cope with the intensity with various counter pressure techniques. They knew to step back when I needed my space and knew to step in when I needed them. Just hire Hannah & Marta, you won't regret it. read more

I feel so lucky to have found Hannah to help us through this experience as first time parents! I personally did not find pregnancy to be a magical experience that many claim it to be. Early on I suffered from a pretty intense bout of prenatal anxiety and depression. And while my partner is incredibly supportive he also suffers from anxiety and Anything blood or bodily function related is just not his jam. Since we are also in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, I knew that I would need some extra support to help me through the rest of my pregnancy and birth process and Hannah exceeded my expectations! From our very first intro session she was incredible, well informed and curious about how to make my birth the best it could be. The pre-birth sessions were incredibly informational and helped to ease both of our anxieties. In fact I think after the first meeting my anxiety all but went away. She was there to answer all my questions, even the ones that may have been silly or I would worry I might be judge for if I were to talk to a doctor. She made me feel heard, understood, and supported. During the birth of my son Hannah was critical in creating the calm and supportive environment I wanted. She helped not only me but my poor anxious partner throughout the entire experience And I was able to deliver my son exactly the way I wanted to. Her postpartum support was also amazing. She helped us with some hands on first-time parent trainings such as bathing our baby, swaddling him, and using some of our gear that had stumped us. She even helped with just day-to-day things like making sure I got to rest, eat and that our house didn't go completely by the wayside. If you're looking for a Doula to help you through your birth and/or postpartum I could not recommend Hannah enough. I am so incredibly thankful for her, she was truly a critical part of my pregnancy and birth. I really feel like she helped set me, a first time mom, up for success so that I can enjoy this next chapter with my son. read more

We are so thankful to have met Hannah and have her by our side during our first pregnancy. We moved 8mos pregnant which allowed for very little time to go through birthing classes, etc. I really wanted to have an unmedicated birth, but wasn't exactly prepared when we had moved to the Bay Area but Hannah made it happen! She squeezed us in for 2 prenatal visits, helped develop our birth plan, taught us a variety of birthing positions and techniques to work through the discomfort. Most importantly she was there guiding us hour by hour through a long labor (making sure my husband stayed hydrated and fed) advocating for what we wanted and when the baby was stuck she knew exactly what position to get me in to get things moving again- that moment itself is why we would highly recommend hiring Hannah! Bonus, she captured every moment of it for us (which was 100% not her role but with limited persons allowed in the room she understood our desire and for photos and delivered!) read more

I had the pleasure of having Hannah as my doula from Summer 2020 until the birth of my baby in March of 2021. We interviewed several doulas before deciding to go with Hannah. What drew us to work with Hannah was her vast knowledge around birthing (that she could present in a very accessible way) and her very grounded, compassionate, and trauma-informed approach to birthing, which was apparent from the start. Hannah has a very natural ability to meet you exactly where you are at, and to offer resources, information, and nuanced discussion in a very nonjudgemental way. Throughout our work together, I was continually impressed with the breadth and depth of Hannah's knowledge, and the way that her commitment to justice, equity, and honoring diverse experiences could be felt through our interactions. I went into my hospital birth feeling very thoroughly prepared from our in depth discussions. Up until my hospital stay, Hannah was in touch and offering perspective and evidenced-based information for me to share with and collaborate with my medical providers. I felt so empowered with the knowledge of what the interventions were being offered and why from our work beforehand AND had the luck to have Hannah present virtually (the hospital I birthed at was not allowing in doulas at the time due to COVID) to be a sounding board, and offer perspectives and information that was aligned with what I had expressed was most important to me. Hannah truly made my partner and I feel at ease, cared for, and valid. She can hold a variety of experiences and perspectives and her approach is thoughtful and her knowledge of birth, in the many different forms it can take, is truly incredible. After we welcomed our darling baby, Hannah has continued to check in and be in touch with resources and information on post partum healing, as well as made herself available to process our birth story. Thank you Hannah for all the care and for helping us bring our marvelous little daughter earth side! read more