Called multiple times and the front desk doesn't even know what insurance they accept? Just told me…read moreto call billing when I'm not even a patient yet.

After a bad experience at another midwifery, we transferred to Puget Sound/Eastside Midwives at 30…read moreweeks pregnant and had such a great experience with Ella and Heather. I was concerned with transferring so late but they were very quick to get caught up my history and immediately provided a much better experience than my prior midwife. I really appreciated the thorough communication at all my appointments and the extra effort they make to get to know you. And for the birth, Ella delivered our beautiful 9 lb baby at our home and she was absolutely incredible. We had some minor complications and Ella was so quick to keep me calm and talk through options so clearly which made me feel so incredibly safe. This was my first birth, but I will 100% be back for the next baby!

I'm one day shy of my son's first birthday and as I reflect on my pregnancy and birth and…read morepostpartum experience, the role that Lizz and Elliott played continues to be profoundly instrumental in my overwhelmingly positive perinatal journey. I'm a practicing birth doula who met Lizz and Elliott years ago in a professional setting, and knew after watching them first hand that they were the midwives I wanted when it was my turn. They held me through the great mystery of pregnancy and when we learned that my baby was breech and my plan for a homebirth was no longer in the cards, Lizz and Elliott offered me the support I deeply needed to feel confident and at peace moving forward with a sacred planned cesarean birth. I'll never forget our sweet third trimester visits looking at my son on ultrasound and marveling that he loved being head up. This tone of celebration and acceptance of how things were unfolding and my informed decision to belly birth absolutely led to me having an empowered birth experience, free of trauma and regret, full of the oxytocin that good midwifery care facilitates. I continued my follow-up support with them once I returned home from the hospital, something that was important to me when I decided to work with community midwives. I can confidently say that I achieved my goal for my birth which was that no matter how things might unfold I wanted to feel held and cared for medically, emotionally and spiritually by my team. Sharing some sweet film photos that my doula snapped during a prenatal visit with Lizz!

I received the best medical care in my life from Lizz and Elliott and their wonderful student…read moremidwives. They were incredibly knowledgeable, professional, accessible, and thoughtful about every aspect of their practice. I felt seen, heard, respected, informed and utterly well-cared for as someone with a non-traditional family structure and a particular medical background. I would recommend them for anyone, and especially for someone who like myself has had some history of less-than-affirming experiences with medical settings.

All the five star reviews speak for themselves! My husband and I attended a HypnoBirthing class…read morewith Tracy and had an amazing experience. We learned so much and we really developed a strong practice and relationship as we prepared for our birth. On the day of our son's birth my husband and I walked into the hospital on the same page and as a great team. All thanks to Tracy and her work with us. We were able to have a natural birth and all of the techniques we learned in class helped immensely. Tracy is a great educator, incredibly kind, and very supportive of each couple's decisions and preferences. I appreciated how optimistic she was and how she helped us understand that Hypno birth techniques can be flexible and be used in a variety of birth settings. I would highly recommend this class if you have any anxiety around birth and/or if your birth partner wants to play an active role on the day of your baby's birth.

We took the class in the winter of 2018 and found it so helpful to prepare for the birth of our…read morebaby girl. In addition to the hypnobirthing philosophy and techniques, you learn how to be your own advocate in the birthing process and how to prepare for the inevitability of medical intervention (that will arise in some form). We felt truly supported and educated when facing an induction that I did not want, nor need. Tracy gave us the tools and knowledge to push back when we were feeling pressure from our medical caregivers. Once labor started things progressed fast and although I felt as though I was not utilizing the techniques given the intensity and speed of the labor, the midwife that delivered our baby said she could really tell how focused and relaxed I was given the intensity of my contractions. Our baby was born healthy according to the birth preferences that we had hoped for. We HIGHLY recommend this class to anyone preparing for your labor and parenthood.

Deb provided the support my husband and I desperately needed in the early, bleary-eyed days of our…read moreparenting journey with twins. I had hit a wall of fatigue about six weeks postpartum. The endless cycle of breastfeeding and pumping bordered on grueling. I was anxious, irritable and found it hard to sleep (although I was exhausted!). Enter Doula Deb, who helped us mostly with overnight care so we could get the restorative sleep we desperately needed. Deb was calm, caring, supportive, reliable and positive. She listened and provided us with information, baby-care tips and encouragement. With her watching over and helping care for our daughters (and us!) in the wee hours, I felt like I could finally exhale. Welcoming Deb into our home was like getting the whiffs of parenting oxygen we needed to help us reset and find our way through the early days of parenthood.

Deborah is great at her job. She is the perfect balance of communicating her expertise without…read moredisplacing you as the parent. I do not know how I would have made it through the sleep deprivation I suffered during my daughter's infancy without Deborah's help. Knowing I could have restful, restorative sleep while she was caring for my daughter was amazing. I cannot recommend her enough as a caregiver and a person.

Simply amazing through two experiences. As a partner, Kristin is an invaluable resource. Her…read moreinsights are key, she's a great advocate and frankly you cannot put a price on another set of hands. Highly recommend (in fact I already have...).

Kristin from Kind Birth Services was my doula for the birth of my first daughter. I also took her…read moreassociated birth class, based on her book Expecting Kindness. Throughout preparing for and delivering my daughter, Kristin worked with me for over 30 hours. She's a stellar doula. At the time she was working as my doula, she had already delivered over 350 babies throughout her 20 year career. Her experience showed through in every interaction I had with her. Every question I had she could answer not only with broad knowledge, but also with specific examples from past deliveries. She knows birth inside and out. Beyond her deep knowledge and experience, she is also incredible at holding space and advocating for a mother-to-be through the birthing process. My original plan was to deliver at a midwifery clinic, but I had to transfer care to a hospital a week before my labor started. This unexpected change of plans would have been massively stressful had it not been for Kristin's steady consistency and emotional presence through the process. Her experience in both birth centers and hospitals again showed through to me. Throughout labor and delivery, she guided me through with clear suggestions and a calm demeanor. Because of her presence and the preparation I had from her class, I was confident in my ability to delivery vaginally without medication. She taught me (and reminded me in the moment) of the details of each stage of labor and how I could best empower myself through the process. She also helped me to be a strong advocate for myself and my own control over the birth process, which was invaluable in my transition to hospital delivery. One of my favorite things about Kristin was her passion for integrating my partner in the birth process, from the birth classes through delivery participation. My partner was well prepared and confident to be fully present in the birth process. Kristin is an excellent coach, guide and guru from the classroom to the delivery suite, and I couldn't recommend her more strongly. She also gave our daughter one of her first gifts during one of our follow up appointments with her!

Troop saved my life!!! I could not have survived the newborn phase without the help of my doulas…read more They were all so caring, helpful and knowledgeable. Even though it can be tough to be separated from one's newborn baby, I felt so comfortable sleeping while my doula took care of him. Having overnight support allowed me to get the rest I needed to heal and gave me energy to spend time with my toddler during the day. Troop is like family to me! I would recommend them to anyone in need of support.

Pregnant and postpartum moms - DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY…read more We signed up for doulas for 12 weeks while I was pregnant and put down the deposit (roughly $10k). Our needs changed postpartum and when we went to update our timeline we were told that the deposit we put down would not be applied to the updated timeline - basically we were asking for $8k in services and even though we had already paid $10k we were told that we still needed to pay more. They quoted the handbook which was not noted in the contract we signed and we were never told of this "policy" while interviewing or signing the contract. We received the handbook after we had signed the contract. We worked out an agreement after pointing out how ridiculous this was and we felt it was still worth it to move forward as we were hopeful that they would provide the services they promised. Over the course of four visits we had two different doulas. Both were very polite and nice but had totally different levels of care. The first doula set timers on her phone to wake up and check on our daughter as well as wake and bring her to feed so that she didn't go too long without eating. As a mom that is EBF this was immensely helpful and she was great to work with. The second doula was polite but did not take care of our daughter. She slept so deeply that did not wake during my daughter's feeding cues/crying. I awoke to engorged breasts and when I checked the monitor I could see my daughter fussing in her bassinet while the doula slept on. I also saw that she had set the temperature of the room to 74 degrees. For a 6 week old that can't regulate heat this was VERY concerning. I went to wake my husband to figure out how we could change it to a safe temperature and then went downstairs and woke the doula while getting my daughter from the bassinet. My daughter was so overheated that she could barely finish one side even though she regularly finishes both. While I was feeding her, this doula fell asleep again and when I brought my daughter back she did not wake to me entering the room- I changed my daughter's diaper and only after returning with a light on did she wake up. We were scheduled to have her for the next month and my husband and I did not feel comfortable leaving our child in her care again. When I emailed the company to cancel (on a Thursday with our next visit being a Monday), I received an OOO message from Lynette Wilson the Director of Operations. The following day (Friday) I forwarded the message to the scheduling team and did not receive a response. When Lynette returned that following Monday she did not ask why we were suddenly cancelling but did try to tell us that she was going to charge us for not cancelling 24 hours before the shift even though the message was sent several days before. Only after I was able to get Lynette on the phone (you cannot contact anyone in the office directly) did she relent. I also brought up the concerns with the doula - again she did not once ask why. She did not seem to care or bother to offer solutions but rather wanted to end the conversation. We've spent $10k+ for 4 nights. Pregnant and postpartum moms - this company does not care about you or your child. Their team of overnight doulas is sporadic in their level of care and created an unsafe environment for my child. This company only cares about squeezing you for money during one of the most stressful and vulnerable times of your life.

I had such high hopes for this class, but ultimately it was taught by a doula and not a certified…read morebirth instructor and therefore the doula was not knowledgeable about medication, hospital interventions etc and was instead pushing themselves to be hired. Almost no emphasis on breathing techniques in class. Save your money and time and look elsewhere.

Ignored all emails before the class and for our questions post class. I should have canceled the…read moreclass when our email was ignored before the class started. Not recommended. Ignoring emails is extremely frustrating and basically feel totally ripped off. The class had dated materials and made a big deal they wouldn't hand out stuff. More worried about someone taking their presentation, that their own customers. New Moms and Dads.

Our son started in the infant room at just 8 months old, and now, at 14 months, he's thriving in…read morethe toddler room. Watching his growth over these past few months has been amazing, and we owe so much of that to the wonderful, caring staff. When he first started, it was a big transition--he had been home with me since birth, and adjusting to a new environment and new caregivers was tough. He cried a lot and had trouble napping at first. But the staff was so patient and gentle with him through it all. Their support and consistency helped him feel safe and loved, and it made all the difference. Now, he's excited to go to school--he even runs into the classroom and forgets to say goodbye! As a parent, there's nothing better than knowing your child feels happy, secure, and cared for. Thank you to everyone at Bright Horizons at Longacres for helping him grow into such a confident little person. We are so grateful.

We had the most amazing teacher (Mars) with our toddler class. When our son moved up to early…read morepre-school we started noticing problems, mainly with turnover of teachers. If you look at the staff picture wall by the entrance only a handful of teachers have been there longer than a year. We also noticed that staff can be very stressed at times due to being shuffled around from class to class. We finally left (intending it to be temporary) due to our second child being born. Our son had his pictures taken right before we gave our notice and requested to purchase it as well but we never heard back after multiple attempts. TL:DR Depending on the teacher that you have your experience can vary by a lot. If management can do a better job with keeping the staff less stressed/happy I don't think we would hesitate with coming back.

Barb was put on this earth to do exactly what she is doing: Inspiring countless nervous moms-to-be…read moreto overcome their fears and embrace the beauty and wonder of the birth experience in all of its unpredictable but amazing glory. She is Seattle's hypnobirthing grande dame, and her passion, experience and knowledge of the techniques she teaches have turned many a doubter (likely most of the male partners in the classroom) into die hard believers of the power of self-hypnosis techniques to attain complete relaxation and control. Most useful for us - especially my husband - was her empowering approach to birth: the birth experience does not have to be terrifying, over-medicalized, or powerless.

Let me stare by saying I was a skeptic about HypnoBirthing. It was my wife who first brought the…read moreidea to my attention. Since completing the class and the birth I have become a convert. It was a wonderful experience and I wouldn't have changed a thing. I can't say enough about Barbara Decker she is simply amazing. We were lost in the wilderness before we signed up for her HypnoBirthing class at Great Starts. We did our research and found it to be a better deal than elsewhere and the class included Breastfeeding and Newborn Care which others did not. We knew immediately we were in good hands. We were also fortunate enough to have her as our Doula which was priceless. Her energy, attention, guidance was a true gift in the birth of our daughter.