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.

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!

I have been a patient of Dr. Wells for more than 10 years and have always considered him an…read moreexcellent physician. He has performed multiple surgeries on me over the years, and I have trusted him with my care. Unfortunately, my recent experiences with the practice have been very disappointing. Over the past year, the office has rescheduled my appointments twice. At my most recent visit, I waited 45 minutes for a routine annual exam. The practice also feels much more impersonal than it once did. I used to feel seen and heard, but that is no longer my experience. I was recently transferred to the RSVP office, where I don't know any of the providers. After being a loyal patient for so many years, I felt more like I was being passed along than cared for. Dr. Wells remains a skilled and compassionate physician, but the office, patient experience, and continuity of care have changed significantly. I hope the practice takes this feedback to heart and remembers the value of long-term patient relationships.

The medical team at this office is wonderful. Dr. Wells is incredibly knowledgeable, forthright…read moreand someone I have completely trusted with my two pregnancies and c-sections. Amanda was my personal favorite midwife/nurse practitioner who saw me for several of my appointments and was so kind and supportive, a gem. When I was scared about my IUD insertion, nurse Mikayla was the absolute sweetest and thoughtful, bringing me a squishy friend to hold to relieve some stress during the procedure. I have had many wonderful experiences here and have trusted them with my life on several occasions.

Cherrelle is a fantastic Doula. I had the pleasure of having her help and services with my newborn…read moredaughter. She has been so calm and understanding with both me and the baby. She is so nurturing, I think she might actually be a baby whisperer. She has been wonderful with communicating and has suggested several remedies, medicine and things we could try. It was so nice to know that I had someone here to help me and just be there for both me and my child. Cherrelle really has a special gift. As a first time parent I felt very uncertain and nervous about being alone. Cherrelle quiets those worries and allows you to get rest and be the best parent you can be. I can honestly say that her help was so crucial to me and my road to recovery from my C-section. I appreciate her and her warm personality and care so much. Thank you, Alissa Brown

I had a terrible experience with my first birth in the hospital with standard care. I wanted to be…read morein the care of someone that aligned with what I wanted and believed in. Angela, was wonderful, warm, welcoming and caring. She encouraged me and gave advice that was so helpful! I wouldn't be where I'm at in my mom journey without her! Every time I met Angela was important to me, it was like meeting with an old friend or sister. I was especially thankful for the advice for the breastfeeding book she recommended-that was life-changing. My time in the hospital visits were stressful and traumatic, so, the hands-on care that was provided was a breath of fresh air. I felt heard and seen. Even when I had to go to the hospital, Angela was an advocate by my side. Her advice and visits during the postpartum phase were wonderful as well. I felt like Angela took the time to care for me AND my baby. With midwifery care, the baby is a patient as well. There is less unnecessary poking and prodding and much more love and attention. With the standard care given by doctors, they are often cold and even demeaning. They look at things backwards and always act as if you or your baby is sick and dying until proven otherwise. I wasn't able to have a home birth, but still had a vbac in the hospital, I didn't give up and I found strength and resilience that I didn't have previously. I was able to really listen to my body and do what I and baby needed.

Angela was such a dream to have at our birth. She is knowledgeable in all areas and made us feel…read morefully confident and comfortable throughout the entire pregnancy and birth. She is thorough, patient and kind. We we're blessed to have her as our midwife. We couldn't recommend her more to anyone considering a homebirth. Best decision ever. Angela, thank you for everything!!!!

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! :) :)

I would not recommend this nurse to treat or help with anything…read more Horrible bedside manner, does not return calls, as she is "busy seeing patients" I thought I was a patient. Lauren Lockwood was the only practitioner avaiable to see me, as Dr. Senior was busy delivering babies. I saw her regarding a medical termination, and during our visit, I informed her of my 2 misacrriages and how incredibly painful the experience was. I asked for her help with pain management. Well, not only did she fall short on this by underprescribing medication, she also NEVER returned any of my phone calls when I started to experience pain. I called the office starting at 9:30 am, then again at 12:15, notifying the office that I am in uncontrollable pain (since it is the worst during the first 48 hours), and then again at 3pm, in which they insisted they sent the prescriptions to the pharmacy. After going to the pharmacy two times, there were no records of anything being sent, even after the pharmacist told the office NOTHING WAS EVER SENT. It is now 4pm, and my fourth phone call to the office. I have been in excruciating pain all day. NO CALL BACK FROM AN ATTENDING PHYSCIAN OR LAUREN LOCKWOOD! The only person I spoke to all day was the poor receptionist. I have been a long standing patient of Dr. Senior, and have referred multiple patients to her. Let's just say I will no longer be going back. Even though I have a follow up appointment for clearance. There are too many good physicians and NP's out there who would be happy to have new patients, and treat them well. At this point, I would probably get better service at planned parenthood. Your reviewer is 44 yr.old, 2 kids, BSN, 20 years in the medical field.

I recently worked with Lauren at a birth. I am a doula. She was warm, comforting and encouraging…read more While not exactly a home birth experience, it was as hands off as possible, while still in a hospital setting. I highly recommend her if a natural labor in a hospital is your goal. Or even if it's not! Who would't want such a caring provider?

I can't say enough good things about Awakenings! I hired Esther for a home birth after a rather…read moretraumatic hospital birth with my previous child. I felt supported and held throughout the entire process. Esther took time to educate me on homeopathics to help alleviate headaches and helped me navigate a scary situation when my genetic testing came back with some red flags. I felt she went above and beyond when it came to helping with stuff like this that I could tell she was passionate about. I always felt that she was in my corner and when it came time for the birth (my third) she was able to give me space to birth the way I wanted to while being all hands on deck to help my husband catch our baby. It was a really healing experience for me. Postpartum she was very involved and paid close attention to details, even flagging some concerning heart rate stuff with my newborn that I was able to take to my pediatrician and have assessed. Truly full of gratitude for Esther and the experience I was able to have while guided by her professionalism, wisdom, and skill.

Esther was such a blessing to our family and to the entry of our youngest son. She is deeply…read moreknowledgeable and will give you a balanced amount of information around all the decisions that need to be made during pregnancy and beyond. We highly recommend Esther to midwife babies into this world. She's such a gift!

Update I thought I would update my review since it's been 3…read moreyears. Since then we have been blessed to have Charlee as our midwife two more times. In total she has been our midwife for three of our births! Which is honestly amazing! As you can imagine I cannot speak more highly of Charlee! She is the best at what she does! Every birth I have had her in she has been so wonderful and so supportive! My pregnancies are always something I look forward to and one of the big reasons is because of her care. I always look forward to my kids being included into our appointments. They get so excited every time she comes over she is practically family at this point! charlee is so patient with my kids and includes them into the experience, allowing them to help with hearing the baby's heart and checking my blood pressure. It truly has made my pregnancies all the more sweet getting to experience it in this intimate way with my kids and having all these memories with them. I have had hospital care before and to me this is totally different! In the best possible way! It's so individual and includes my family into the process. The appointments are longer allowing ample time to ask questions and go over any concerns. She gets to see how the pregnancy is progressing. I love the fact that she lets me make true informed decisions for me and my baby. She always goes over everything and if I understand the risks and benefits of any decision that I make. I always feel heard and seen. During my labors I've always felt so taken care of. I rely so much on her experience and knowledge and trust she is looking out for my best interest as well as the baby. There have been so many times she has seen things that I hadn't really thought of. Whether that be taking things and doing things to ease pregnancy symptoms to things to do during birth. Postpartum care is just top notch! The fact that she comes to check on me and the baby. I don't have to get out of my bed or leave the comfort of my home. I get to just snuggle my baby and be in newborn bliss while she checks us over. I'm just so thankful for her loving care! If I am blessed to get pregnant again no doubt I will again ask her to be my midwife. No one I trust more and couldn't imagine doing it without her!

I chose to hire Charlee as my midwife for my first pregnancy because when I spoke with her she said…read moreshe had over 10 years of experience and has done 200 births. As a first-time mom, those credentials gave me confidence that I was putting myself and my baby in experienced hands. During one of our visits, she was prepping me for delivery day. She not to reach out to her in the middle of the night unless my contractions were at a 3-1-1 pattern because she wanted to be rested for me during the day. The day came for baby to arrive. Around 9pm on a Saturday I started having contractions. At 2am on Sunday, my contractions became very intense contractions. They were coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting 6-8 minutes long, my husband and I were tracking them with a contraction app. The contractions felt pretty intense. We sent Charlee screenshots of the contraction patterns and reached out for guidance, but a she told us I was not ready yet because I was not at a "3-1-1" pattern, but that if I think the baby is coming, to let her know. How do I know if the baby is coming in not? I've never had a baby before. As a first-time mom, I had no way of knowing whether my labor was progressing normally and it was going to get more intense than what it was, or whether my baby was coming. That's exactly why I hired an experienced midwife to help me make those decisions. I was alone in my living room for hours, my water broke and gushing out (it definitely was not a trickle like they say it would be), feeling like I was on a rollercoaster. By around 6:30 that morning, my doula arrived, saw the amount of pain I was in, looked at my contraction pattern, and immediately called Charlee, telling her "you need to get here now". Charlee arrived about an hour later. By then, my contractions had already slowed down considerably. During the day Charlee commented that she wondered why my contractions had slowed down, which surprised me because I expected someone with her level of experience to have insight into what was happening. While I was laboring in the birthing pool, I also overheard Charlee talking with my doula about wanting to pivot careers into being a motivational coach instead of continuing to attend births. Whether or not she ultimately chooses another career is her decision, but hearing that conversation while I was in active labor made me worry because in my field of business, that is what people say when they aren't getting much business. This was not something I expected or wanted to hear during one of the most vulnerable moments of my life. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of an experience that ultimately left me feeling unsupported and questioning the care I received. The baby was stuck in my canal the whole day. We could feel her head. At 6:30pm, I got transfer to the hospital. We ultimately had to do an emergency vacuum delivery. My body was not contracting, and it was not ready for a baby to come out. I ended up with a permanent spine injury, along with other injuries post delivery that were still having trouble diagnosing. I had to go back to the ER by ambulance 2 days after come home from the hospital. I was in a wheelchair for 2-3 weeks, graduated to a walker, then cain, and now I have on going treatment 9 months post delivery. Which all could have been prevented, if my baby came out when I my body was contracting at 2am in the morning. Charlee charges you $9,500 for her services, but split it up in four sections. She said because I delivered at the hospital, she would not submit me for reimbursement for the delivery costs, since I did not deliver at home. If Charlee could not do her job and deliver my baby, then why can't I get refunded for her not doing her job? I don't know how you can take someone's money like that and sleep at night. I do not recommend Charlee as a good choice for a midwife, do not trust this person with your life!

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.