Julia was our midwife for both of our children - our daughter's birth at SCV Birth Center and our…read moreson's home birth and we couldn't have asked for a better experience. She is so calm, kind, and supportive, and she made both my husband and me feel completely comfortable and cared for every step of the way. Julia's gentle presence and expertise brought such peace and confidence to both of our births. We would choose her again and again - she's truly a blessing to the families she supports! We miss her dearly!

Working with Julia has been a God-sent gift. After having my first home birth 2.5 years ago, I…read moreplanned to do it again, although I was not expecting all the challenges that life would present right before the birth. In an extremely unfortunate event, my brother and sister-in-law, who were supposed to have their first baby right around my due date, suddenly lost their child during birth. I was in absolute shock and deep grief, and I was contemplating whether a home birth was the safest option for me. I found Julia, and she held my hand through every moment of fear and self-doubt throughout my prenatal care. She showed me what heartfelt understanding can look like while still not losing sight of what she knew I was capable of. I knew in my bones that a home birth was what I desired, but having this happen so close to me shook my confidence and sparked so much fear in me. During my birth, Julia held my hand every step of the way. She was proactive in her approach, giving me positions to hold that resulted in direct progression of labor, all while being very attuned to me and the baby throughout the process. I went from having a 38-hour labor with my first child to a 14-hour labor with my second, with only 4 hours of active labor. I honestly can't recommend her enough!!! Julia carries a deep understanding and love of midwifery care and her expertise are showcased in her level of care and knowledge. I had the most beautiful birth and felt so supported thanks to her guidance and heartfelt diligent care.

Emilee was a DREAM with her placenta medicine services. From the moment we signed her on she was…read morereliable, communicative, and professional. She was also a valuable resource for myself and my husband for questions, support and general education and information. Her capsules and tincture packaging were very high quality and came with detailed and valuable instructions. I can't stress enough how grateful we were!! As for consuming my placenta, I felt a distinctive difference the days I took the capsules vs. the days I forgot to take them. I also never had any postpartum depression and I truly believe it was the placenta medicine that saved me. I would HIGHLY recommend this (and Emilee!) to anyone having a baby!

I had the pleasure of working with Sada as my doula during my pregnancy, and home birth this fall…read more Sada was amazing! I personally really enjoyed taking her yoga classes at Golden Sol in Los Feliz, she has an extensive array of knowledge - from pregnancy to birth and the journey onward into motherhood. I felt supported and empowered by the information Sada supplied me with. My husband and I also took private childbirth ed classes with her. Sada seemed to be especially passionate about home-birth, but when I would see her interact with women having hospital births she had SO MUCH information to share with them about the hospitals and doctors they'd be working with. It was amazing really, and part of the reason I was so drawn to working with her. My labor was about 33.5 hours total, and at the first sign of labor (my labor started hard and fast) Sada came over and sat with me so my husband could get some rest since we had a big day ahead. When she came back the next afternoon, I was still laboring, and completely exhausted. She helped me (and my team) stay focused, and was the strong energy I needed to get through my slow labor. Leading up to my labor Sada was a continuous support system for my husband and I. She checked in with me, counseled me, hugged me when I needed a hug and really took the time to dive in deep so that she could help me have the experience I wanted. After my baby was born, we had a lovely visit a few days later sharing fruit, gawking at all the hair on my sweet babes head, and discussed the happenings of my birth. : ) I ended up making smoothies with my placenta, so i did not need to utilize LABK's placenta medicine services, but Emiliee did teach me how to make a tincture just incase I wanted to make one with any left over placenta (which I ended up doing). Sada was lovely to work with, and I just wish she did postpartum classes because I miss her! :)

Managing my breast milk supply was such a challenge as a new mom. I was getting conflicting…read moreinformation and was suffering from mastitis. Additionally I was challenged with more misinformation about breastfeeding my baby. Thanks to the help of yelpers, I found Christina! She made an appointment with me as soon as possible and brought her scale. My baby was very fussy and Christina helped me to understand that sometimes it's not soothing techniques and maybe it's an underlying issue that's going on that was causing the fussiness. Furthermore she helped me understand how lactation works and has helped me gained more control over my milk supply. I got a lot of my sanity back once I was able to have a more balanced lifestyle while being able to feed my baby. Christina is so sweet. She really cares about moms and is there to talk to in case we just need someone to talk to. She is always open and willing to have a direct conversation without the fluff. I really appreciate finding her and being able to work with her.

Teresa is a miracle worker!!! 24 hours after she came to our home for one session I went from…read morepumping 1 miniscule drop of breast milk to almost being able to pump a full 1 fl oz in just one pumping session and finally getting baby to stay on the boob for much longer periods of time! All thanks to Teresa's great patience, experience, and genuine care.

Ceridwen was amazing. This was our first baby, and having her as our doula made a huge difference…read morefor both of us. She supported my wife so much during labor always calm, attentive, and very knowledgeable. She really knew how to guide her through each moment and made the whole experience feel more manageable. She also helped me a lot as a first-time dad. I was nervous and unsure about many things, but she took the time to guide me, explain what was happening, and made me feel involved every step of the way. We truly felt like she was part of our family, not just our doula. I 100% recommend her.

I'm so grateful I had Ceridwen on my birth team she is a kind and sweet person all around! She was…read morethere through my labor and made such a difference in my experience. She helped me feel empowered, supported, and truly mad sure the doctors respected my wishes every step of the way. What really stood out was her continued support after birth. She came back for a postpartum visit and took the time to guide me through breathing exercises, pelvic floor recovery, and overall helped make my postpartum experience feel manageable and positive. Having someone who genuinely cares and knows how to support you both during and after labor is invaluable. I would absolutely recommend Credwin to anyone looking for a knowledgeable, supportive, and compassionate birth professional.

If you're trying to decide if a doula is worth it... YES, it is!…read more I worked with Catherine for my second pregnancy. Although I had been through birth once before, I felt strongly that I wanted someone in the room that would be my voice and would advocate for me when I was exhausted and focused on other things. My first birth went less than ideal and although my baby and I are alive and well, I did feel like I had been pressured into making several decisions that I didn't even know that I had a choice in. I deviated pretty far from my reasonable birth plan, essentially because my preferences INCONVENIENCED the nurses. For example, wanting to be mobile instead of on my back in bed, preferring a saline lock instead of a fixed IV line, not wanting optical antibiotics for about an hour after birth (to support breastfeeding), etc. The second time around, I knew that I wanted an expert on my side to have the emotional strength to help me see my plan through! Having already done it once before, I also knew that (while I love him dearly!) my husband is not the best birth coach. I really needed a patient third party to help me through the pain and tell me what to do! Working with Catherine was really great. What I loved most was that she provided so much scientific based information to help me make my choices. She also had zero judgment about the choices I made. She offered her personal input when asked and supported my decisions throughout. I had been induced the first time around so I was a little anxious about what to expect actually going into labor. Catherine was available 24/7 to answer my questions and help me understand what might be happening when I felt weird things! When my water broke, she labored with me at home and did a great job keeping myself and my husband calm and relaxed! She followed us to the hospital when it was time and was everything I hoped she'd be in the room! I ended up being able to follow my birth plan pretty closely (of course there are always deviations depending on the circumstances and for sake of mom and baby's wellbeing). I had a very easy, med-free and complication-free birth thanks to Catherine! I cannot say enough about how great she is!

Catherine was our doula for both of our children's births (now age 3 and 9 months) and I would…read morehighly recommend her. Her vast experience, knowledge, passion and demeanor are exactly what you would hope for in a doula. She is very calm and reassuring, supportive in so many ways, and helpful without being pushy or judgmental. She really listens to your wishes and concerns and helps to get you the resources and support you need during pregnancy, labor, and once baby is here. As most women experience with multiple kids, my pregnancy and birth for each kid were very different from each other. For each I had specific concerns and issues arise, and Catherine was beyond equipped to help me with all of them. I even delivered at different hospitals, and she was well versed in the nuances of each ward, which was a major plus that I didn't anticipate. I am so happy that Catherine was a part of the beginning of our children's lives, and were we to have another baby, I would want her there as well.

Tracy was absolutely wonderfu!! My pregnant daughter and I took her series of prenatal classes…read morevirtually. The classes were so helpful!! They covered every aspect of the third trimester, labor, delivery, and even newborn care and breastfeeding. Since I was going to be in the delivery room I wanted to be able to be a real help to my daughter. When the time came to head to the hospital Tracy was available to help and support my daughter with real time suggestions for early labor and beyond. And when there were some complications I knew the questions to ask the doctor and nurses because Tracy had taught me how to seek out the relevant information so that my daughter could make the best decisions for her baby and for herself. Tracy's wealth of experience and knowledge is amazing and was incredibly helpful. Her caring, calm demeanor and thoughtfulness was everything we wanted and more. Tracy truly is the BEST!

Please make sure you get Tracy on the day of your delivery…read more.. We absolutely loved meeting Tracy for the initial calls. We learned so much and she was so knowledgeable. However, she told us that she wouldn't be able to attend our baby's birth due to COVID concerns and that she has an assistant doula she's very confident in that will be there for the day of. On the day of, the assistant doula showed up and was not helpful at all. This was her 4th time being a doula. I was clearly in so much pain, but she didn't proactively offer me any advice, a new position to try, or anything motivational. The only thing she did was take out essential oils which didn't do anything for me. I honestly feel like I paid thousands of dollars just to have another body in the room. My husband had to proactively ask her, "Hey, her legs are sore, can you help me massage them. Hey, can you call Tracy and ask what else we can do? Hey, are there other positions we should be trying?"

I cannot say enough about Emilee Benner. Nine months ago, I had never even heard the word "doula"…read moremuch less knew what it meant. Today, as my wife and I are proud parents of a beautiful three-week-old girl, I couldn't imagine either of us getting through it without her. She was enthusiastic, supportive, nurturing, responsive, and 100 percent committed to shepherding us through the final, difficult months of pregnancy, and beyond. She guided us through a 26-hour labor and was by our side and actively assisting for the last 10 hours. She advised us when to go to the hospital, and was our advocate the entire time we were at the hospital. We wanted a natural birth, and if it wasn't for Emilee we wouldn't have known how to navigate around the hospital's standard operating procedure (IVs, Pitocin, pain medications, epidurals) in order to have the birth that we wanted. For guys who are reading this, the biggest question you will have is "is my wife in labor." Unless you've been through it, you have no idea what a "real" contraction is versus a Braxton-Hicks contraction, especially toward the end when the Braxton-Hicks start coming more often and more intensely. Also, there are other things that can happen toward the end that are a bit scary and even if you've taken all the classes (which we did) you will not know what is normal and what is not. I ended up texting and calling Emilee way more than my wife did, and to her great credit she always responded within minutes. The other big question is "when should we go to the hospital." There is no way that we would have been comfortable doing most of the labor at home if Emilee was not there with us. We would have gone immediately after labor started and our experience would have been much different. But a good doula will "know" when it's time. Emilee also didn't stop helping us after my wife gave birth. She has helped immensely with putting us in touch with milk donors and has checked in on us multiple times. She shows her passion with everything she does. We were lucky to have her.

We interviewed more than 10 doulas before meeting Emilee. The moment she walked into our apartment,…read morewe knew she was the one. She has a great down-to-earth energy, but is also very frank. She was the only doula who actually asked us more questions than we asked her. She seemed genuinely interested in our birth and we were as excited to work with her as she with us. Emilee is very knowledgeable. I consider myself a bit of a research junky, but I always learn something new after a meeting with Emilee. Her meetings with us before and after the birth were very informative and helpful. During the birth, she followed our lead beautifully and added bits of her own that really made our day run smoothly. From aromatherapy to massage to different positions and breathing, I always felt like Emilee would have 5 more ideas if something wasn't working. In the end I had a very short (10 hour) first labor and I know Emilee was a big part of that. She helped give me the confidence to let my body and my baby do what they needed to do. Thank you Emilee. You're amazing!

I have taken over a year and a half to write this review to make absolutely sure what I say is fair…read moreand level headed. I DO NOT recommend Keely as a doula. She's is a wonderful speaker and extremely eloquent but her involvement and skill set unfortunately ends there. Keely abandoned me and my husband during an emergency c section. One I think would have been completely avoided with a more experienced, empathetic and advocacy minded doula. I have a long list of reasons I regret hiring Keely but all I think that really matters is that I'm certain my birth experience was made considerably worse as a direct result of her involvement. I highly recommend a doula, just not this one. Good luck mamas!!!

Keely was an amazing doula for my partner and I. In preparation for my delivery and labor she…read moresensed my anxiety and soothed me with positive words. During my labor and delivery she was amazing ! She kept me motivated and encouraged me again with positivity. At our two week postpartum visit she remained consistent with her affirmations and assured me that I was doing everything just fine. Back to labor and delivery. She advocated for me, making sure I knew what was going on at all times. I was empowered in all of my decisions because she made sure I was in the loop. She helped me with different labor positions and kept me company while I was having contractions. She's an amazing doula and I'm so happy that she was mine.