Amber has a beautiful, gentle and calm presence and her time with us after the birth of our…read moredaughter was so very valuable. She came and supported us during my postpartum time, cooking delicious, nutritious meals. Making warm spiced chai, special teas and sweets for lactation. Her expert knowledge around birth, postpartum and hormone balancing is excellent. Combined with her gentle touch through abayanga massage, which was so very restorative for me, especially after I had quite significant blood loss during my birth. I felt totally held and nourished and couldn't recommend her highly enough for this incredibly tender time, she is a really special person. Thank you again Amber! X

My husband and I had a wonderful experience working with Alana Corrin through Healthy Mamas,…read moreHealthy Babies. First, learning about the services and speaking with Amber was great. She is highly organized and very responsive. I also loved the online mom support groups with different topics covered each week - these were so helpful! For the doula services, Alana was wonderful. She is very laid back and easy to talk to while also being super knowledgable and attentive. I wasn't sure if I was going to try to have a natural birth or get an epidural and I felt like Alana was ready to support me no matter what option I wound up choosing. Also, my husband tends to be very anxious around any medical or hospital setting so we weren't sure if he would be able to be with me for all of labor and delivery. Our meeting before birth was great because Alana was able to listen to his concerns and talk him through what L&D would be like so he wouldn't be so nervous. We only wound up being able to have one pre-birth meeting because my baby decided to show up 6.5 weeks early! Thankfully, Alana was able to meet us at the hospital within an hour of my husband calling her (around 3am??). My labor proceeded very quickly and we were both overwhelmed because we had not anticipated having our baby that early. Alana remained a calm and consistent presence throughout my labor and for a while after delivery after they took my baby to the NICU. She was also able to ask the nurses and doctors questions we had completely forgotten to ask and kept us up to date with everything that was happening. My husband wound up being able to stay for most of L&D and I think a lot of that has to do with Alana being there - we both felt fully supported the entire time. We had three post-partum sessions with Alana and they were also incredibly helpful. I would definitely recommend her to others and would love to work with her again if we wind up having another baby (hopefully closer to my due date next time, hehe)!

I have received multiple massages from Gracie during pregnancy and postpartum and they have all…read morebeen fabulous. Especially when I was 9 months pregnant, she did a fantastic job making sure I felt comfortable and helping relieving the physical pain of the third trimester. During postpartum, I have received a couple of massages for back pain related to breastfeeding and I always leave feeling rejuvenated and more aligned. Highly recommend

I reached out to Brilliant Births to find a birth doula. They offer a matching service and…read moreconnected me to 3 doulas who work independently (not employees of BB). We were really fortunate to find our birth doula (who we love!), but the other 2 candidates were not very impressive. The first doula missed our appointment with no follow-up communication. We were initially confused and thought she was the coordinator for BB, because she only communicated by text. The actual meeting was just by telephone so there was no face-to-face interaction, which felt strange. We could've easily FaceTimed or Zoomed. So communication and reliability were not great. The second doula abruptly canceled our half-hour appointment when we were 10 minutes late for a 30-minute appointment due to my husband wrapping up a Zoom meeting. During our appointment time, she was responding to my emails (in which I apologized for being late), but insisted she could no longer meet with us. I thought this was a really bad sign about what she would be like to work with - labor and delivery is rarely precisely timed and some flexibility is needed. In addition, her email said that she lives in Portola Valley, but we live Berkeley (also where Brilliant Births is located). This also struck me as strange, because it would take 1.5 hours for her to arrive to meet us at the hospital, which is not ideal.

When faced with the heaps of information out there about giving birth, it can feel pretty…read moreoverwhelming. I read lots of websites, books, and even attended two births myself. I knew I needed more to be fully prepared and ready to partake in this life changing and sacred event. Susan's class filled that void and thensome! Books (& hospital courses) can only get you so far. The Birth Journey course gave me plenty of opportunities to look deeper into my fears, expectations, hopes, and appreciation of the birth process. The course helped me get in touch with the psychological, emotional, and spiritual sides of birth --that are sadly so often ignored. It also gave me practical tools to use while birthing...dealing with pain and the awareness of what my body and baby were going through. I highly recommend this experience. It was also very valuable to interact with and hear from the other participants. Susan managed to jam-pack those 9 sessions with lots of useful information. She is a gifted, highly experienced, teacher. We had a wonderful home birth and I know this course and Susan's guidance helped us do so.

I took this course in the summer of 2010. It was an ideal natural birth course. All 8 students in…read morethe course left happy. The course goes far beyond the basic physiology of birth, and works on a psycho-emotional level to connect the parents with the birth process and their unborn child. While alternative, at no point did the instructor disparage traditional medicine. As for the negative reviewer below: Admittedly, the course is not designed for someone who is seeking to only learn how to undergo "modern techniques" such as pain killers and C-section. As that reviewer recommends: those are taught in his ascribed "hospital based" courses. I also encourage readers discouraged by that negative review to read his other reviews...which are mostly 1 stars of local business. I sense a troll looking for make-it-right handouts and refunds...

I am so incredibly happy that Becca was our doula for our hospital birth. This was my first baby,…read moreand I knew that all I wanted was for the baby to be healthy and to avoid an emergency C-section if I could. We met with Becca and knew right away that she was the perfect person to help us in preparing for and giving birth. She immediately set us at ease by assuring us that the hospital we chose had an excellent Labor and Delivery team. She was 100% right about that, and everything else. She helped me trust myself and my body. I never thought I would have such an amazing and thoroughly happy birth experience. Becca really cares. It meant a lot to us that she also visited us after the birth to check in and provide some very welcome support. If we have another baby, we will definitely work with Becca, again!

I could not imagine my first birth without Becca! From the very first phone call, I felt an instant…read moreconnection with her--she's such a kind, caring soul and a true expert in her field. One of the things that impressed me most was how seamlessly she read the dynamic between me and my husband. She always knew when to step in with support and when to step back and give us space. That balance was invaluable during such an emotional, vulnerable time. When my birth plan didn't go the way I had envisioned, Becca's expert advice and calm presence gave me so much security in the decisions I had to make. She helped me feel grounded, informed, and confident every step of the way and encouraged me to listen to my instinct and body. Another aspect of her support that you simply can't put a price on is how connected she is at Kaiser. She knew nearly every midwife and nurse, and because of her strong relationships there, I felt reassured that the care I was receiving was exactly what I needed. Her presence gave me an extra layer of trust in the whole process. Becca communicated beautifully, supported us with such compassion, and helped make my first birth experience one that I will cherish forever. I can't recommend her enough--if you're considering a doula, Becca is truly one of a kind! Thank you so much Becca!

We feel so incredibly lucky to have had Marilou as our postpartum night doula. I ended up needing…read moreto be induced earlier than expected, so we had to arrange support at the very last minute. I was honestly pretty anxious going into it because we didn't have the opportunity to interview or even speak with her beforehand, and we were simply going off her profile that was shared with us. But from the moment she arrived, she immediately put us at ease. She was with us for those first few nights home from the hospital, when I was exhausted, emotional, and very newly postpartum. She had such a warm, gentle, and calming presence, and having her there made those overwhelming first nights feel so much more manageable. She was incredibly sweet and attentive with our baby, but she was equally caring toward me, always checking in and offering thoughtful tips for both newborn care and taking care of myself during recovery. She helped with feeds, baby laundry, and washing and assembling bottles and pump parts, and was always punctual, dependable, and proactive. Most importantly, we felt completely comfortable having her care for our brand new baby during such a vulnerable time. Our only regret is that we didn't find her sooner! Because everything came together so last minute, she was only available to be with us for a few nights, and we absolutely would have loved to have had her for longer. We're so grateful she was there when we needed her and would wholeheartedly recommend her to any family looking for a kind, knowledgeable, and genuinely caring postpartum doula. Thanks Marilou and Doulas by the Bay!

We had a wonderful experience with Brenda. She came to meet us before the baby was born, which was…read morereally helpful and gave us a chance to get comfortable with each other beforehand. Once the baby arrived, she was incredibly helpful, especially with tips and guidance on how to soothe him and help him get to sleep. She was so kind, gentle, and caring with our baby, and it was such a pleasure to have her with us during these first days. We're very grateful for all her help and would absolutely recommend her!

My husband and I attended Tori's childbirth preparation and newborn essentials class a few weeks…read moreago, as we prepare for the arrival of our baby in February. The class came highly recommended from our OB and I was happy to take any more resources that didn't involve too much doom scrolling. The entire class was very informative and it's clear that Tori is a very experienced nurse (my aunt also happens to be a L&D nurse as well). I found it very helpful that she went through all of the options in a very clinical way and it helped reaffirm what choices I had available to me. I don't think it's reasonable to expect that everyone will agree with all aspects of the class (especially when it comes to baby products), but it brought me a lot of comfort and understanding that I didn't have before.

My husband and I took Tori's One Day Childbirth Preparation Class and later went back for Baby Care…read moreand Breastfeeding. I guess why I didn't leave this review as 1 star is because the childbirth class was informative but we both walked away from the baby care class questioning Tori's credibility. The biggest red flag was discussing SIDS and baby's "bed". Someone brought up SIDS as a concern (btw she asks at the beginning of class what everyone's fears are and doesn't address them) and she basically said don't worry about it because it's very rare, we don't know why it happens and there's nothing we can do about it. Later another person asked if baby will have a bed in the hospital and she scoffed and said "What bed? Mom is the bed". Every modern literature states the "ABCs" babies should sleep Alone, on their Back, in a Crib. While the technical definition of SIDS means that the diagnosis after death is still unknown there is one measure that significantly reduces likelihood of SIDS: sleeping on your back. This was researched by doctor's worldwide and launched the "Back to Basics" campaign also known as "Safe to Sleep" program which reduced SIDS by over over 50% in the US in the following decade. Mayo Clinic, National Institute of Health, and even the pamphlet that Tori passes out in the childbirth class (Preparing for Birth by Plumtree, page 65) states that baby should sleep on their back AND additionally without things like blankets, plush toys, bumper etc. So saying that it's fine for baby to sleep on mom and that "there's no science/evidence for why we stopped putting babies on their stomach" frankly is dangerous for new parents who haven't done any of their own research and were hoping to get all their information from her classes which which is mainly why I'm writing this review. Then there is her demeanor - she is definitely blunt and takes a more blasé approach to childbirth and childrearing which I didn't find an issue with during the 6 hour childbirth class but the 2 hour baby care class was a different story. She says she's not here to judge anyone but then says things like "oh god please don't tell me any of you got the baby cappuccino machine (Baby Brezza)" or "why, why on earth do you need to look at your baby on your phone??? (baby monitors/Nanit)". I haven't bought any of these items and am also of the camp of minimal consumerism (buy thoughtfully, get free/secondhand) so that's not what bothers me, it's that she treats 20/30/40's something ADULTS as mind addled teenagers who are addicted to social media and don't have brains to think for themselves. Your audience in the Bay Area is largely college educated working professionals (tech, medicine, law, etc.) who can likely distinguish between actual evidence and science backed research vs Instagram influencers and make the right decision for their own family and their own specific needs. She also dismissed many questions and contradicts herself - someone asked what to do when baby has a cold and she just goes "What cold? Babies don't get colds" but later explains how to use the suction bulb when baby has a cold - she harps on "this generation" for buying too much and says "Why do you need to buy a plastic tub to wash your baby in?" then proceeds to whip out a flower petal pad thing and says this works fine... but isn't that just another thing to buy??? Overall I get that she's trying to de-influence people from over consuming and trying to assure new parents that they don't need to be anxious and paranoid about every little thing but the approach is borderline rude and condescending. And for people like my husband and I who aren't in that camp but just wanted to learn something her answer to most questions is "don't worry about it, baby will be fine whatever you do, anything important you'll figure out"... so why did we sign up for a class?? Again the attitude and lack of information falls second to any advice she had that was dangerous. She ends the class by saying she grew up in the 70's, playing outside, feral, youngest of 5 kids in the back of the station wagon without a seatbelt and that it wasn't really a bad thing. This pretty much sums up her mindset, nostalgia for "a simpler time" and "the good ole days" but some things have changed and for good reason, like babies should sleep on their back, not letting women stay pregnant past 41 weeks, vaccine and immunization advancements. Also, I get that statistically you're unlikely to die not wearing a seatbelt here and there but should you really be implicitly saying it's fine to not wear a seatbelt when presenting as an "educator"?

We learned so much in the pre-work for Rachel's birthing class that we felt the need to consider…read morealtering our birth plan. Once we started Rachel's class, we actually did change our birth plan and never felt more confident in such a life-changing decision. Her guidance and the education we received EMPOWERED us to plan for an incredibly transformational birth experience with no interventions in the comfort of our own home. My husband and I grew closer and more aligned during the class and after, as we prepared to welcome our first child. The exercises she has you practice and the information she shares should be something every expecting couple goes through. Her audio tracks taught me what I needed and helped me before during and after birth. I was even lucky enough to attend one of her prenatal yoga classes which left me with a sense of calm and space in my belly (which is rare for a pregnant woman in her third trimester)! I highly recommend you make Rachel part of your birth team by signing up for one of her classes.

Video Birth Course Review-…read more My husband and I took the YES to Birth class virtually to prepare for the birth of our daughter. I wanted a natural/un-medicated hospital birth and this class prepared me to achieve that. If I could use one word to describe my birth, I would say it was: PERFECT. Every aspect of it felt so right, and I absolutely said YES to every moment of it. My husband and I used the tools learned in this course to relax, go with the direction of my baby and my body, and have a smooth, unmedicated, natural hospital delivery. Thanks to Rachel for helping us get there!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Loving Arms Childbirth Services' birthing class! Jessica Cristen was our…read moreinstructor, and she was excellent! She's a certified midwife and lactation support specialist, with years of experience. Taking this class was the best decision I made for preparing for the birth of our baby girl. (even with the countless books I read and classes taken from Kaiser) My birth did NOT go at all as expected, but thanks to these classes I was super well prepared about all the possibilities that could occur during labor & delivery and helped my partner and I be on the same page (and have my partner know how he could best support me). Thus when things started to go different than what we prepared for in our birthing plan, we were really able to navigate the various options skillfully and have educated conversations with our care team. This made me feel way more secure when my health was declining during delivery. Even though I didn't have the birth I pictured for myself, I felt I had a wonderful birth story thanks to the classes from Loving Arms and our care support team. The class is very comfortable, super educational, and a good place to meet other couples about to have babies too. The instructors here really care about helping new families, and have years of experience and maturity. Again, best decision to take this class here @ Loving Arms. So glad I chose them!

We are so grateful we found Loving Arms and were able to take their childbirth prep class. I didn't…read morewant to have a doula and these courses helped me feel so knowledgeable about what to expect during childbirth and allowed my husband to know how best to support me. The lactation support and honest expectations about what to expect in the first few days with a newborn were invaluable. I ended up not having time to get an epidural and without this class, I think I would have panicked giving birth. However, armed with the knowledge from the courses, I was able to get through it and have a positive experience. Another plus is that we were able to bond with the other couples in the class and are still in touch now 9 months after our babies were born. Highly suggest!

How does anyone birth a child without taking Kelly's class?? In her empowering and grounded way,…read moreKelly would say you don't NEED the class, you will birth your baby no matter what! But let me tell you, I feel infinitely more confident and informed after taking this class, and much calmer about the process. I can't imagine heading into birth without the wisdom I gained. The content is so relevant, evidence-based, unbiased, captivating... the time flew by. Even my husband, who was a little skeptical heading into it, totally had his mind blown and is a much more informed partner about his role in labor. Kelly herself is a godsend. She has a wealth of knowledge on this complex topic and presents it in the most digestible way. She is a brilliant educator, not just a brilliant birth educator. I wish we all had a Kelly to teach us about this when we were children. Five stars does not do this justice. If you're on the fence about whether you need a birth class, just sign up. You, your partner, and your baby will all benefit tremendously.

I was anxious about taking a birthing class virtually, but Kelly really knocks it out of the park…read more She keeps the class small and conversational, covers a wide variety of topics, and ultimately helped me and my partner feel so much better prepared for the birth of our first baby. After class she sends out some great materials and reading to further prepare. Most of the class mentioned they were doing hospital births, so she was able to tailor her material to the experience we would be having at a hospital. Lots of time for questions and quality things to take away. Highly recommend!

The best place for physical training I've experienced to date. Toni Zepponi is the best! I I've…read moreworked with her for years and this location is the best. The people are friendly, the equipment is perfect. Love it!