Had my second baby at Pacifica recently, and want to double down on my review from 2023. It's still…read morean amazing place run by wonderful, caring people. I feel grateful to have had access to it. I wish for this model of perinatal care to become widespread some day. Looking forward to bringing my bebes here when they grow up so they can meet Cindy and see the room (and magical tub!) where they were born.

I loved my experience with Pacifica, and I can't thank the midwives enough for their deep level of…read morecare throughout my pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. I felt supported, safe, and connected throughout, and my baby and I had a beautiful birth surrounded and held by their team. When I first got pregnant, I started out seeing an OB. In the medical system, the visits were short and perfunctory. I felt like I was checking off boxes on their end, and not getting any value or support. When we switched to Pacifica care, the difference was immediate and apparent to both myself and my partner. They cared about how my partner and I were doing mentally, emotionally, and physically, and provided holistic advice whenever we had to make decisions for the baby. Having a natural birth was challenging but such an amazing experience, and I can't imagine having done it without the midwives or in an environment that felt super familiar, homey, and safe. Thank you Cindy, Audrey, Tracy, Evaly, Esther for your love and care bringing our baby into this world.

Beth was a great asset for my husband & I before, during and after the birth of our daughter in…read more2011. We weren't exactly sure what a doula was but after we took a hospital tour we knew we didn't want to be alone in a Labor & Delivery room! As the days then weeks passed our due, date Beth was a calming presence. I had done yoga, acupuncture, meditation, everything for a natural birth. When it came time to finally ask the baby to come out I was induced. Beth was a great advocate for me and a huge help to my husband. She made sure we were hydrated, fed and comfortable. She gives great hand and feet massages. After 2.5 days of labor I had to have a C-section. She assured me that we had done all we could and it was time for baby's arrival. She was there in the operating room when they stitched me up and when they finally brought me my daughter. In the weeks after the birth Beth continued to work hard for our family. She took the placenta to be processed, recommended a lactation consultant who makes house calls and held the baby while I took a bath. I would absolutely hire Beth again and recommend her to all my expectant friends.

Beth served as our doula during the birth of our first child last winter. In searching for a doula,…read morewe wanted someone who made us feel comfortable and who would help us stay calm when things got hairy in the birthing room. We chose Beth after meeting with several candidates because we responded to her warmth, her openness, and her practical side; she was the only doula we met with who sent a follow up email after the interview. It may seem trivial, but her taking the time to follow up with us showed a great deal about her work ethic and commitment to working with us. We met with Beth a few times before the birth, and she shared her deep knowledge about birth and families with us in a way that was comprehensible and balanced. She didn't push an agenda on us that we weren't ready for, and she helped us create a birth plan that captured our intentions. When it came time for our daughter to be born, Beth was by our side the entire time. She brought music, massage, and a calm and knowledgable energy to the the birthing room. She handled the nursing staff with ease and stayed focused on our needs as a family. Although things, of course, did not go according to our plan, Beth helped us make sense of our options and ultimately guided us in creating a birth experience that was a close to the intention of what we wanted as possible, given the circumstances. After the birth, Beth visited us and helped us reflect on our experience. I can't imagine how we would have gotten through the stress of our daughter's birth without Beth's support. She fit in so perfectly with our family and just created ease in every possible way. I recommend her to anyone looking for a practical, smart and warm doula to support their birth experience.

I had a great pregnancy experience with 5M. L&D was a hit…read moreBut lactation was a complete miss-- The lactation consultant who wears a headpiece (can't remember her name) was EXTREMELY aggressive with nursing. I really couldn't get the hang of it and my partner and I could see how frustrated she was with me. Her tone was terrible and I would cry after she would leave the room and I would shudder when I heard that she was coming back into my room. Another nurse (Vicki?) was also extremely aggressive with nursing and when I came back for my discharge appointment, she ran into me right outside of 5M and told me that my baby will be "sick all the time...full of diseases and illnesses...coming back to the hospital all the time...won't make it to his first year" and other phrases that basically told me that my baby was going to pretty much die because I failed to nurse him. I was in so much shock that I couldn't even respond. gave birth in April, everything was fine in terms of quality in care until the two nurses started teaching me how to breastfeed my baby. The rest of the team were seriously fantastic and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!

My Husband and I delivered our baby here after a strike at UCSF forced us to find a new place to be…read moreinduced. The care was PHENOMENAL here. Everyone was so kind and professional, I feel lucky to have been able to deliver here. The staff has your best interest at heart. The birthing rooms are super nice and new with tubs and other modern birthing equipment. Plus they have volunteer doulas on staff that really help pass the time.

I often think about how Ellah's care set our family up for so much joy and ease and trust, for…read moreparenting, breastfeeding, and beyond. Ellah is a gem, and we loved working with her! Each step of the way, Ellah made us feel cared for and safe. We immediately felt comfortable with Ellah, and relied on her calm and trusting nature throughout my pregnancy. Ellah struck the perfect balance between giving us information about labor, birth, postpartum, and the many decisions that must be made, and trusting us to do what was best for us. We had routine prenatal checkups in which Ellah would check on my health, the health of the baby, offer relevant information to that stage of the pregnancy, and then offer time to explore what was happening emotionally, physically, and more, which went far beyond anything I experienced with a medical provider. As we neared the end of the pregnancy, around week 36, Ellah recommended that I get another ultrasound because she believed the baby was breech. She was right, and we did everything we could to turn the baby around which ended up with us choosing to go to the hospital for a manual (external) version. Ellah came with us and advocated for medical staff to keep trying, and to bring in more staff, until finally they were able to turn the baby head down! This made it possible for me to give birth vaginally, and at home. During labor and birth, Ellah was an incredible support, letting labor progress naturally while calmly and efficiently managing any complications which arose in order to ensure that the baby and I were safe and able to bond. Ellah continued to care for us as a family for 6 weeks after the birth, which gave us a chance to speak with her about all of postpartum and newborn questions, especially breastfeeding. Having her come to our home made a huge difference in my own recovery.

Sometimes I ask myself where would I be today without Ellah? Ellah was our midwife for the birth of…read moreour first (and currently only) baby. She was an incredible guide and mentor throughout our whole journey of becoming parents. She supported us on so many levels - as a medical professional who deeply knows her craft, as a listening ear to our fears and anxieties about what we were embarking on, and as a supportive presence encouraging us that we could manage it all. I found myself looking forward to my regular appointments with Ellah, knowing that I'd leave her office feeling reassured and refueled to continue to do the work of growing a baby. When it came to the birth, Ellah never doubted me. She allowed me the time and space to work through the labor as my body needed. The aftercare in our home from Ellah was critical to our start as a family and to my continued postpartum healing. Working with Ellah is a gift to any new mother or family. I couldn't recommend her enough.

I am a birth doula and have recommended Vincenza's in-home education services to many of my…read moreclients. Often it is difficult or just undesirable for couples to carve out time to attend weeks-long classes. Vincenza is an experienced birth doula, postpartum expert, certified educator, RN, and mom. She goes to private homes and custom prepares childbirth education classes, new baby information, infant cpr, and anything else birth and baby-related that the parents need to discuss and learn. Clients love her and this service!!

My wife and I hired Vincenza as a birth doula for the birth of our first child this spring…read more Vincenza is highly experienced and super knowledgeable. She did a great job during our prenatal meetings walking us through what to expect. Then when it came to the birth, she was incredibly helpful and took a lot of the stress out of the process. She explained what was going on (we delivered at UCSF and while the staff was excellent, they were busy), made sure I got something to eat and got some sleep, and generally being a calming presence. She was also completely non-judgmental and supportive when my wife chose to get an epidural and when she ended up having to have a c section.

Christine Jarc from PBS is the Doula of all Doulas...I cannot recommend her enough. When we first…read morestarted planning for our birth we didn't totally get what a doula could do for us and my husband, especially, was not convinced we needed a doula. Boy. was he wrong and were we glad we had one. Put it this way... its your body, but once you're in labor there is so much poking and prodding and a multitude of "things' to be checked you need someone to help navigate all of the decisions that need to be made. Trust me... I had a 30 hour labor and 4 hours of pushing, there were a lot of decisions to be made and I wasn't exactly coherent enough to understand what we were saying "yes" to but when push came to shove (literally) it was Christine I wanted, with my husband, of course, in the operating room with me. And when it was all over my husband went with the new baby, and it was Christine who stayed by my side during 2.5 hours of recovery. Call her ,you will be glad you did.

My husband and I lost our first child at full term due to an umbilical cord accident. It was more…read moredevastating and life-altering than I can put into words. We delivered her after 16 hours of hard labor, knowing there would be no happy ending, and knowing that we were robbed of all the beauty and innocence of pregnancy and childbirth now and in the future if we were to have more children. We got pregnant again quickly and while we were so grateful for the opportunity to continue to grow our family, we were scared to death and filled with a tremendous amount of mixed emotions, fears, and anxieties. We specifically considered a doula for our second child in order to acknowledge that our experience was so unique and as such we could perhaps benefit from as much additional emotional support as could be offered. I in particular was concerned that in Round 2, my husband and father, whom were both present from start to finish for the birth of my late daughter, could understandably have varied emotional reactions during the second childbirth experience and be torn between handling their own emotions and trying to be present and loyal to me. I didn't want them to have this potential conflict, so I felt a doula could serve as the buffer to allow all of us to know that my needs and baby's needs were indeed acknowledged and handled, without my husband or father having to carry the burden of this task being solely on their shoulders. Additionally, I tried to be proactive in acknowledging my own potential varied emotional responses in delivering another child within the same year and after such a traumatic experience, and I wanted to ensure that someone was present with a clearer mind to keep the baby's needs paramount above all else. I was committed to not underestimating my potential for completely freaking out, passing out, or running out of the delivery room mid-delivery on the way toward any sort of nervous breakdown. Needless to say, with such a unique set of factors, while a doula might be helpful, we knew that it would take a person with a very special skill set to not be scared off by our tear-inducing experience, fully acknowledge the reasons for the various levels of fear and anxiety we were experiencing, not minimize our sense of helplessness, and do all this within the context of also just doing his/her job of birth coaching, etc. Basically, we were clear this person needed to somehow GET IT so we could feel comfortable, taken care of, validated, and empowered to get through this all again without assuming the worst. We found Christine, and we found EXACTLY what we needed. She catered her process to our unique situation, so we knew we got individualized care and service. She was thorough, professional, patient, honest, knowledgeable, intuitive, and lovely. My husband and father and I made it through pregnancy and childbirth two more times, with Christine as our doula, and therefore our kids made it out as hoped and planned, because of her. Our late daughter, Donnalee, has two beautiful baby brothers, Mansour and Reza, and to this day we sincerely and without reservation acknowledge Christine for their existence. ~Heather, Proud Mother of 3 (Donnalee, born/died 1/19/05; Mansour, born 12/27/05; Reza, born 7/3/08)

I had a wonderful nurse-midwife taking care of me during my prenatal care at San Francisco General…read moreHospital. Her name is Mary May and I will never forget her. She always had a smile on her face and made me feel very comfortable. I always get anxious going to the hospital and during pregnancy with raging hormones when almost anything can trigger you to cry, I actually managed just fine :) Once again, all thanks to Mary!!!!! I will also never forget Vicky who was my nurse in the labor/delivery department. She is the best nurse ever! I had a tough delivery, and she was there to hold my hand and support me even hours after her shift was over (there were plenty of other nurses taking care of me). She even skipped her lunch for me. Now who would ever forget something like that? I had a great team of professionals taking care of me, so I would give 10 stars if it was an option!

It has been several years since the birth of my child and I now reflect, after time has passed, on…read moremy memories with Angelika ... Angelika was very demeaning to me as a woman. She was so rude and curt that I walked out on her during a visit, never to return. I trust my intuition and do not take kindly to bullying from anyone, especially someone who I am trusting with something so intimate as birth. My sense is that Angelica is most interested in making money as a midwife than in creating a warm and trusting environment for those she serves. After leaving Angelica, I hired a much more caring midwife, who was less expensive and a doctor to boot. If I had it to do again, I would hire a Doula and ask a few friends to assist my birth before going to a Marin General or UCSF to have a natural birth. Both hospitals are very accommodating to women who wish to birth naturally.

Angelika is the most dedicated midwife that I have ever met. My partner, family and I had absolute…read moreconfidence that we were in the best possible care with Angelika. Angelika has the strongest medical background and has been at the most births of any midwife I have known in the US because she trained and worked in Germany for many years. In German hospitals the midwives, not the doctors are the ones who are present for all births. Angelika also offered a free parenting class (by donation) too connect with other families in her care and to teach us mindfulness/ meditation. Her class was far superior to the parenting class we spent hundreds of dollars to take. Angelika offered great compassion and medical skill at my birth. Angelika guided me through the most intense part of labor by helping me tap into what I had learned in the mindfulness practice. The birth of my baby was one of the most empowering and blissful days of my life and labor was only six hours long! The icing on the cake is her excellent postpartum care which surpasses any other midwife service in the area. Even after a near perfect birth, emotional jags and worries about the baby surfaced for me and Angelika was always available be phone and came by to visit regularly. Angelika is a blessing in our lives and has encouraged me to be a kinder, calmer and stronger woman. A good friend is someone who accepts you for who you are but a friend closest to the heart is one who encourages you to be the best person you can be. Angelika is my midwife and teacher and now, also a friend close to my heart.