Working with Natasha was a licensing experience. She shepherded me into motherhood and held my hand…read morethrough prenatal, labor, birth, and the first 3 months of our daughters life so beautifully. Natasha is kind and compassionate, and has a wealth of knowledge about everything both and baby related. Not to mention she was recommended by my doctors and had successfully helped to deliver over 1,300 babies in her 20 year + career. Everyone at Sutter knew Natasha and was relieved to learn that she was in out birthing team. She was the perfect liaison between the hospital staff, doctors, my husband and I. If you're looking for a doula - look no further (trust me). She's the best there is.

If you are looking for someone to support you during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period…read moreyou definitely need to meet with Natasha. She was helpful and informative to first time parents, not only about the birthing process but also what may come unexpectedly during birth. The truthfulness and honesty Natasha provided helped prepare my husband and I for the reality of the birthing process. Not only was she an advocate for me during my birth but she also helped me have a healthy and successful birth. After my baby was born, Natasha was available for us 24/7 and answered all our questions immediately. I could have never have had such a wonderful birth experience without Natasha. I will absolutely be working with her again in the future.

Sunshine and her team are incredible at what they do, truly gifted. My partner and I are practical…read morepeople, I just have an irrational fear of hospitals and so since the day I got pregnant, we knew we were going to try for a homebirth. I looked at a few different options and ended up choosing to work with Sunshine as she came really well spoken for and we both immediately liked her. Sunshine is intuitive and gifted but also very practical and straightforward and oh so experienced. She is open to all possible outcomes and was careful to let us know that there are certain situations where we would have to go to the hospital. Which I really appreciated. The night of Lou's birth was a dream, and still brings me to tears. Sunshine and Cristián were supportive in all the ways we needed. Never thought it could be this beautiful

This post brings a major smile to my face and warms my heart…read more From the first moment my wife and I met Sunshine, we knew we were in the right place. An immediate sense of calm, love and empathy filled the room and our decision was made. Sunshine - you are simply amazing. Thank you for guiding us through this transformative journey which has resulted in our miracle named Jazmyn. Special shoutout to Christiane who also provided gracious wisdom and love throughout this journey. We love you both and thank God for connecting us. We will be seeing you both again

After having a medical scare in 2025 Kathy really helped me get back to normal. Even after my…read moredoctor told me I was going to be fine it was too late. My mind had dug instelf a deep hole. I was fighting depression, anxiety, and insomnia. As soon as I talked to her on the phone and made my first appointment I felt some relief. My kaiser insurance paid for other psychologist but I was not content with them so I paid out of pocket for Kathy. Thanks Kathy!

It's been a couple of months since my final appointment for my sleep counseling with Kathy. When I…read morefollow the steps I learned, which I do almost nightly, my window of sleep is shorter and the quality is so much better. The process really does work as long as you stick closely with it. Working with Kathy was always enjoyable, too. I enthusiastically recommend her if you're suffering from insomnia....or probably anything! She's a natural healer.

Love Kim, she was there as our postpartum doula the week after I gave birth to our son. From the…read moreget go, she was so knowledgable, always helpful, friendly, wonderful all around, a definite lifesaver when you're in survival mode. She was the first person we left our son alone with, and that takes a lot of trust and faith and guts, but leaving him with Kim was easy and seamless. Don't know if I could have survived the first few months without her. Wish we could keep Kim forever! We would recommend Kim to anyone needing a doula for postpartum like us, or anytime!

We had an amazing experience with Santa Cruz Family Doula Collective. This was our second birth,…read morebut our first while living in Santa Cruz away from family. About half way through my pregnancy we decided that it would be very helpful to have support during labor so that all the pressure didn't fall on my husband. We interviewed with four doulas in town, including Megan and Kim from the doula collective. Megan and Kim were our top two choices and we decided on Kim. From the very beginning we felt really comfortable with Kim. She is very knowledgeable and easy going. She is very approachable. She had recently had her second baby and had a lot of tips on transitioning from one to two kids. We had an two prenatal visits during which we discussed my first pregnancy and delivery, expectations and concerns about this one, and preparing for after birth. She was always very responsive to texts and emails with questions and concerns. In the weeks before delivery, I contacted her a lot as I tried to figure out if I was in labor. She was very patient with my calls and texts, and she also responded quickly. When I was actually in labor, she met us at the hospital shortly after we arrived. She did a good job of answering questions and keeping us calm. She gave us good tips to keep labor going. Once it started getting tough she was great at helping my husband with keeping me comfortable and suggesting different positions. During delivery she did a great job taking pictures. After delivery she stayed for a while to help with breastfeeding then left us to have some family time. She came back the next day to check in. She did our postnatal visit about a week after delivery to check in, and she gave us a print out of her notes from the birth with times that things happened. She also came to our house to help with breastfeeding on a separate occasion when I was having trouble. We are so happy that we chose to have a doula. And we were very happy to have chosen Santa Cruz doula collective.

Madrone - Monitrice package…read more We chose Madrone as our midwife because from the first time we met, they had a calming, safe presence that made us feel completely at ease with our upcoming birth. We chose the monitrice package because I wanted the reassurance a midwife could provide me with, and it was the absolute best decision. Having a Doula and midwife was the best of both worlds, we felt supported emotionally and had the hands on care from a midwife. This helped us realize our goals of laboring at home as long as possible, and having an unmedicated, natural birth at the hospital. I had my partner, mother and Madrone in the birth room, and Madrone balanced everyone out perfectly. They helped ensure each person had a place and space in my birth, all while taking photos to document it which I will treasure for the rest of time. Madrone was not only there for us during our birth, but before and after in such an impactful way. They helped us prepare before mentally and physically, helping us put together our birth plan and leading us through meditative breathing exercises. Madrone was also there after our birth, with several in person sessions as well as available for support along the way as we got settled in at home. It was so reassuring to have someone so knowledgable to ask questions as things came up - breastfeeding, diaper rash, eye boogers - Madrone had helpful information and answers to everything we asked them. Why we loved working with Madrone: - They are knowledgable and incredibly good at being a Doula and Midwife - They have a warmth and calming presence that always made us feel at ease and safe - They have a very balanced and practical approach to preparing, birth, and the postpartum. - They are respected by every birth worker I came in to contact with. Everyone loves Madrone! - They are humorous and full of so much bright energy, and that helped me through some of the most painful moments during birth. - They allowed me to confidently labor at home as long as possible, monitoring baby's heart rate while my contractions intensified - they cut out my stitches at three weeks when they were no longer serving me. Saving me an unnecessary visit to the doctor. Questions I asked Madrone that they were able to support and guide me through: - What are the pros/cons of the hep b shot? - I think my water just broke... does this look like amniotic fluid (photo of captured fluid in a jar sent... lol)? - How do we communicate to our family that we need them to get the Tdap and flue shots if they want to be around the baby? - Why does our baby have goop on his eyes? - I think my milk supply is too strong for baby to drink, what should I do? - I think my stitches fell out, what should I do? - Is the level of prolapse normal at 3 weeks? - How much should I be resting?

STOP. THIS IS IT. You can stop researching and interviewing doulas now because Mireille is THE…read moreBEST! We started looking for a doula at 6 weeks pregnant so we definitely had the time and energy to look for a doula and we are SO HAPPY we found Mireille. After she came to our home to chat with us, we knew she was the one! We found Mireille through our birthing class at Harmony. she had worked with our midwives, Lin and Maria (shoutout to BAM!) before and was familiar with El Camino Los Gatos so we knew she was perfect! Mireille helped us with our birth plan, eased any fears, and supported us to have a natural childbirth! We couldn't have done it without her. She was there from when we first called her all the way until baby was born, never leaving us :) The best part was she really supported my partner in being part of the birthing process. Will definitely come back to Mireille for our next birth :)

After having our first son in 2016, I promised myself that our next baby would be born at home. In…read morea space that I created, with no one around except for my husband and my tribe of midwives empowering me and showering me with admiration for the bad ass that I am! And my vision came to fruition with SCMW. I was truly able to be present in my body and embrace every minute of my birthing celebration. There were plenty of times where I felt that I couldn't do it and they knew just what to say, or not to say to give me the encouragement to keep pushing--LITERALLY lol! Im already talking about our next baby and how I cannot wait and our sons only two months old! Cannot say thank you enough to SCMW! With our first son I was the typical hospital story of water breaking and then being pumped full of pitocin. It. Was. HORRIBLE!! I diligently searched for a midwife team who would suggest alternative options if it came down to that. Emily, Stephanie and Sharon were like my three guardian angels. Shooting me a txt every now and then asking me about my back pain and suggesting I go see their acupuncturist who is absolutely the best, and severely reduced my back pain. I ran outta prenatals and they had some in the office. I was having some issues with yeast and they had something for that. Since my pregnancy was through pandemic sometimes I used my appointments just to talk and cry and they were totally ok with that. By the end of the 9 months it felt like they were my aunts and sisters. It was such a different feeling and experience than at the hospital, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! We love the SC midwives!

Sharon, Emily, Stephanie and their team gave me and my partner amazing support through our first…read morepregnancy and home birth. I am so grateful to them We first met and decided to work with them last August. I had a miscarriage during the CZU Complex fires. Emily and Samaya (Arrow Acupuncture) supported me through the miscarriage with massage, acupuncture & herbs and I got pregnant again right away in September. My partner and I loved our visits with the midwives. They always started by asking what questions we had. We felt totally comfortable asking them anything that came to mind from logistics to spiritual and emotional questions. We really wanted my partner to see the ultrasound and they recommended an awesome tech in Los Gatos (Scan Babies) where he and my mom & dad got to see our little guy with me. I gave birth at home and the birth was amazing! I felt as prepared as I could have been for my first birth. We had the support of a doula (Gretchen Retka) for the early stages of labor, so Emily and the rest of the team arrived closer to the end of labor. After the birth the care was wonderful. I had a tear that Sharon stitched right on my bed. Our son was born with Tachypnea and the midwives recommended we transfer to the NICU at Dominican. As sad as we were to leave the house and go to the hospital, the transfer was very efficient and professional. The midwives gave us great support through the hospital stay and once we returned home. I love that they host gatherings for their clients at the park so we can get to know each other and get to see the babies grow. I wholeheartedly recommend this amazing team!

I was referred by my acupuncturist and lactation at Sutter for another opinion regarding my painful…read morebreastfeeding experience and daughters latch. Felt so comfortable with Lisa and am glad she was in my wheelhouse of help. Would definitely recommend her!

Lisa has been my go-to resource for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. With my third child, I…read morestruggled tremendously with breastfeeding. I was injured from the very first feed. Lisa came to my house, she assessed both me and my baby. She determined that my baby was simply clamping and not pulling with her tongue. With some very light physical therapy, helping to exercise my baby's tongue, she finally learned how to pull milk out on her own. Until she figured it out, Lisa treated my injuries, helped me figure out the best pump schedule to keep removing milk and treated me with acupuncture. She is the best of the best and I am so happy to be able to send new mothers to her.

Emily's womb massages were absolutely key to my conception, pregnancy and post partum. I began…read moreseeing her about 6 months before conceiving. This at-least-monthly support resourced my nervous system, heart, mind and spirit! I always left feeling soooo spacious, grounded and deliciously in my body. She is such a gem of a healer and knowledge-keeper! Her training and skill set as a midwife and bodyworker, along with her soothing and intuitive presence is just the best combo! Highly highly recommend Emily!

Emily has the kindest heart and the brightest mind. No matter how weird my questions or absurd my…read morethoughts throughout my pregnancies, Emily always guided me and answered my questions and concerns with compassion and understanding. Emily is very attentive, thorough, and conscientious. She made me feel incredibly safe and well cared for. She helped me to find my voice and feel empowered through my 2 very different births. They each cracked me open and let the light in in such different ways, and I couldn't possibly imagine either scenario without Emily. She held my hand through my two greatest fears: first, becoming a mother and then a very unplanned hospital birth. There isn't a single other soul on this planet that I'd trust to play the role that she did in each of my births. My second birth was a bit traumatic, as it was an emergency cesarean. Emily played the most crucial role in calling the hospital and getting me checked in so they were ready for me when I arrived. My baby needed to be delivered quickly, and she saved us so much time. I also cannot go without mentioning that Emily gives the most magical massages I have ever received. It is absolutely evident that her intuition guides her in both her massage and midwifery practices. If you are looking for empathetic, compassionate, and intuitive midwifery care, look no further. I cannot possibly recommend her services enough!