My wife and I had our third baby at home through Thrive in November, and again, I can do nothing…read morebut sing their praises. I had complete confidence that Thrive had our best interests at heart every moment my wife and son were in their care. As usual, they practiced informed consent, validation of experiences, and love to a degree that I have never seen or even dreamed of previously in health care settings. The highlight of this birth experience was (of course) the birth itself. This time we were graced with three of the midwives through good fortune. Again, immediately after birth, our newborn struggled to take his first breaths. We waited about 8 minutes for him to take that first breath, and yet, my wife, daughter, son and I were all calm and felt immensely supported in that moment by the three women in our presence who absolutely knew what their calling was and what their roles were in that moment. It is hard to comprehend how different that experience could have felt from a sterile, medical, environment of a hospital, and how different our newborn's first few minutes, hours, and days after birth could have been. Not to mention how the perception and feelings surrounding births could have been malformed for our young son and daughter. We are so immensely thankful to have this collective of women in Sonoma County who are such a breath of fresh air!

We had our baby at Thrive in July and it was the best experience! This was our first baby and we…read moreare so happy we decided to transfer our care from Kaiser to Thrive. The midwives are amazing; supportive, loving and really helpful. I had pregnancy insomnia and Tracy turned me onto a sleep tincture that she sells and it was like magic. I was finally able to sleep!!! The appointments were an hour long and the post partum appointments are at your home! We had trouble with breastfeeding and received so much support through text and having them come to our house. We cannot say enough good things about Thrive and Taya, Tracy, Morgan and Hannah.

Aly is a peaceful and strong force, exactly the energy you want by your side during child birth. As…read morea first time mom I was nervous, uneducated and unsure what was best for me and baby. Aly put me at ease and guided me through the entire journey from pregnancy, child birth and postpartum. It is such an intimate time and I felt completely comfortable and supported every step of the way. Aly was by our side from laboring at home to the hospital birth. I don't know what me and my husband would have done without her. Eternally grateful for her wisdom, dedication and advocacy. Thank you Aly!!

I can highly recommend Aly as both a delivery AND postpartum doula!…read more Two of my friends had worked with Aly. One had her as their postpartum night doula, and the other to help with delivery. So I didn't think twice about hiring her, based on their recommendations. Our whole experience with her from start to finish was wonderful. To prep us for delivery, Aly shared some great resources and sat with us patiently and calmly asking questions, educating us about options, and helping us figure out what we wanted (which was a natural as possible and very intentional birth experience, but in a hospital setting). Aly arrived at the perfect time, right as things were ramping up, and coached me beautifully through the end of my delivery. After a few sleepless nights, we decided to bring her in for nighttime help 2x/week and her support helped us get through those first few weeks feeling pretty good! She is also a total sweetheart, thoughtful, warm, and just a joy to be around. Thank you again Aly!

Krista is sensitive to our needs, informative on questions and extremely competent and loving in…read moreinteracting with our grandson. She has been an integral part of the team and I so appreciate her involvement!

I usually go get a nice relax massage twice a month and I prefer to go here, Krista is wonderful, I…read morefeel so relaxed after and less stressed, and my body feels like new again. Thank you for a great job highly recommended!

I knew I wanted to have a doula as a first time mom having a hospital birth to have extra support…read morefor my husband and I. The idea of having photos or videos was an added bonus and when I found Paige, I was so happy to see that she could do it all! Paige made us feel so comfortable and prepared from the start, and I was really confident going into my birth that I would have the support that I needed. I don't think it would've been possible to have the amazing birth experience that I did without her. She helped coach me through contractions, manage pain, and helped my mom and husband better support me. It really made all the difference. We also ended up going with a photo and video package which was such a great decision. Birth is a crazy experience and it's so nice having it documented, especially all our special first moments together. I highly recommend hiring Paige!

Paige was amazing to work with. I hired her for our family maternity shoot and newborn shoot. She…read moreis patient, calm, positive and has an amazing eye. I looked at dozens of other websites and photographers in the area, I feel that her editing and her whimsical style was perfect for what I was looking for. She came to the Santa Cruz area and met us along the coast line in the spot that we picked out. Although there were many moving parts, she was able to truly capture the moment and I am thrilled with our photos!! We look forward to the newborn shoot to come...

Doula Care Collective provides community for families. Whether you need birth support, postpartum…read morecare or go to one of their monthly educational gatherings you won't be disappointed. It takes a village! I highly recommend reaching out if you are looking for any of the above!

There truly aren't enough words to describe how incredible my postpartum experience was because of…read moreKavita. As a third-time mom, I knew we wanted night support, but I still felt a bit apprehensive and nervous...having someone else watch my baby while I was sleeping is daunting! However, from my very first conversation with her, I knew she was the perfect fit for our family. Kavita brought an immediate sense of peace, calm, and trust into our home. With a 4 and 2 year old to care for as well, her presence made such a huge difference. Because of the support she gave me (and the sleep I was actually able to get!), I felt like I could actually function and keep up with all three kids. She has such a gentle, intuitive way about her--she not only cared for our son with so much love and expertise, but also supported me in a way that made me feel truly seen and cared for. I'm endlessly grateful for the role she played in such a special time in our lives. If you're looking for a postpartum doula, look no further. I cannot recommend her enough--she's literally an angel!

Kavita is an incredible Doula. As a first time dad, I felt like Kavita had so much knowledge and…read moreexperience to give me. I had so much confidence in her care and attention for my son. I had many questions about best practices and products to use for the different stages of his development. My home felt peaceful with her calm and reassuring presence as she worked. Kavita is always looking for ways to improve her care and services that are unique to your child as an individual. I can't recommend her enough! Angel+life saver!

Jackie from Birth Realm is the worst. I tried to book a doula from her on several occasions and she…read morebooked the doula with other people out from under me both times without offering the professional courtesy of letting me know she wasn't holding the doula or that other people could book with her first or even that other people were interested. I had zero idea there was any sense of urgency whatsoever. I was pretty frustrated after the first time but gave it another shot given the good reviews. so then I was on a waiting list for several months and responded immediately to let her know I was interested but I had to wait till I was back in the country to chat with the doula. Again, nothing was said about other people waiting or that there was any urgency. Had I known there was some amount of urgency I would have scrambled to take a call during vacation in Japan. Anyway, I waited until after vacation. IMMEDIATELY after I chatted with the doula I sent Jackie an email to let her know I was interested and to please lock her in. But oh I guess that somehow the doula I just talked to was already booked and she no longer has any available. I have no idea why she even allowed that call to happen if the doula was already booked but she not only disrespected and wasted my time she clearly has no respect for the people who work for her as the doula's time was wasted too. At this point I'm glad it didn't work out as I have no desire to support a business who operates like this. Her prices are like 40-35% higher than everyone else's too but it clearly isn't merited. Pregnancy is already stressful enough, thanks Jackie for making this already hard time significantly worse.

Working with Birth Realm was incredible. We felt such immense support from Jackie and Sondra, and I…read morefelt at ease each night they came to care for our baby. We can't express enough gratitude for all their help!

Absolutely hire Fernanda if you can! We worked with her for 3 months after our daughter was born…read more Our daughter was born 2 months early and spent a few weeks in the NICU, so we were anxious when we brought her home. Fernanda was a life saver: We immediately felt at ease with her, and it was a huge relief to have someone we could trust caring for our baby overnight. We were actually able to get some sleep early on, which kept us sane. Our baby comfortably sleeps for a long stretch at night in her bassinet thanks to Fernanda. Fernanda also helped us get set up for longer term success with sleep. This included: - Advice on setting up the nursery before the baby was born so things were easy to grab. - Sleep conditioning. This included things like advice for our baby's day routine and advice on creating the right environment (room temperature, whether the room was dark enough, etc.). - Guidance on how to handle the baby on nights when we were on our own. - How to swaddle our baby. Our baby was a swaddle escape artist, and Fernanda showed us how to swaddle in a way that actually kept her arms in. She generally made our lives easier by with: - Washing pump parts and storing milk. - Reports in the morning on how our daughter did overnight. - Gear suggestions. The essentials list she provided before the baby arrived and when we asked for ideas were all on point. - General advice: recognizing when our baby was ready to go up a diaper size, identifying when she was ready for a faster flow nipple on her bottles, how to burp the baby and help the baby pass gas, and other things that take time to get a feel for as first time parents.

We feel incredibly lucky to have found Fernanda during those first few months with our daughter. As…read morefirst-time parents, we had endless questions, and Fernanda was such a reassuring source of knowledge and support. She guided us through everything--from how much to feed our baby, to understanding fussy phases, to answering all the little questions that every new parent worries about. One of the biggest gifts she gave us was sleep. Thanks to her guidance and support, our daughter was sleeping through the night by 12 weeks, which made such a positive difference for our whole family. Because Fernanda cared for our baby overnight, we were able to get proper rest ourselves and truly enjoy our time with our daughter during the day instead of constantly feeling exhausted. She also remained calm and dependable in unexpected situations. During a small earthquake one night, she stayed with our baby, keeping her safe and comforting her in the crib while I made my way to the room. That moment really showed us how trustworthy and composed she is. Fernanda is warm, knowledgeable, patient, and genuinely cares about the families she works with. She helped make what can be an overwhelming transition into parenthood feel so much smoother and more enjoyable. We are incredibly grateful for her support and would wholeheartedly recommend her to any family looking for an exceptional postpartum night nurse.