My wife and I highly recommend Heather and Desiree for doula services! Heather was with us for the…read morefull labor process and was incredibly calm, supportive, and knowledgeable. This is our third baby and the first two births we did not have a doula, and what a huge difference she made! So grateful she was a part of our birth team. From my perspective (the partner), it was so great having an extra support person for my wife. They knew my wife's birth preferences, helped recommend different comfort measures, and helped communicate effectively with the hospital staff. Lastly, Heather/Desiree were very helpful during pregnancy and were always available for advice. They did a great job helping form our birth plan, and were especially helpful towards the end of pregnancy as we had many NST's and other events that we needed their consult and reassurance, which they were always quick to provide.

My experience with Heather for placenta encapsulations was absolutely amazing. I am still amazed by…read morehow kindly & clearly she communicated, how punctual, and how fast she was for pick up, even though I found her last minute. Thank you soo much! I most definitely recommend!

The items from Shawna are wonderful! Communication could have been better through the process, but…read morethings did get remedied after some back and forth.

Absolutely amazing service! They came and picked up the placenta from me and within a week I had my…read morecapsules and they even added a cute little heart! Highly recommend them!

As a new parent, the postpartum period is challenging enough without having to deal with the stress…read moreand disappointment of a difficult agency. While Stork and Sprout does have some excellent doulas on its team who provided great support and coaching, my experience with the agency's leadership was overwhelmingly negative. We had a particularly difficult time with Brittany. She demonstrated a pattern of manipulation, gaslighting, and lying, both to us and, from what I understand, to her own employees. Our contract promised consistent coverage, but the scheduling was erratic and communication was poor. We were left to wonder many nights if we would have support, and for several weeks, we only received 1 to 2 days of support instead of the 6 to 7 we paid for. When we requested a refund for the services not provided, Brittany refused and even fought our bank with out-of-context emails and more lies. She claims she "offered a refund" but is even today refusing to honor it as she says in the response. The lack of professionalism extended to some of the staff as well; one sick doula was sent to our home and intentionally caused our newborn physical pain. Brittany treated us like we were the difficult ones and responded with empathy-less chatGPT emails to manage the situation. We were also led to believe we would have one primary doula with a backup, but over the course of our service, we had seven different doulas come to our home. This complete lack of continuity made an already difficult period even more stressful. Based on my experience, I would advise new parents to skip Stork and Sprout and work directly with an independent doula. You will not only save the 30-40% extra fee the agency charges for scheduling, but you will also avoid the toxic and difficult management. This experience is unacceptable for a service that costs tens of thousands of dollars and demands payment upfront months ahead of providing the service. We were not able to switch easily due to the inflexible Carrot reimbursement process through the employer.

I truly couldn't have accomplished my VBAC goals without the incredible support of the Stork and…read moreSprout birth doula team. From the very first moment I needed them through labor and all the way until I was settled into the maternity floor with my new little boy, they were there every step of the way. Their calm presence, deep knowledge, encouragement, and advocacy made all the difference during such an intense and meaningful experience. I felt supported, empowered, and never alone. I am beyond grateful for their care and dedication and would wholeheartedly recommend Stork and Sprout to anyone preparing for birth--especially those pursuing a VBAC.

tomi is amazing!!! she has great customer service and the ability to make sure she is delivering…read morequality care....i delivered my bundle of joy and she went to work on my placenta and the results are priceless......i received my capsules in a cute little jar along with a beautiful art piece that she had mad for me and a bunch of other goodies...tomi has once again did her thanggg!!!!! and for that i want to say thank you..ill do it again

I was recommended to Tomi by my families acupuncturist and I am so glad I found her! Tomi was so…read moreeasy to communicate with throughout the whole process. All of the emails she sent were so informative and made the process smooth and so easy to understand. Although I wasn't able to meet Tomi because I am in the North Bay, my mother was able to drop off and pick up for me and said that Tomi was amazing and so nice! I was so nervous going into my second pregnancy because I had such horrible postpartum with my first, but was made aware that encapsulating my placenta could provide multiple benefits. I am absolutely shocked at how well I felt and continue to feel taking the capsules. No baby blues, my mood has boosted, more energy, and have even noticed an increase in breast milk. My package included my capsules and a complimentary picture of my placenta, my babies cord keepsake, and a blood print of my placenta and I couldn't be happier. Tomi, thank you so much!

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.

I'm so happy I got my placenta encapsulated. I 100% recommend and would 100% recommend South Bay…read morePlacentia medicine. Thank you so much Marsha!

I am so happy to have found Marsha. She made the whole process very easy, clear, and professional…read more On the day of my birth she worked with my doula to make sure the placenta was picked up on time. I was so out of it, but kept worrying about getting my placenta to Marsha! My doula and husband thought it was hilarious how many times I kept mentioning it. Marsha delivered the capsules really quickly right to my front door. I am so glad I chose to take it. I know it's anecdotal, but my postpartum period and breastfeeding have been smooth. I have the tincture for the future as well. I highly recommend Marsha for this service.

Shannon is everything we could have imagined for a doula--she is welcoming, warm, thoughtful, and…read morehas a lovely sense of humor! You get the whole package (and then some!) with her. As part of her doula services, she comes to your home for 3 prenatal visits, where you get the opportunity to try out practical exercises (from pregnancy massage techniques to pain alleviating exercises, talk through how your pregnancy is going individualizing our care and even review a manual binder that she provides for you. And of course, the main event, true labor and giving birth! Shannon has a way of just blending into your family during such an intense moment and your family's needs, stepping up and stepping down seamlessly, but always right there when we needed her. During labor/birth at the hospital, Shannon's belief and faith in me to surrender and brave through a natural birth never wavered. She really did it *all*--preparing bone broth for me to sip on in the midst of a contraction, acting as head cheerleader, setting the oxytocin mood in our delivery room with string lights, aromatherapy, and music. Oh, and not to mention, the hip squeezes and back rubs she provides in the most intense moments of labor. My husband and I had never been so impressed with a service before! Oh, I'm not done...she even did labor/birth photos for us, and a newborn session in our home two weeks postpartum. *cries happy tears* Thanks to Shannon, I experienced the most FUN and empowering birth. 12/10 recommend investing in her services!

For anyone seeking a birth doula, I wholeheartedly recommend Shannon. In our search, she stood out…read moreduring our initial meeting by not only trying to understand what we cared about but being able to reflect that understanding back at us with even more clarity. It was clear to us that Shannon's approach is personalized, recognizing that not every path to parenthood is the same. Having attended over 400 births, Shannon also brought a wealth of experience with her that shone through in her calming presence, well-balanced guidance, and the articulate birth plan she helped us craft. Her ability to address our worries without ever being dismissive, provide valuable advice at the right moment, and offer a diverse array of resources made our journey as first-time parents all the more enjoyable and helped us be prepared.

TL;DR: Last-minute cancellations, fell asleep on duty watching our newborn, refused hands-on baby…read morecare, offered useless virtual support, prepaid for 13 nights, and refused refund. We're disputing the charges with our credit card company. Do not recommend. We hired Czarina for evening doula services shortly after welcoming our newborn, hoping for support and rest. Unfortunately, the experience caused us significantly more stress than doing it alone. The most alarming issue was that she repeatedly fell asleep snoring loudly while on duty watching our newborn. This happened on multiple visits. We could see and hear her sleeping, which meant that instead of resting, we stayed awake monitoring her to ensure our baby was safe. When we addressed this directly, her response was shocking: she claimed she was doing it to "train us to be better parents" and get us used to sleeping while the baby sleeps. As exhausted first-time parents, this felt unreassuring and completely unsafe. We hired a night doula to reduce anxiety, not to monitor the caregiver. Beyond the safety issues, basic doula duties were neglected: * Refusal of Care: She was unwilling to help wash the baby and unable to provide clear, hands-on guidance for newborn care. * Household Help: She provided little to no assistance with basic household tasks. * Ineffective Virtual Support: She attempted to substitute some support with "virtual" sessions, which offered zero value to us as parents who needed physical, hands-on help with a newborn during overnight hours. Her reliability was poor, with multiple last-minute cancellations and rescheduling. Most importantly, we prepaid for 13 nights of service. When we terminated the arrangement due to the safety concerns and poor service, she refused to provide a refund for the unused nights. We were forced to escalate this to our credit card company to try and recoup our funds. Czarina was pleasant to speak with initially, but her actions put our peace of mind at risk and violated our trust. If you are looking for reliable, hands-on postpartum care that allows you to rest, I strongly recommend looking elsewhere. Ask specific questions about staying awake during night shifts, hands-on newborn care (including bathing), refund policies, and what "virtual support" entails before hiring.

As others have reported we had a horrific experience with Czarina, and most unfortunately, we felt…read moretaken advantage of at a time when we were quite vulnerable right after we had our first child, and were struggling. If you don't take anything from this review, I ask you to please schedule a trial run as others have reported, Czarina will ask you to prepay for multiple days before having a chance to experience with her. Context: We hired Czarina as a night doula for 6 nights. Czarina showed up 5 minutes late (and also left 5 minutes early). When she arrived at our home, she made it pretty clear she was unhappy with our setup (we had our baby sleeping in our room, and our milk/fridge on our main level, requiring going up and down stairs for a bottle). She made it pretty obvious she was unhappy with the stairs which is like the one thing I needed her to do -- fetch stuff from downstairs. Second we had asked Czarina to wake my wife at very specific times to enable specific feedings. We were struggling with breast feeding, struggling to get feeding right at all and wanted to stick to a specific schedule (as recommended by our dr). Czarina failed to wake us up, claiming that she missed our alarm (turns out Czarina feel asleep as a night doula). Finally when my wife woke up and Czarina did bring the infant in, we had asked that she change her as our infant didn't like being wet during a feeding at all. Despite asking multiple times, the baby was brought in wet which prolonged each feeding. Overall Czarina was just not a fit for us, and despite having multiple attempts to receive a refund, Czarina has refused to provide any refunds. I beg you to read this review but also the others and reach out if you have questions. Being a new parent is incredibly stressful and I'd hate for you to have even more stress.

Torrey is wonderful!…read more We called her an hour after our second baby was born as we (once again) forgot to arrange for placenta encapsulation service ahead of time. Torrey was prompt, flexible, super communicative and supportive. Highly recommend!

I definitely recommend Torrey for prenatal yoga and placenta encapsulation. She is appropriately…read moreattentive in yoga. Not overbearing as some teachers can be, yet quick to suggest alternatives given your comfort level. For placenta encapsulation, we had texted her about 24 hours in advance since my active labor was 28 hours long and when it was time she came to the hospital in perfect time (I think the hospital required the placenta to be gone by like two hours after birth or something). Then she was able to drop of the capsules the very next day! So far they have worked great. My mood is definitely positive and I haven't even experienced baby blues (at least not yet) and we are day 7.

Talia I worked with Talia through out my pregnancy, birth…read moreand postpartum periods, and I am so grateful for her support. She truly works from the heart, which is something you don't come across often. Talia consistently went above and beyond her role, always making sure I felt comfortable, informed and supported. Her presence during such an important time felt more like having a sister by my side than just professional. I would absolutely recommend Talia to anyone looking for a caring, dedicated and compassionate

Charley supported our family during the postpartum period after the birth of our twin babies. She…read morewas very attentive to postpartum recovery and shared helpful advice, including tips for caring for my C-section scar. She also offered to prepare homemade lactation treats. Most importantly, we always felt that our babies were safe and well cared for when Charlie was with us, which gave us peace of mind. We appreciated the support she provided to our family during such an intense and important time.