We started working with Julia early on in our pregnancy and it was the best choice we could have taken. From the very beginning she was very helpful, cordial, and supportive. As a first time mom I had a thousand questions ranging from healthy eating to pain management (i have chronic lower back pain) and she helped deal with my anxiety/ worries. Her availability and response time made me feel comfortable and safe, I couldn't have asked for a better person to help us with our journey. Hopefully we are able to have her as our doula again for our next pregnancy! Highly recommend her!! My husband and I appreciate you very much!! Thank you Julia! read more

Julia has been a treasured part of our village as we welcome our second baby. She supported us through prenatal, labor, delivery, and postpartum services, as well as with beautiful film photography. Julia has been nurturing, intuitive and calming throughout. She also has been adaptable, helping us through what each day and even hour brings. Some highlights... During the prenatal period, she helped me process my first birth, and create the space for a new narrative and experience for this one. She also helped us develop strategies for our transition to a family with two kids, suggesting ways to help us spend time together and bond, as well as rest. During labor and delivery, she astutely helped us make the transition from home to hospital--right in time! Julia helped me labor at home as long as possible before I delivered within a few minutes of arriving at the hospital. Right after delivery she helped me get comfortable and start resting and restoring energy. The postpartum fourth trimester period has been especially precious. Julia's healing touch and care has been invaluable for both baby and me. She's also been a trusted sounding board for lactation, sleep, baby carrier, play, bathing, and sleep, amongst so much else. Her incredible cooking has kept the whole family nourished, and she's helped keep the home organized, clean, and calm. Julia's artistic eye and skill as a photographer has also helped us capture this sweet time. Her photos are a keepsake we cherish. Thank you for everything, Julia! With your help, we now have a foundation to establish a new rhythm and routine as a family. read more

Julia was an integral part of our pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey. We were instantly drawn to Julia's calming demeanor and overall approach. We learned so much from Julia throughout the pregnancy, as this was our first baby. She answered all of our questions, big and small, and educated us on everything we needed to know to feel confident going into labor and taking care of our newborn. I have a vivid memory of her teaching us how to put on the solly wrap on a fox stuffed animal! She was such a solid support to me and my husband through labor and delivery. She made sure I was comfortable (I didn't have to say much!) and just knew how to support me and coach my husband on different pressure points. She was an advocate in the hospital room, making the environment serene and welcoming. I appreciated the postpartum help and reflections, as well as the incredible sitz baths she brewed up. She is also a skilled cook, keeping us nourished so we could focus on our baby girl. We couldn't have gotten through it all without Julia and would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a doula! read more

I worked with Julia starting pretty early in my pregnancy journey and into my postpartum journey. She was very passionate about the work she does and able to support myself, my partner, and baby. Her structure allowed my partner to be very involved in the learning process about pregnancy and birth and it made such an impact on our experience. She provided all the tools and support I needed to have a self-guided intuitive birth. I highly recommend! read more

Julia was an absolutely amazing doula to work with. Even though this was our second baby, we decided to work with Julia upon hearing about the support she had provided a dear friend of ours. Julia did not disappoint - from our first interview, what struck me about Julia was how well she really listened to our preferences, and how she was able to tailor the experience perfectly for us. Not only was she very knowledgeable about pregnancy, L&D and the newborn stage, she brought about a calming energy that immediately put me at ease and made me feel like I was in safe hands. I highly recommend Julia! read more

Julia is a phenomenal doula. I hired her for my second birth and the quality of service she provided was miles beyond my doula service for my first birth. I chose her after interviewing 4 other doulas. She was the only one who offered solutions and ideas for how to improve my experience. It showed just how knowledgable she is on the birthing process, the hospital system, and breast feeding. She offered a full education on how to have a healthy pregnancy, the birthing process, and many postpartum topics. I learned so much even though it was my second pregnancy. Most importantly, she walked me through every issue and decision that would arise during a hospital birth. She explained what my options were and why some people opt for one or the other. She guided me through the decision making process in advance so I didn't have to make any decisions while in or just after labor. After my birth I hired Julia for additional services. She did nighttime doula care, so we could maximize sleep, and day care, so we could catch up on sleep we lost at night. She cooked wonderful food and cared for my newborn. Aside from all that, she has a calm, centered, warm vibe that is truly comforting to be around. read more

Urban Flora Doula Care - Nursing newborn baby - Doulas Near Me

Julia was absolutely amazing. We had a lot of personal issues in our lives leading up to giving birth during COVID and delayed searching for a Doula until only about 5 weeks prior to our birth but when we interviewed Julia, she was completely understanding and supportive. We got to work right away with education and preference planning and she was willing to adjust her typical approach to efficiently get us ready. And thank goodness for that! Our baby was two weeks early and came after my water broke before labor, which doesn't happen that often. Julia responded right away and provided us all the most relevant information for our particular circumstances. The absolute best thing for us, and exactly what we were hoping for with hiring a Doula, was to have someone cut through the mountains of information and possible choices and scenarios and help us make the best decisions for US! Sadly Julia wasn't able to be with us herself during the birth for personal reasons but was AMAZING with bringing in two back up Doulas. We met them both on zoom the day before going into labor and were beyond happy with Marie who ended up supporting us through labor and delivery. Marie was wonderful in her own right, but beyond that, I could feel the support from Julia as she had informed Marie about my preferences, my personality, and clearly gave wonderful coaching on what I might like. After the birth, Julia came for a few visits and was soooo wonderful. In the days immediately after birth while we were still waiting on my in-laws to arrive, it was wonderful to have Julia come and give us a break, support in breast feeding, and even draw me a bath! She was also available and very responsive via text when I had questions come up. I cannot properly express how happy we were to have found Julia. She is sweet and calm, knowledgable and a clear communicator, supportive and gentle in her guidance. I cannot recommend her more highly! read more

When selecting a doula we wanted someone that was going to be an excellent addition to our birth team, Julia Larson was exactly that and so much more. Her calm demeanor and patience helped us gently flow through our 22 hours of labor. During the labor her attention to details kept everything rolling smoothly without hiccups even under stressful circumstances. Without her expertise we would not have been prepared physically or mentally to go through the journey of being first time parents. We absolutely loved her photography package!! Julia is truly so thoughtful, kind, genuine and exceptionally knowledgeable. We are so glad we found her in our doula search! read more

Julia is everything we wanted in a doula...and more! She is organized, thoughtful, caring and intuitive. Though our plan for a natural unmedicated birth turned into a scheduled c-section, we found our time with her prior and after birth so comforting and helpful. She offered us separate services including more postpartum credit since she was unable to attend our birth due to Covid and restrictions in the OR. I was impressed with how often she wanted to meet prior to the birth to prepare us for newborn care, labor coping strategies, breastfeeding, and birth preference planning. She was very professional and felt the urgency to prepare us for the changes and challenges of our birth story. We will cherish our memories with her and the photos she took for our newborn shoot. read more

My wife and I give our strongest unreserved recommendation to anyone considering working with Julia as their Birth Doula. - Julia is an expert at her craft, she educated and prepped us with hands-on exercises and practical knowledge throughout pre- and postpartum. - Julia worked with our wishes to tailor a personalized birthing plan. She helped advocate for us at the hospital, and had the experience and flexibility to help us change course when our birth experience didn't go exactly as hoped. - Julia is 100% dependable and always followed through on her commitments, was always on time to our consultations, fully accommodated our schedule, and could be reached any time of day. - Julia has a gentle and reassuring presence, which helped anchor us through the most difficult parts of labor and delivery. - Julia is great at practical, hands-on soothing and coping techniques. She led my wife through multiple positions during labor while providing long massages during downtime, which greatly improved comfort and facilitated faster delivery. - Julia is highly professional and attentive -- despite getting little sleep herself after the first night of labor, I was impressed by how fully attentive and present at all times she was for my wife during the grueling second day of labor. - Julia doesn't just focus on the technical aspects of birth, but the emotional and experiential side as well. Postpartum, Julia wrote us a commemorative multi-page story detailing our birth journey, including many details and personal moments we would have forgotten ourselves, had she not painstakingly taken notes throughout our birth journey. We were delighted and deeply touched by this closing gesture. My wife and I would work with Julia again in a heartbeat for our second child, whenever that may be :) read more

Julia joined our family when our son was 1 month old and cared for him until he was almost 7 months. Julia is an exceptional doula. She has a natural way of providing loving and thoughtful support, great intuition, and is simply excellent at what she does. Julia was so easy to have in our home and her authentic love for our son put us at ease. She's an amazing cook, incredibly organized, always prompt, takes initiative and is very reliable. We are so grateful for our time with her and we miss her presence in our home so much. Any family would be so lucky to have her! read more

Long story short, Julia is absolutely amazing!!! Hiring Julia as my doula was the best decision I made in regards to achieving the best possible outcome for the birth of my son. I decided to hire a doula later in my pregnancy. I interviewed several doulas during this process and knew from the moment we had our first zoom, that she would be perfect. She is very knowledgeable, assertive, calm, comforting, and supportive to name a few of her amazing qualities. The information I gained from her was priceless. We worked together so I could have a birth plan decided upon that was tailored to my preferences.  Through all of the prenatal visits she was amazing and really helped my husband by answering any questions he had and alleviating most of his concerns. I believe she helped him almost as much me. Her presence during labor greatly reduced the stress and responsibilities that my husband would have had to do by himself had she not been there. My labor/birth of my son was LONG to say the least but Julia was supportive and seemed to know what I needed during every step of the way. Due to covid restrictions only she and my husband were allowed. I believe that without her, there is no way I would have been able to have the natural birth I wanted. She was imperative in supporting me and my husband to make it happen. Following the birth of my healthy baby boy, the postpartum visits were also something I can not thank her enough for. The small details she provided during these visits are things I can not express enough gratitude for as it meant so much to me during that time. I am telling any friends of mine that are or plan to be pregnant to hire a doula and to hire Julia! read more

Julia supported us with incredible postpartum care this year after the birth of our daughter. Our birth was a traumatic one, we had recently moved to the East Bay with our weeks old daughter, and all in a pandemic - a combination that had left us so overwhelmed. I reached out to Julia for an introductory zoom call, and we just loved her warm and thoughtful demeanor. She supported us for the next 8 weeks and helped us with anything and everything. She made sure I had always had something to eat, prepped (delicious!) meals, organized and tidied the new home, and lovingly cared for our baby. She was also incredibly supportive of my breastfeeding journey, helping to troubleshoot feeding challenges, helping with supplementation while I pumped to build my supply, and even sterilizing and getting me set up and comfortable on my new pump. My physical recovery was rough, and my mobility was limited in the beginning. She helped me get the baby up and down our driveway so we could take our first walk, showed me how to baby wear in my carrier, and even cared for the baby while we cleared out our old apartment as we finished our move. If she sounds like the most useful person alive, that's because it's true, she is! But what I loved the most about Julia besides everything she *did* was *how* she did it. Julia approached every postpartum challenge and concern I shared with her from a place of complete non-judgement, love, understanding, and empowerment. She truly helped me feel cared for and feel like I could enjoy my baby. One day she brought a guided meditation for me, to help me process some of my birth trauma. She was there to answer anxious texts when I didn't know why my daughter wasn't feeding. When I asked questions about newborn care that didn't have a definitive answer, she shared thoughtful resources with me, helping me to feel confident and holistically informed in my choices. Her calm way was also really wonderful to see and I learned a lot from how she cared for my daughter. I spend a lot more time with my daughter singing, walking out amongst the trees, and just playing and trying new things together because of her. Julia was my new little family's champion, mentally, emotionally and physically. I don't know how to say thanks for all that, as it is something that will stay with me for a lifetime. I'm so glad we met her, and I feel really just so lucky to have had her join our family in that tender time, leaving such a lasting mark on our story. read more

Julia is a magic person. She is observant, patient and kind. She not only listens she also understands and in that way she earned my complete trust immediately. She taught my partner and me everything we needed to know to navigate our induction to go smoothly and according to our wishes. Everything happened so quickly Julia was not able to be there for any of it but her voice was in my head and my partner's head regardless. We kept it calm and felt good about our decisions because of the care and prep we received from her. 100% completely recommend Julia! She's a gem of a human! read more

Asking Julia to be our doula was one of the best decisions we made in the biggest transition of our lives into parenthood. Upon our first meet and greet, we clicked with Julia immediately because of her calm and no-frills demeanor. We knew Julia was right fit for us right away. In our prenatal visits, Julia educated us on evidence based pregnancy and childbirth, empowered us to add meditation and affirmation to our toolkit, and taught us techniques to help baby get into the optimal position for birth. When I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, Julia was so encouraging, reassuring, and guided me towards a more nutritional diet that helped keep my glucose levels in range. Unfortunately, due to Covid variant restrictions, our hospital did not allow more than 1 support person in the delivery room which meant Julia couldn't be there during my delivery. But that didn't stop Julia from showing her dedication to our birth. When the big day came, we labored at home with Julia the entire night before heading to the hospital. These few hours ended up being the most crucial, best hours of our whole birth story. Julia did everything to help me progress and cope through the increasingly intense surges. She came to us in the middle of the night bringing fresh juices, broth, and fruits to help keep my energy up through exhaustion and nausea. She applied counter pressure during surges to make the labor sensations manageable and gave me massages in between to help me relax. She encouraged me to get in the shower when the surges stopped me at my tracks and taught me different positions to help get my sweet baby down. The environment she helped create at home was calming and loving. By the time I got to the hospital, I had already made so much progress (6cm dilation and nearly fully effaced) that the nurse and OB said it's not very common for first time moms! All the work we did at home set up for an overall easy and positive birth in the end. If I were to get pregnant for a second time, I will be so lucky to work with Julia again . And I wholeheartedly recommend Julia to any expecting parents no matter what kind of birth you envision. Thank you Julia for such a wonderful pregnancy and birthing experience! read more

Thank you for your amazing prep for the birth of Natalie and your AMAZING help with the night of going to the hospital and then helping us later during the delivery, it's super appreciated. You went above and beyond of what was expected and we are very grateful for you helping us bring Natalie into this world. Thank you! Vlado, Pavlinka & Natalie read more

Our experience with Julia was amazing! I recently gave birth to my first baby (a boy!) and I feel like I wouldn't have had such a beautiful birth experience without her support and education leading up to and during my delivery. I originally had the goal of having an all natural birth, so having a great doula as part of my birth team was important to me. We started meeting with Julia when I was 21 weeks. My husband and I love to have all the facts and Julia was incredibly knowledgable and helpful with preparing us during this journey! At 39 weeks my doctor recommended I have an induction due to some symptoms I was having. This was obviously unexpected and ended up being a long process (5 days!!). The entire time I was at the hospital Julia was supportive and flexible! She came to visit us at the hospital during our stay and made sure we had everything we needed. Julia knew how important a peaceful environment is to me so when she came to the hospital the first day she decorated the room with string lights, electric candles, and brought essential oils to make the hospital room feel more like home and a space that I could relax in. When I had questions about procedures, if she wasn't with us at the time, she was just a phone call away and made sure that I knew all my options and that I was comfortable with all of my decisions. Because of the induction a 100% natural birth was no longer on the table, I had to shift my mindset, and I feel like Julia was 100% supportive of my choices along the way. When my labor finally intensified Julia was ready to go and arrived at the hospital quickly! During labor and delivery Julia was amazing at helping me cope and move my labor along (no matter how stubborn I was in pain). Even through unexpected turns I was able to have a beautiful and memorable birthing experience with Julia's help and support. We are excited to continue working with Julia in the next phase of our journey with her postpartum services! read more

My partner and I were so happy to have had Julia with us during my labor (and as a great resource during pregnancy as well). She put us at ease and remained calm through it all. She provided three comphrensive prenatal sessions in which we went over all things birth related and had the chance to talk about anything that was on our minds. I went into labor before 40 weeks and Julia was there on a moments notice to guide me through labor. I was able to have a beautiful, intervention-less birth in part because of Julia's support. She will make your labor a lot smoother and will support you however you need support at that time. We highly recommend Julia if you are looking for support before, during and after your birth. read more

We worked with Julia for the birth of our second son and I couldn't recommend her more. For the birth of our first son we took a childbirth class at Loving Arms (highly recommend) and were incredibly prepared with the knowledge we felt we needed for the birth. For the second - as is the theme with this kid vs the first - we hadn't prepared much. When we started working with Julia in the final month, she gave us a crash course in childbirth and quickly brought us back up to speed. She was really open to diving in deeper or skipping things, tailoring the education part of our work with her to our needs. Our education refreshed, my husband and I felt empowered with the knowledge and tools we needed to cultivate the birth we were hoping for. Further, we felt extra confident and prepared knowing Julia would be on our team through the birth. During the birth she was a huge support. I really wanted my husband to continue to be my primary birth partner, but wanted the extra support from Julia depending on what came up, how things were going, and how long things went on. Julia was the perfect mix of advocate, body worker, and friend, dipping in and fading into the background as needed but always there how we needed her. She was incredibly attentive, caring, and met us exactly where we wanted her. I highly recommend working with Julia! read more