Kind Words

When I share my experience about my pregnancy and delivery, I say it was BEAUTIFUL! People look at me like I'm crazy because most of the time you hear how tough or how awful or how hard it was for others. Now don't get me wrong, it was tough for me going through a natural birth, but it's what I wanted and being able to have that be my reality was a beautiful experience.

Working with Elizabeth was amazing! She is so knowledgeable, caring, open and understanding. It was easy to talk to her about all the unfamiliar things that were happening and she helped me be so courageous. Having Elizabeth be present at the hospital was a great decision. When me and my family were trying to get our thoughts together, she was on top of it and had already told the nurses what I wanted and needed.

Thank you for helping make my experience of bringing my baby into the world BEAUTIFUL.

I want to thank the Philly Doula Coop for helping me find an excellent doula to support me leading up to and during the birth of my first child. The entire process from the intake call with Selma to the delivery of my daughter with virtual support from my doula, Kim, was excellent.

Selma was so kind during my intake call and took the time to get to know me and my needs for doula support. As a result, she matched me with a doula who was a perfect fit. The two meetings that Kim had with us leading up to delivery helped my husband and I have important conversations about how we would work together to care for a newborn. They also helped me identify and express the priorities I had for my birth experience and prepare for that.

When it came to the day of my daughter's birth, Kim was there by phone to keep me in the zone during labor and helped us navigate the process as things came up. Especially with hospitals limiting the number of support people who can come in with patients because of COVID-19, it was so wonderful to have someone with experience and knowledge of labor and delivery on the phone to support.

Without question, having a doula was one of the best investments we made and I would recommend it to anyone who is considering it.

I was so glad for Dawn to arrive. She sprang into action by directing my partner on what to do, and by talking me through contractions and doing the heavy work of pressing on my back and holding my feet, and helping me vocalize productively. Another invaluable aspect was her communicating with the nurses. Dawn and I would talk about how things were progressing, and when I felt I couldn't hold out for much longer, she suggested we do a cervical check to get more information, and she took care of communicating that to the staff (I was 7cm!).

There was also a moment when I was using the bathroom and the monitor slipped, freaking out the nurses who rushed in. Dawn mediated the encounter, gently asking me to come out, but not worrying me. She also understood the noises I was making and understood that I was starting to push with contractions (which she discussed with me to verify). I don't think the nurses believed I was progressing as fast as I was, and Dawn had the experience and confidence to speak up for me.

Overall my labor was about 11 hours and I was very happy with the way everything turned out. I was so glad to have Dawn by my side.