Amy Tirrell Machado Doula Profile

Amy is amazing! We used her with our first pregnancy. She met with us several times before our baby was born to discuss our birth plans and we immediately loved her. Very warm and a wealth of knowlege!  She was a tremendous help and encouragement during the birth. Great at knowing ways to help alleviate pain. She as "hands on" as you need or want her to be and will be right there by your side every step of the way. She is also excellent in speaking on your behalf to nurses and the dr.'s.  One of my most precious treasures is the birth timeline of my daughter, her birth story and the pictures Amy put on a cd for us.  I am so impressed with all she knows about pregnancy, birthing, nursing, cloth diapering, baby wearing and the list goes on and on... After the birth of our second baby, I experienced a lot of problems with thrush, yeast, ductal yeast, relactating, and  trying to nurse my son again after 4 months of pumping and feeding him through a bottle. She has had a lot of personal exprerience in many of these areas and I am eternally indebted to her for all the help and support she was to me while I was going thru all of this. She was ALWAYS there for me to call or email and came over anytime I needed her. She's the BEST and you would never regret using her! Thank you so much, Amy!

We used Amy with the birth of our first child, and were so happy with her, and the services she provided.  We met with her several times before the delivery to discuss a birth plan, pain management, and the birth process in general.  She was so knowledgable, but also really helped us decide what we wanted...  At the hospital, she was very helpful in letting the staff know what I wanted and did not want, which was great, especially since I wasn't up to doing that.  I had a long labor (almost 18 hours), and Amy was with us the whole time.  She helped my husband coach me, and offered help with pain management.  I really don't think that I would have been able to deliver naturally if she had not been there encouraging me.  After our beautiful baby was born, Amy was so helpful with breastfeeding.  I called her multiple times with all sorts of questions, and she is always available and willing to answer my questions (about anything too -- cloth diapering, home schooling, vaccinations, etc).

Probably the thing that was the most special about having Amy there was the birth timeline and pictures that she took.  My husband was so focused on me, that he wouldn't have been able to do these things.  Amy created a detailed journal of my labor and delivery and gave it to us, as well as pictures of the whole process.  We treasure those!  We would highly reccommend Amy as a doula!

My husband and I HIGHLY recommend Amy! As first time parents, she was exactly what we were looking for in a birth doula. She met with us during our pregnancy to discuss the process of labor/delivery, our wants/needs, our "ideal birth", and helped us create an extensive birth plan. At 40 weeks, our midwife thought the baby may be breech and Amy met us at the hospital for an ultrasound and possibly inversion. Thank goodness no inversion was needed, but Amy talked us through the experience and eased our emotions. At 41 weeks, I finally went into labor at 4:00 am and Amy was on the other end of the phone talking us through early labor - I might also add that she was 20-something weeks pregnant with her 5th child at the time! She met us at the birthing center at 8:30 and assisted my husband in my pain management with massage, encouragement, and attending to my needs. Amy was a God-send and I can't imagine our next birth without her at our side. She visited us at home a week later and brought the most precious gift ever - a timeline of our daughter's birthday! It is a wonderful addition to her birth records. We now think of Amy as part of our family - that's just how much she has impacted our lives. ;)