Samantha Perry

11/19/2016

We chose Stephanie as our doula for our first baby given her years of experience and a strong recommendation from close friends of ours.  I don't know how we would have gotten through natural childbirth without her!  She provided the exact kind of support that we needed (not only to me as the mother, but also to my husband).  In addition to providing moral and psychological support, her training as a masseuse equips her to provide physical support as well (which I really appreciated given the back pain I had during labor).  I highly recommend Stephanie!

Shannon Polly, MAPP

10/3/2016

Stephanie was a life saver during my two pregnancies.  She was open minded and didn't force a medicine free birth.  I found her massage therapy background very helpful as I was leading up to my pregnancies and had some injuries as well as on the day when I experienced a lot of anxiety.  Research shows that having another woman with you whne you give birth gives you a better birth experience.  I am living proof.  For a vaginal delivery and a section, she was immensely helpful in both instances.  I interviewed a number of people and she was by far the best.  The Reiki was also very helpful during our sessions.  I can't recommend her highly enough!

Maggie Adams

9/19/2016

Stephanie was my doula for both of my children - two completely different childbirth experiences. Through both pregnancies, Stephanie was a rock of compassion with helpful advice and fantastic prenatal massages. During labor she is a rock of support - emotionally and physically - and gives you her undivided attention and full presence to assist with the ups and downs of labor, whether it goes according to "plan" or not. Her postnatal visits are also a fun time to reconnect, relive childbirth, and have a sounding board. I can't recommend Stephanie highly enough!

Anne-Lise Wohlers

9/10/2016

My husband and I are so thankful to have had Stephanie for the preparation for and the birth of our first child. We met with her twice during pregnancy and she provided guidance and helpful suggestions of how we could best prepare for an unmedicated, natural labor and birth. I found that our prep meetings with Stephanie were more helpful than our 4-week natural childbirth class offered by GW Hospital in terms of helping us understand what to expect during labor and how we'd go through it together.

When I went into active labor, Stephanie was truly a godsend. I was thankful that she was an experienced masseuse since I was experiencing a lot of back labor. Having her massaging my back allowed me to focus on relaxing and let go of the pain I was feeling in my back. Beyond massage, I can't say enough how much having her there helped me to focus and breathe. Overall, I had a very positive and empowering birth experience and I attribute a lot of that to having Stephanie with us.

My husband also found it very helpful to work with Stephanie both during early labor (at home without her physically there) and at the hospital. Even though we had taken two birth classes and had done a lot of reading on labor and delivery, when contractions began and labor was progressing differently than how we'd anticipated, he was especially thankful to be able to seek guidance from Stephanie.

Finally, Stephanie is simply a lovely person to be around. If you're reading this and are considering hiring Stephanie, I strongly recommend that you just go ahead and do it. You will be so thankful.

Whitney Tome

8/18/2016

Stephanie Jones is simply wonderful. As a former ballerina, I know that a good masseuse is hard to come by and when they also come in the form of a calm, responsive, open-hearted, humorous doula, well who can say no! Stephanie was the doula for my second child - a challenging birth - but Stephanie brought her magical hands, caring demeanor and calm approach to the whole adventure.  Both the meetings before the birth and during labor/delivery, Stephanie was attentive to my needs and worked seamlessly with my husband throughout the process. I recommend Stephanie very highly!

Natalie Greenberg

8/17/2016

Stephanie was my doula for my daughter's birth in July 2014. We met with two doulas when deciding who to work with and both my partner and I felt really comfortable with Stephanie's syle and communication. It was important to me that she worked well with my parner since they would be my support system. Stephanie was easy to work with and we both enjoyed our two pre-birth meetings with her. I ended up being induced at 39 weeks and Stephanie was a helpful sounding board to make sure that we were empowered with asking the right questions to our midwives. During labor, Stephanie was extremely helpful and we had to work within the confines of the hospital room, rather than at home which was our preference. But she made the experience as comfortable as she could and was able to work with my partner and give him breaks. The two of them worked so well together which made my experience positive as they had a team like approach. The birth ultimately ended up as a c-section after several hours of laboring but we felt comfortable with the added support that Stephanie provided in making this decision. We've continued to keep in touch with Stephanie since the birth of our daughter and can see the love she has for her mamas and papas. Our experience with Stephanie was very positive and we felt that our first time experience was really enhanced by working with her.

Kelly Thelin

7/31/2016

Our 2 birth experiences with Stephanie exceeded our expectations, and my husband and I both continue to patronize her as a massage therapist. We also plan to use her for future births! Both babies were born at GW hospital, where she has an excellent relationship with their midwifery staff. The first birth did not go as hoped...ended up with prolonged labor, pitocin, epidural...all told it was 24 hours in the hospital preceeded by 2 weeks of prelabor during which Stephanie provided phone and text support. She was also a huge help to my husband, who needed breaks to sleep and eat throughout. I recall a moment when I was pushing in which I was shaking and tense and she placed her hand over my sternum. She was performing reiki, although I didn't realize it at the time, and I remember gradually calming and taking deeper breaths. It was a remarkable feeling!

Thankfully the second birth was much more routine and this time Stephanie's strengths really showed when she needed to encourage me to get work through the discomfort without pain meds (which is what I wanted to do). Fortunately I was able to make it through, and again her gentle reminders during the pushing phase were so valuable.

You will not regret using Stephanie as your doula!

Stephanie Sacks

7/25/2016

Stephanie was an exceptional doula! We hired her for the birth of our son in June 2015. She was incredibly knowledgeable, calm, reassuring and empowering about the labor process. She was sensitive and respectful of our preferences every step of the way. Prior to the labor, she met with my husband and I twice. She answered all of our questions and educated us about options that we were totally unaware of that ended up making the birth of our son very personalized. She was clear about her role and the roles of other professionals during labor (midwives, other hospital staff) and never practiced outside of her area of competence. I really respected that about her. She had excellent relationships with the midwives at Washington Hospital Center so navigating everything was seamless.

Although we were planning for Stephanie to come to our home during early labor, things progressed fairly quickly and she ended up meeting us at the hospital. She helped so much emotionally and provided physical comfort using numerous natural pain reduction techniques (aqua therapy, couterpressure etc). We absolutely loved having her support us during our son's birth. I am grateful to have been able to have an unmedicated vaginal birth and believe that was partially made possible by Stephanie's involvement. She also took beautiful pictures of our son's first minutes in the outside world. Following the birth of our son, she came to our home once again to check in and offer invaluable resources. I recommend her as a doula without reservation!!

Matilda Bode

7/25/2016

Hire this woman. You won’t be sorry.

Stephanie helped deliver both my children. (C-section/VBAC) Her knowledge and experience made me feel very comfortable asking for her advice as my labor progressed. She is as involved or hands-off as you and your partner want her to be. She is available to make suggestions about how to labor when you run out of ideas but able to allow for the privacy and intimacy that you want with your partner as you labor. She is also able to advocate for you without making enemies. She is very helpful in devising a birth plan that is what you want but also will keep your expectations realistic.

My first pregnancy ended in an emergency C-section after 14 hours of labor. As we moved through various stages of the progress and things began to get a little scary she was a very reassuring presence for my husband and for me.

I had a VBAC the second time after 50 hours of labor! Stephanie was there the whole time, helping to manage my pain and frustration with gentle guidance and message. Not only is Stephanie an amazing doula, but she is also an incredible message therapist and Reiki Practitioner which I found immensely helpful during my labor.

She is a kind, thoughtful and calming presence in the delivery room. Her support was so important to me that within days of my second positive pregnancy test I had her booked for my next delivery. I would recommend her to anyone in search of a doula.

Leigh Ann Caldwell

7/25/2016

Stephanie is incredible.

She delivered both of my children in an unmedicated hospital birth. One was in early 2013 and the second was the summer of 2015.

Stephanie is a calming, grounding precence in the delivery room. Her hands on work steeped in her knowledge as a masage therapist relieved so much during labor. Her intuition and counsel came at the perfect times.

She advocated on my behalf but is not aggressive or domineering. She's not judgmental either and completely respects the wishes of the mama. She also worked very well with my husband, keeping him informed and calm.

I loved her so much after my first brith that I had no thoughts abotu hiring another doula for my second. She's incredible.

I highly recommend Stephanie.