Victoria Reed Michonski Doula Profile

My experience with Victoria was great.  I had a wonderful delivery, thanks to her expertise and guidance, and I highly recommned her.  

My story is that I was  expecting my first baby and the goal was to have a natural delivery with out an epidural.   I also did not want to be induced.  It turned out that my baby was a week overdue and my doctor wanted to schedule an induction.  I discussed this with Victoria and she recommended a few different things, including acupuncture.  I was apprehensive about it but after trying everything posssible to induce  labor (including a special eggplant parmesan recipe)  -- I booked an appointment for accupuncture.  It worked.  The next day I went into labor and Victoria met me a the hospital.   Everything went well because she was there helping and guiding me along the way.  She is truly incredible!  My husband said that she was invaluable.   We  were so grateful, and we would use her again if some day we decide to have  a second child.

We knew from the first time we met Victoria that she was a jewel.  My husband and I felt very comfortable talking with her and confident with her knowledge and experience.  She offered extensive breastfeeding support prior to the birth as well as lots of information about various topics of interest and concern. 

We planned on having a natural child birth at home (with our first child) and felt that having a doula would be one way we could help accomplish this goal.  In fact, we underestimated how essential having a doula would be!  Victoria played a key role in helping me stay focused on our goals and provided incredible emotional and physical support.   My husband and I are extremely grateful and we will never forget how wonderful Victoria was.

We hope that she will still be practicing when it is time for Kasandra to have a little brother or sister!

Victoria played an important role in making the birth of our first child a truly positive and joyous experience. From our first meeting, I was impressed by Victoria's willingness to listen to my ideas and preferences and offer her support and insights. Victoria shared her knowledge and experience in a non-judgmental fashion and demonstrated a willingness to participate in births in a variety of settings. As my pregnancy and needs of our baby changed, Victoria remained in touch and offered great references for information and treatment (i.e. wonderful chiropractor, websites, books). When she arrived at the hospital, Victoria was like a breath of fresh air as she provided a great massage and good conversation while we waited. She was also extremely helpful in practicing then the actual pushing process. Victoria was able to gently offer suggestions and anticipate my needs, from offering to get me beverages to taking the first photos of our new family. We were greatful for Victoria's  support throughout my pregnancy and birth and highly reccomend her services as a doula.  

 I knew from my first meeting with Victoria that she was the right person to help us with the birth of our first child.  She has a naturally calm, comforting and supportive nature, which were wonderful assets during the birthing process.  Leading up to the birth, Victoria proved her knowledge regarding techniques and procedures and was able to answer all of my questions and put my mind at ease.  I felt much more confident and relaxed going into labor knowing that Victoria was supporting us and would be at our side.  During the actual labor, Victoria was able to suggest different techniques, with fabulous results.  She was so calm and supportive throughout that I couldn't imagine going through labor without her.  Even my mother, who was fortunate to be present at the birth, comments to this day about how wonderful Victoria was and what a difference she made!  We will be forever grateful for her support during the birth of our daughter and would highly recommend her.

Victoria was so calm and confident the first time I spoke to her on the phone that I knew she would be the right person to help me through labor.  She was knowledgeable about labor, delivery, how to manage pain, nutrition - I felt confident that she knew what to expect and what her part was in the labor process.  This in turn made me feel confident about my decision to go through labor and delivery without pain medication. She was by my side for the last half of my labor (from 6pm to 7am!!) doing whatever it took to help manage the pain and keep me calm, offering her own suggestions at just the right time and responding quickly and effortlessly to what I needed from her, never once flustered or amazed by whatever I said or did that I didn't even want my husband to witness! My labor might have gone on longer had she not come to the rescue with a technique for getting past an anterior lip.  The nurses were no help after telling me what the hold-up was but Victoria put me into a position using the Yoga ball that picked up the speed and fixed the problem!  I attribute my success to go through with a med-free birth almost entirely to her care; I can't recommend her enough.

My husband and I didn't consider using a doula until 2 weeks before my due date, and we feel unbelievably fortunate to have been matched up with Victoria.  As first time parents, my husband and I were very nervous.  In our initial meeting, Victoria spent a considerable amount of time with us answering all of our questions and making us feel very comfortable.  My daughter arrived a week early in very atypical first-child fashion, as in fast and furious.  Victoria showed up with no time to waste and immediately took control of what could have been a very nerve-wracking situation.  Fully dilated and effaced, I was convinced we were going to have our baby on the bedroom floor; but Victoria calmed us both down, reminded us where our focus needed to be, helped us get to the hospital through full-on active labor, coached us (hands-on!) through a completely successful natural birth, communicated and advocated for us with the nurses and doctors, and more.  Looking back, my husband and I could not have asked for anything more towards having the birth experience that we wanted, and we credit Victoria completely!  Above and beyond it all, we really like Victoria as a person and were very happy to be able to share the birth of our baby girl with her.  We would recommend her to anyone, and already have!