Joy MacTavish Doula Profile

We met Joy, and she came to our house for a "get to know you" session. We hit it off right away, and my partner and I immediately felt comfortable with her. She seemed mellow, freindly, and most importantly, excited to help us. She was available by phone any time that I needed a question answered, or if I needed to voice concern about the birth. She made it clear that she was on call for us, and I greatly appreciated that.

It came time to give birth to our son, and our labor was fast. Joy was extremely attentive, yet, soft and unobtrusive. She waited to see a sign from me and reacted swiftly. She helped to keep my partner calm as we waited for the midwives to arrive, all while I held back the urge to push. When our son arrived, she was a master with the camera, snapping photos and video that I was completely unaware of. Imagine my surprise, when I went back to veiw the films. She helped us empty our birth pool, a would-be daunting task for a newly postpartum mother, and her awestruck partner. She stayed until she was sure that all of our ducks were in a row, before leaving us with a reminder to call her at any time. 

The birth of our daughter, was even faster than that of our son. Again, Joy was there in a flash, offering her support in any way that we needed. She stayed with us for a while afterwards, reminding us to eat, fixing us food, helping me to the bed, the couch, the bathroom. She helped us with breastfeeding questions, and was always at our beck and call. She was the ultimate overseer for us on both of those days, enabling us to simply enjoy our new babies. I would highly recomend Joy to any of my pregnant freinds, and if we have another baby in the future, we will surely use her as our doula again.

Joy came to help us soon after our first son was born. Being a couple of expats living in the US, we don't have family here, and she was such a welcome relief when I was feeling the most exhausted. She was always on time, flexible and extremely caring to our son. I felt very comfortable with her and so did my son. Only with her we managed to learn how to swadlle properly, something that helped us immensely afterwards :-)
Most of all, her calm demeanor helped me put things in pesrpective and stop worrying so much for no reason! I'm very grateful for what she did for my family.

Joy is fabulous! 
A friend recommended her and I am very grateful. Joy came to help us 16 months ago when our daughter was born, via c-section.She was very professional and gathered a ton of information on our likes and dislikes and needs. I felt totally comfortable leaving Isabella with her. Isabella had severe acid reflux, so she had to eat small amounts every hour to hour and a half. She had special excercises to do, because she couldn't tolerate tummy time. Joy handled all this easily. She has a calm demeanor, which comes in handy for an exhausted mom and frantic new born. We asked her to come back again, three months ago when our son was born. She came from 11pm to 7am so my husband and I could get some much needed sleep. It was great. We would wake up and the baby would be asleep, the laundry and dishes would be done and the toys were all picked up. She was like a fairy godmother. Joy also came during the day and watched both the children while I slept. She easily bonded with my toddler and used Dr. Karp's 5 Ss technique to soothe my infant. In addition, she kept notes on what happened with both children so when I got up, I got a full report. I really appreciated knowing what they had done and how they had faired while I slept.  I highly recommend her to both new parents and old pros.