christine vermeersch Doula Profile

Words can't express how fortunate I am to have had Christine as my Doula. This being my 1st pregnancy, I wanted to find a discerning person to support me & look out for my best interest through this very personal experience. Christine was just this person & much more. She met with my husband & I twice toward the end of my pregnancy. She patiently answered all of our questions & helped me w/ my birth plan.  Christine was also readily available over the phone whenever I had a question/concern. She was able to answer all my questions & provide great referrals.  She has a wealth of contacts & was more than happy to point me in the right direction.  When my big day came, Christine was by my side taking care of me. I was able to take advantage of her “bag of tricks” like her TENS unit & massage balls, to name a few. My labor was very long.  With my husband, Christine tirelessly comforted me by helping me get into different birthing positions, massaged me through my contractions, used aromatherapy & gave me lots of encouragements. My husband & I decided to do Cord Blood Banking & Placenta Encapsulation; I didn't have to worry about a thing as Christine ensured everything was taken care of. After delivery, Christine was invaluable in my initial weeks of being a new mom. She visited me while I was still hospitalized.  I remember having major breastfeeding issues & despite it being near Christmas, Christine happily volunteered to come to my house to help me. I’ll never forget that postpartum visit. Not only were her hugs comforting, but also her help was the turning point in my breastfeeding journey.  I find Christine to be confident, very knowledgeable, attentive, dependable, genuinely caring, dedicated, & in a word: AMAZING! I am so thankful & will not hesitate to entrust her again in the future. Thank you Christine for being who you are & what you do!

Christine was a lifesaver for us. Before giving birth she visited my house and we spoke about so many issues. She gave me books that empowered me and helped me feel confident that I could trust my body and give birth naturally.   When she came over while I was in labor she helped me find comfortable positions during my contractions. I was having "back labor" so she put her TENS unit on my back. This worked wonders and allowed me to get through these very tough contractions. When we arrived at the hospital she respectfully told the staff my wishes. Although my husband and I had taken Bradley classes the last thing I wanted during my contractions was anything suggested during that class. Christine understood that and she was able to provide a soothing and relaxing voice and very gentle touches, which helped me dilate from 3 to 8 cm in less than two hours. I had the natural instinct to give birth standing up, which my care providers weren't prepared for.  Without her, things would've gone badly because instead of assisting me in pushing standing up, my nurses were scambling to get a birthing stool for me, even when it was obvious the baby was coming. Christine was also helpful after the baby was born. She helped me establish breastfeeding and also helped keep family away while my husband and I enjoyed precious time with our newborn. After giving birth she visited and talked with me about my problems and gave good advice and books that were invaluable resources. I can honestly say that my natural drug free birth was made possible by Christine.  I will definitely hire her if I get pregnant again.

Christine was a great help during my pregnancy and labor.  She is soft-spoken, kind, but firm, which was exactly what I needed.  She was a support during late pregnancy, helping me stay calm and focused.  During labor, she was equally helpful, at my side throughout the entire (long) labor.  She interacted with the hospital staff very well, and was able to negotiate with them successfully in our desire to use a squatting bar.  The staff was not used to it, and were hesitant, but Christine managed it very gracefully.  After the delivery, she followed up several times, and I still consider her a resource for questions I may have.  She is very warm, and enhanced the labor experience for both me and my husband.  I highly recommend Christine, and I hope she is available if/when I am pregnant again.  

Christine  was an invaluable resource during the later weeks of my pregnancy.  She met with my husband and I twice in the last couple of months and was always available by phone or email.  She listened with interest to all of our questions and concerns and always had practical advice at the ready.  I particularly appreciated her focus on more natural approaches to dealing with pregnancy and labor-related issues.  She has many connections and we made use of some of the contacts that she suggested including one for Placenta Encapsulation and another for Lactation Consultation.  Christine is also experienced in massage therapy and aromatherapy, both of which I looked forward to using as resources during labor.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, my labor was so fast that we didn't really get to utilize most of the great tools she had provided but her presence was of great comfort to myself and my husband.  She helped to set the tone for a relaxed, calm atmosphere as we mostly labored at home.  Once at the hospital, she made sure the staff had a clear understanding of my birth plan and again, helped to create a very supportive environment.  She made two additional visits, one the next day in the hospital and another at our home a week later, to check on us and the baby and to address any new questions or concerns we might have had.  Overall, Christine helped to make this pregnancy and birth a positive and wonderful experience and my husband and I are truly grateful for that.

I highly recommend working with Christine Vermeersch as a doula. I enjoyed every moment of the process with her: getting to know her during pregnancy, having her presence during labor and birth, and her postpartum visits. Christine is very capable, super objective, extremely kind, caring and intuitive. She is an excellent communicator. She worked with me on a birth plan, and I had no doubt that she would stand behind my wishes 100%. During labor, Christine taught my husband about counter pressure techniques, which was so very helpful to me. She was right by me all the time, a gentle, calm, assured voice and hand throughout. My older daughter told me after our baby boy was born that she wants Christine to be her doula when she has a baby one day. I can't think of a better endorsement!

I would highly recommend Christine.  I was immediately comfortable having her in my home.  She urged me to rest as much as possible and let her help out.  She would offer to do things before I would even think to ask her!  She is a wealth of knowledge and experience both in part from her being a mom as well as by being a Doula.  She listens and anything I asked of her, she did.  She understood that my 2 week old son did not like to be swaddled, so she did not try to swaddle him.  For anything I asked her on for advice, she immediately understood my concern, and hearing her experience made me very comfortable knowing I was doing everything right!  She even emailed me after a visit to check in to see how my son was doing and check on his diaper rash and offered more advice of things to try.  My son was very comfortable with her and once, when I went to take a shower, I saw her singing to him, and holding him and walking him around and I knew we had made the right choice.  I will definitely use her again for my future baby if I have another!

Christine is an extremely compassionate, open-minded and intuitive doula. As a mother of 6, she draws from her own birthing experiences as well as modern methods, and her knowledge of today's birthing trends and procedures is quire impressive

She is very attentive and strives to carry out her client's wishes to a 'T.' She is also a potent advocate and made sure the hospital carried out its responsibilities according to my birth plan, but was also flexible enough to carry out my wishes when they happened to deviate from my birth plan.

Christine was tirelessly by my side throughout my long labor, and I don't know what I would have done without her soothing attentiveness and pleasant, knowledgeable manner. She arrived to the hospital immediately, even though it was on short notice and happened to be in the middle of the night and in bad weather.

In short, this doula is a must-have and a treasure, and I would enthusiastically recommed her to every expectant mother. My childbirthing experience was immeasurably better for having her by my side. I cannot say enough positive things about this wonderfully dedicated, skilled, kindhearted and capable human being.

My husband and I had Christine join us in the labor room with the birth of our first child. She is wonderful. Very passionate, motivated and great at what she does. Without her help I would not have been able to deliver our 8 lb 14 oz baby girl without epidural. The hospital staff seemed confident in Christine to help us through everything without intervention and followed my birth plan perfectly. No IV, was able to eat and drink etc. She was very helpful in the labor room. She has many techniques that helped and knew just what I should do next to help with the pain. She was very calm and confident about what needs to be done. She also gave updates to our waiting family so that my husband could stay with me. We definitely recommend her and plan on using her next time.

My name is Melissa and my husband and I opted to have Christine become our doula. During our first meeting she talked to me about what she was aspiring to become and her experience having six children of her own. I was looking for a strong, kind woman to help me stay calm and focused during my labor. Just during that first meeting while talking to her I felt relaxed and noticed my breathing getting heavy while listening to her voice.Thirty seven weeks into pregnancy I was informed that our baby was in a breech position. Two weeks later all 3 of us attended a ECV in hopes to turn her around & to ensure a vaginal delivery.  Now everyone said to me, including the resident attending the procedure, how bad this was going to hurt. With My husband stroking my hair and Christine calmy talking to me in a low voice while the doctors quickly attempted to turn her twice, I felt no pain. Sadly we left with baby still in breech position.My doctor scheduled my for a CS on April second but on Friday March 26th I went into real labor with contractions right on top of each other. I was again beat to the hospital by Christine. An hour in a half later my new family emerged from the surgery room and was met by eager Christine who helped my baby latch right on and I have been nursing like a pro since.Christine was an excellent extra support the last few weeks of pregnancy and during my stay at the hospital. She never judged me or discouraged me from any decisions I had made. She helped me to say the right thing to the doctors just before my CS to ensure that they closed me back up securley for a furture VBAC.Even though she knew there was a real chance she would not get credited towards becoming a doula from attending our birth any longer due to our breech baby and the CS, she still kept in contact with me, came to the hospital, answered my calls at school, and was trully selfless and responsive to my needs.