Tonya Gervacio Doula Profile

Tonya was amazing!  I would not have been able to have such a wonderful birth experience without her help.  It was important for me to have a natural birth and her support and active participation made it possible... she knew exactly how and when to rub my lower back, offer me ice chips and water, fanning and had countless suggestions for positional changes.  She made me feel empowered from the very first phone consult, to the prenatal visit, to the actual birth and postpartum time.  My husband was deployed in Afghanistan during the birth, and Tonya was generous enough to donate her services through Operation Special Delivery... I will always be grateful to them and especially to her for being such a supportive part of this special time, and for ensuring that I wouldn't have to deliver alone.

We were so thankful to have Tonya with us at the birth of our third child.  We have had a doula at each of our children's births, but Tonya set herself apart in her gentle, unassuming presence and her great wisdom.  She is a great source of knowledge and pointed us to lots of useful information in the prenatal period.  She knew when to stand back and let labor take its course and when to step in and assist.  She affirmed my husband in his role rather than stepping into it. She was able to observe my labor and know 1) the position of the baby (asynclitic head) 2) what to do to help his head rotate 3) when to leave for the hospital (much later than I  would have thought, but I was SO thankful to be at home for most of my labor, it made such a difference). 4) how to encourage me in moments of doubt and fear.   Having had 3 babies, I can say that the way she shepherded me into a place of calm and confidence about this labor is an experience I will carry with me throughout my life.  

I also have to say that she takes incredible photos, and has continued to be an amazing support to me even now, 5 weeks after the birth of my son.  My older children love her, too.  When she came for my postpartum visit she showered my family with dinner and "big sibling" gifts, and confirmed my fear that my newborn baby was sick.  I shudder to think how long I might have waited before taking him to the ER if she hadn't calmly suggested that we go right away.  As it was he never got terribly sick, but I have her to thank for that!  She helped us understand what might happen and checked on us every day until we were "through the woods."  

We will be recommending Tonya to everyone interested in hiring a doula! 

Our experience with Tonya was truly wonderful.  She is a very kind, patient, intuitive person.  During my labor in the hospital she knew what I needed and helped me acheive the natural labor and delivery I was hoping for.  I am so happy we chose Tonya as our Doula.

 When my husband and I first met with Tonya we got a very good vibe from her. It was obvious that she was a professional but was also friendly and relatable with a good sense of humor. She has tons of experience and knows what she's doing which made our decision to add her to our birth team an easy one. My labor was a long, unmedicated 19 hours and her knowledge and calm presence were key in getting me through it all. She knows just what to say and do to give you strength, encouragement  and most importantly to keep things moving forward! She worked hard to make sure my labor and delivery were just as I wanted as much as possible. 

There were complications immediately after I gave birth and my son had to be taken to the hospital (from the Birth Center) where he was admitted and stayed for two weeks. I was also admitted and stayed overnight. Tonya was right by our sides and stayed with us at the hospital until late in the evening making sure we were informed, supported, had our things, that our family knew how to find us etc. In the days and weeks after she touched base with us often with genuine compassion and concern which was very comforting in and extremely difficult time. We're overjoyed to say that everything is fine now, our baby is happy, healthy and home! We've been able to borrow books and get info and references from Tonya to help with breastfeeding and everything else newborn which has been very helpful. We're so greatful for Tonya and consider her a part of our family. The families that get to work with her are so very lucky! Thank you Tonya!

We had a wonderful experience with Tonya as our doula. Prior to labor, she was always available for questions. She provided us with great tips for positions to help position the baby optimally. She was available through my entire labor. She gave suggestions to help get my contractions going. She even went for a walk with me at 3:00 AM. She was always right there when my husband needed a break and allowed him to be my main support person when that is what we wanted. She stayed with us after the delivery until we felt comfortable for her to leave. We realized that it would be useful to have a removable shower head and she ran to the store to pick one up for us! She checked in routinely via calls and texts in the days after delivery. I highly recommend her to anyone looking for a doula. She was gentle, caring, and fun. We truly appreciated her expertise during our home birth. 

I was very particular about chosing a birth doula for the birth of my second child.  I had a wonderful experience with my first doula, so the bar was set very high and Tonya exceeded my hopes!  My goal was an unmedicated VBAC hospital birth and Tonya was the perfect doula to help me with this goal.  Beyond that, she understood what my real fears and concerns were in approaching the birth,  she took the time to know me and my family, and that made her work with us so personal and perfect.  I got the delivery I wanted and my husband and I couldn't have done it without Tonya's support and guidance.  As a bonus, Tonya takes beautiful pictures!  I strongly recommend Tonya to anyone needing a birth doula.

Where to begin?! My goal for having a doula was so my husband could have back up. Someone to give him ideas when I was shooting everything he said down :). Someone to comfort me who had been through this before and someone who I could trust. I also needed that person to have a good vibe wih my husband since he wanted to "coach" as much as he could.

Gregory is our first baby and we went into this birth with an open mind. We knew what an ideal birth would be, but were ok with some changes to our "birth wishlist" or our ideal birthing situation.

What we weren't expecting was for everything to go the opposite of what we wanted. Tonya was a key to my husband and I keeping our cool that day. She was a quiet presence, yet helped advocate for us. She made sure we had time to make the important decisions and gently worked with the medical staff to make sure as much went "our way" as possible - which wasn't much, so the little we got was a huge success. She cheered me on during 3 hours of pushing and she was a life saver during an unexpected c-section.

After the c-section I got really sick. I was in the hospital for 3 weeks. I was released from the birth center after 1 week only to return that same evening. While I was recovering from a second major surgery and massive infection, Tonya was at our home every night for 10 days taking care of our son so my husband could sleep and get ready to come back to the hospital the next day as refreshed as possible.

Our relationhip with Tonya started when I was about 5 months pregnant and we continue to communicate today - 14 weeks after the birth. My family thinks the world of Tonya and I know she was sent to help me through an amazingly difficult time in my life.

I'd highly recommend Tonya to anyone looking for a birth or postpartum doula. She was amazing! Thank you Tonya!!!

We would like to share our amazing doula experience! Our doula was Tonya Gervacio. She has this beautiful beauty about her! Tonya assisted us with our first daughter four years ago. We were planning on a vaginal delivery.. She was such a great support thur my pregnancy till the end! We worked together on trying to get Miss Alexa in the canel. She was being stubborn and wanting to stay transverse. Tonya had great advice and ideas to try. We tired them all. So it came time for delivery of our baby girl... She was still transverse. We now had to have a cseation. Having Tonya support during our csection was the best support my husband and I could ever ask for! She knows her way around the Hospital, made sure I was well taken care of and helped me understand step by step! We could have not asked for a better delivery of our beautiful daughter and Tonya there by our side! We were blessed to be able to have Tonya come in and be by our side! She was an amazing coach for both my husband and I! Just having her in our presence we feel at ease! We as well had some of the most beautiful pictures of our birth! We felt truly blessed with our whole experience!

Just in May we were expecting our second daughter Sophia. We were scheduled to have another section. Tonya was again by my side making sure I understood everything going on.. As well as making sure the hospital was following my needs as there patient. Once again she was right by our side making sure all was going well. She was able to capture some most beautiful pictures of our daughter Sophia being born! What a blessing it was again to have her with us!

I would highly recommend having Tonya at your birth! If I decided to have any more children in the future Tonya will be with us! It is a package deal! I have a baby and Tonya will be with us for support! Thank you Tonya for your amazing beauty you have!

My husband and I wanted an intervention-free birth in a hospital. At our "introductory" meeting, Tonya impressed us with her knoweldge, experience, and most importantly (to us), her grace and compassion. At the time, I knew very little about water births and she educated us so that ultimately, we went with a water birth. Now, I can't imagine doing it any other way! A few weeks before I was due, Tonya visited us and we "dreamed" about our birth. As our due date approached (and passed), Tonya emailed and called with words of encouragement and wisdom; she helped us keep a great perspective and positive attitude. When the time came (in the middle of the night), Tonya answered our calls immediately and was ready to go! Over the phone, she gave helpful strategies and encouraging words that helped me feel calm. She came to our house and labored with us before we all left for the hospital. During contractions, the "double hip squeeze" (which is really a 2-person job) gave me the most relief. Tonya and my husband worked together to help me manage the pain during contractions. Even when I had to lay on a bed for ~20 min, she continued the hip squeeze! One thing that Tonya did that I'm thankful for is suggest that we invite my (very eager) parents into the room once I started to push. We were able to share an amazing experience with my parents and it was a special way for our son to start a relationship with his grandparents. Tonya also did an amazing job capturing our experience through photography. She quickly put together a webpage to share with friends and family. The comments shared in the online "guest album" made it clear that these photographs touched people. Tonya was an integral part of our birth team and I am so thankful that she was there. She is truly gifted with what she does and I would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone!

I met Tonya during my Birth Preparation Workshop in March of 2004 while pregnant with my second daughter. I was inspired by her honesty and understanding during the class.

My water started leaking on my due date and after a few hours it was apparent that things were going to move slowly. Tonya came out the following morning to help out as photographer and back up doula. Things kept moving slowly but I am eternally grateful for her knowledge and creativity regarding positioning techniques to get things moving when they were slow. Her gentle words of encouragement were both reassuring as well as motivating.
 

She captured some stunningly beautiful photographs and I feel beyond blessed to have had such a supportive and caring team. The divine feminine energy that was present that night is hard to describe but something I will never forget.
 

I have been lucky enough to have Tonya as a friend and a doula/photagrapher with two of my home births. She is truly amazing. Tonya made sure that my husband and I were well taken care of during labor, birth and beyond. She walked with me through the neighborhood while I labored, made suggestions for pushing positions when I had a cervical lip, took amazing pregnancy pictures while labor stalled to give me a rest, and took wonderful birth pictures and video.

Tonya is  a sweet, gentle soul, who takes great care of her birthing families.

We met Tonya just a week or so before our planned home birth.  Our doula had a vacation to mexico planned and thank goodness Tonya was available to be her backup.   I instantly clicked with Tonya and felt like she was my long lost friend not a hired doula that I had just met right at my due date. She was sure to get to konw our 10 year old daughter and 3 year old son who instantly liked her. Tonya was a rock during my 21 hour labor.  My husband was even able to get a few hours of sleep.  She knew just when to give me a cold wash cloth or a drink of water and just when to step back and let me work through a contraction on my own.  A water birth was very important to me since it didn't work out with my other two children and I knew that this would be my last.  When Tonya saw that I was about to have my baby on the bed she remembered our conversation about the waterbirth and jumped into action making sure that the tub was warm enough and reminding my midwife how important it was to me.  Thanks to Tonya I got the waterbirth experience I had been dreaming about, it was so serene and special!  Tonya took the most beautiful photo's that I will always treasure.  I didn't even notice that she was taking them!   In the hours after our daughter Amber was born, Tonya had all of the birth towels washed and dried, and I'm pretty certain she may have been the one that did the dishes also! :)  What a gal!   My postpartum visit with Tonya is just what I needed to help me through the baby blues that I was feeling.  I am forever grateful and will always be happy that we had such a special caring person there with us during such an important event for our family.  Tonya is very experienced, professional, personable, thoughtful and has a great sense of humor.  Whoever get's her at their birth is very lucky! :)