Tatyana Dorfman

8/7/2018

Partnering with Kim as our birth doula was one of the best decisions we made in our pregnancy/birth journey. Kim was an invaluable source of evidence-based information on the many questions I sent her way throughout my pregnancy. She also knows the best of the best resources in Seattle, referring me to a wonderful postpartum doula and a great lactation consultant.

Throughout our journey (before, during and after the birth itself), Kim has been supportive, reassuring and a positive source of energy. We are so grateful to her and will recommend her to all our expectant friends.

Gwenyth Hardiman

10/23/2016

Courtney Hartman

4/29/2012

When my husband and I decided to hire a doula, we were looking for an advocate to help us push back against unnecessary hospital interventions as we attempted a natural birth, and someone to help me work through the pain of labor. Kim was so much more than that! Working with Kim is like having your own personal childbirth educator who thinks like a scientist, is up to date on all the best and latest baby-related research out there, and is available to help you understand your pregnancy, refer you to the best books, practitioners and classes, and answer all those urgent "is this normal?" questions.

Kim encouraged us to look around at the care providers available to us and select the practice and hospital whose philosophies most closely aligned with the birth experience we envisioned. She never pushed us in any particular direction; she just made sure we had all the relevant information, facts and figures to inform our decision. However, without her guidance I'm sure we would not have found our way to the wonderful practitioners who ended up shepherding us through pregnancy and delivering our son. We also really appreciated Kim's open-mindedness. I felt confident she would have been completely supportive of whatever birth plan we ended up making, whether that involved a midwife or an OB, a natural childbirth or an epidural.

Our birth was as close to our ideal as we ever could have hoped for, and we credit that in large part to Kim helping us make great choices along the way. My husband and I feel incredibly lucky to have found Kim and know that things might have gone a lot differently without her involvement. Hiring her was the best childbirth decision we ever made.

Since our baby arrived, Kim has remained our go-to person for questions, advice about breastfeeding, and referrals when necessary. She is our most trusted resource. I can't recommend her highly enough.

Heather Buschmann

11/21/2011

 Kim was our doula for the birth of our daughter six weeks ago. There are not enough positive adjectives in the dictionary to describe how amazing and supportive she was before, during, and after my natural birth. She put in many hours before labor meeting with us to understand our goals, fears, and previous experiences. Kim shared her wealth of knowledge with us and came over many times to assist me with the prodromal labor that I had for several weeks before finally being induced 11 days after my due date.

Kim was with me the entire 7+ hour labor and for some time before and after. I had to be induced with pitocin and never would have made it through those awful contractions if it had not been for her support and guidance. My husband is so thankful that I talked him into investing in a doula and we both feel that we picked the best one in town. She also provided ideas and support after the birth, making sure that we were getting on okay.

Kim James is just wonderful! If we do decide to have another child, we will not hesitate to call and book her.

Heidi Cunningham

12/4/2010

Kim is a godsend! From the instant I saw Kim, I knew she would be at our birth. She's smart. She's funny. And she's really really good at what she does. While my husband and I had our hearts set on having an intervention-free birth, we weren't lucky enough to have the cards fall that way. Quite literally we ended up with just about every possible intervention known...including a c-section. Kim helped keep my mind in check, ensured we were asking the right questions and knew all of our options and assured us that every decision we made was the "right" one. I don't like to think about how things would have turned out had Kim not been a part of our birth, but lucky for us, I don't have to.

I recommend Kim in a nano-second!!

Sydney Mintle

11/18/2010

I can't say enough great things about Kim! From the moment I met her I knew she was the perfect doula for both myself and my family. It was really important to me to have a natural childbirth in a hospital setting. Kim was very supportive and encouraging, plus, she did a fabulous job helping to execute my birth plan which included singing "Happy Birthday" to my son once he was born. I highly recommend Kim as a doula for any family that wants to empower themselves to have a positive birth experience. She's worth every penny- and MORE!

Deb Alterman

11/2/2010

As luck would have it, my contractions kicked in at the very end of my delivery window when we knew our original birth doula would be out of town. We first met Kim, the back-up doula, when she dropped by our house with a TENS unit to help get through these contractions. Kim was lovely and personable and gave us lots of helpful suggestions on getting through these pre-labor contractions. The following afternoon, she invited us to stop by her house and chat for a while to see how the contractions were going. When the contractions got more serious at 9:30pm, she came by our house and sat with me for a couple of hours while I was in the bathtub so my husband could get a nap. She really went above and beyond without any hesitation, even before we left for the hospital, despite the fact she was “back-up”.

In the hospital, Kim was incredibly helpful at key points throughout a long and tough labor. Though we ended up having to give up on our 3 primary goals from our birth plan, she helped us feel good about our choices in the context of how labor was progressing – pointing out that it’s possible to move with an epidural, and reminding me that we weren’t leaping into heavy interventions left and right. She helped us talk through the decision to have a c-section, and once we came to a medically reasonable conclusion she then helped us to feel good about the decision consistent with our values. She gave us good advice about how to approach the situation in the OR and photograph it, so I am able to look back and see what happened while I was so out of it. Her notes on the birth helped me reflect on it after the fact and remember all of what we had been through. Kim single-handedly prevented an unexpected c-section from becoming a scary or traumatic experience, and minimized my distress about it after the fact. We are so grateful she was there for the birth of our daughter, and we highly recommend working with her!

Erin Schwartz

5/29/2010

In honor of Doula Month, I wanted to take a moment to share my appreciation for Kim.  She is an amazing doula! 

I first met Kim at a party through a family connection before I was even pregnant and found her very compelling. When I learned I was pregnant the first time (actually the second time, too) she was one of the first people I told and she was a great resource because she is so well connected within the Seattle birthing community. In order to get to know her better, we decided to take her birth education class through Great Starts. That was a really wonderful way to learn more about her style and it affirmed for me that she is nurturing, approachable and honest, with a great sense of humor. All of which I valued in the delivery room.

Both of my labors went quickly and it was an asset having Kim's support throughout them.  She was helpful in guiding us to the hospital when it was time (just in time), advocating on my behalf with the nursing team during my labor and coaching my husband and sister as my support team.  During the height of my labor, she was affirming about the hard work I was doing to get my babies out into the world and a good cheerleader.

Kim is so wonderful that I wish all the women in my life could have her by their side when having a baby!!!

Very best,

Erin (on behalf of our entire family)

Eden Mack

10/10/2009

I can't say enough about how awesome Kim is.  Kim is just the right balance of heart and practicality.   She was sooooo valuable to our birth process for our "high risk" identical twins.  After the initial phone conversation where I learned how easy to talk to she is, she came to our the interview with studies that were relevant to our situation.  She spent many hours with us and on the phone before the birth, and gave us useful books, magazines and videos.  She has such a wealth of knolwledge, and yet she didn't ever push any specific agenda.  She was so helpful to sorting out my own thoughts about what I wanted, how i was comfortable balancing the risks and how to communicate effectvely with my care providers.  With her amazing support, I carried them to 40 weeks, and 7 lbs 8 oz and 8 lbs 7 oz.  I honestly am in awe of the amount and quality of support that Kim gave us.  She is simply fabulous.  On the birthday, she interacted so well with the care providers that when our nurse came to check up on me the next day, she said that Kim was the most wonderful doula she had ever worked with. 

Heidi Palena

6/16/2009

Kim James was such a comfort at the birth of my son, then again 18 months later for the birth of my daughter. I was lucky to be able to have her gently guide both my husband and dear friend who where also present at the births. Kim's calm presence helped me to focus when I needed to, laugh and take a break when I felt up to it, and coached our little team right through to the happy end. Her firm belief in me and my own power helped me though a couple of rough moments...she knew just the right moments to step in and provide further instruction. My husband appreciated her guidance at a time when he felt at a bit of a loss, she stepped up and showed him how to help be more comfortable without being obtrusive.   My second birth experience was a bit more complicated as we needed a bit more supervision from the Doc's because of a small birth defect in the baby, but she still was able to keep my husband and friend focused on me and the process of bringing on the baby. Kim educated me when I had questions prior to 'birth-day'...she is a wealth of knowledge and is really passionate about her work. I can't imagine not having a Doula!

Thank you Kim for being there on two of the most special and empowering days of our lives. I am glad to have had you there.
Heidi, Rob, Bennett and Peyton