Joyful Start Family Support
Glenside, PA Service range 27 miles within Pennsylvania
http://www.joyfulstartfamilysupport.com
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Postpartum Rate
$35
Availability Remarks: Available for childbirth ed, newborn care, breastfeeding, Postpartum Recovery, & Spinning Babies(R) Parent Class; CPR certification class, daytime postpartum support. Current on vaccines.
Postpartum Rate
$35
7 years and 75 families served
Type of practice: Solo practice
Clients per month: 0 to 3
Postpartum limits/restrictions: I am available for in-home support daytimes (no overnights). No smoking.
BA/BS
Postpartum support available daytimes (no overnights). $35 hourly rate and discounted packages available for postpartum support.
Glenside, PA Service range 27 miles within Pennsylvania
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Post a testimonial for Kelly Kolb
7/10/2024
When my baby was about six weeks old, I was working with a lactation consultant. When our time together ended, she told me I could reach out to her i I had any future questions--and, she reminded me, I had Kelly as a support. "Everyone should have a Kelly," she said in a text.
She was soright. Having Kelly as a postpartum doula has been an absolutely fantastic experience. We've worked with her for close to four months now, and I can't imagine going through this time without her. She provides so much support to both my baby and to me, helping in all sorts of ways: watching the baby while I nap, doing her PT exercises with her, washing bottles, occasionally doing some light cooking, plugging me into new-parent resources, and, perhaps most importantly, being someone I could talk to and ask any question of, whether about baby care or postpartum recovery. During my baby's first weeks, when Kelly came over, her first question was always: Have you eaten? She has a gentle, nonjudgmental, maternal vibe that I really needed.
In addition to using her postpartum services, I also took Kelly's newborn care, breastfeeding, and postpartum recovery classes. (The postpartum course is a six-week education and fitness class you can bring your baby to.) All were tremendously valuable.
Her prices are extremely reasonable, and if you buy one of her hour packages for postpartum services, you get some free hours plus a discount on courses. I plan to take the infant CPR class next.
I highly recommend reaching out to Kelly if you are pregnant!
10/14/2022
Kelly is so fantastic! Her classes are so informative and her calming presence at my birth was just what I needed.
10/14/2022
Kelly was able to provide me and my husband with so much information and support. We both were so confident and felt as prepared as possible throughout my entire labor. Kelly's breastfeeding class was also HUGE for me and helped me with nursing my daughter. I cannot speak highly enough of Kelly and look forward to working with her in the future.
10/13/2022
This was my second birth. My first was a traumatic stat cesarean and I felt I needed an advocate for my thoughts and wishes in this second birth to have it be a happy memory. Kelly met with myself and my husband multiple times throughout the pregnancy, she helped my write a beautiful birth plan and back up as well. I loved her knowledge and also her certification in Spinning Babies because it ended up she was breech. My labor and birth was amazing, she helped my husband be there and support me through everything. I don't know what I'd do without her.
6/26/2021
If you are looking for a doula who is kind, supportive, and an all around terrific resource, than you want Kelly Kolb. Kelly is easy to talk to, she listens and has an amazing gift for identifying how best to provide support to each individual. My husband and I met with Kelly several times during my pregnancy and during that time she truly came to understand me, my family, and the birth I was hoping for. What ever your needs or requests Kelly finds a way to make it work and to be there for you. Through out a long labor and challenges communicating with my healthcare provider, Kelly gave me the tools and resources to advocate for myself and my baby. She was the calm reasuring (non judgemental) presence helping me prepare for and give birth in the way that was right for me. She also did an amazing job working alongside my husband and together they made an incredible support system. Even the nurses mentioned how well Kelly brough everyone together, how naturally it seemed. I credit my VBAC to Kelly and am so greatful she was there. If I were to find myself expecting again, Kelly would be one of the first people I would call.
5/31/2021
Making the decision to work with Kelly was one of the best things we did in our birth journey! Her knowledge and experience as a doula is truly amazing. As first time parents, she helped us build confidence and was an excellent resource for any questions we had along the way. She truly cares about her clients and loves what she does! Thank you Kelly!!
5/22/2021
Kelly was so helpful during my first pregnancy, birth, and postpartum period. She really knows her stuff, is so warm and available, and she was really good at helping me make unbiased, informed decisions during labor. I highly recommend her to anyone considering using a doula.
5/20/2021
We were so lucky to have the opportunity to work with Kelly as first time expectant parents. She was everything we needed in preparation for this huge shift in our lives, and we will always be grateful for her wealth of knowledge, her calming and steady energy, and her supportive and unwavering presence throughout a tough pregnancy, a smooth birth, and a stressful postpartum transition. Kelly was especially amazing at supporting my spouse support me, and at making us feel more prepared with evidence based information that helped us make it through all of the newness. She was especially wonderful at bringing her expertise into advocacy, working with other birth workers and hospital team members to make sure my birth preferences were heard and considered. I would highly recommend Kelly to any family for a warm, validating, and collaborative birth experience! We love her very much and are so happy to have worked with her.
5/5/2021
As a first time Mom, it was so reassuring to have Kelly by my side as my doula. She was a wealth of knowledge before delivery day, giving me a crash course in everything from creating a birth plan to breastfeeding. On delivery day, Kelly kept the mood positive. She supported me through my contractions with a toolbox of suggestions and techniques. I don’t think I could’ve made it through 12+ hours of unmedicated labor without her. I’m so glad Kelly was a part of my birth team and highly recommend her as a doula. Postpartum she also provided me support, offering me an extra hand and sound advice.
4/29/2021
Kelly listened to my needs and provided amazing support during postpartum. She is loving, considerate, and knowledgeable in all things related to baby and mama! She helped me feel confident and enjoy the early days of motherhood with her professionalism, flexbility, and a sense of humor. I highly recommend Kelly!
4/28/2021
Kelly was the absolute BEST!! As a normally very anxious/worrisome person, plus having a high-risk pregnancy for some medical reasons of my own, I was SO nervous about my pregnancy and labor. From the start, Kelly was kind and helpful - her warmth immediately made me feel comfortable and as if I’ve known her for years! It made my husband and I so happy that her goal was to make me (and us) feel comfortable! From talking through preferences, to answering a million questions - Kelly was amazing! The day of my labor, she was so present and willing to help with anything we needed, and kept me calm and collected during some of my most anxious moments - but she also gave my husband and I time for ourselves, which we really appreciated. After delivery, she was always so ready and available to answer calls and texts for questions or concerns I had, as well. I am forever thankful for the support Kelly provided me during and after my pregnancy as well as during labor. It was so reassuring to have an advocate that was familiar with the process and so caring and accessible! THANK YOU, KELLY!! :)
4/28/2021
Kelly was a wonderful all around Doula, Professional, highly informed and knowledgeable of evidence based tools and techniques, reliable, culturally aware and social justice minded, warm, caring and supportive through out. Highly recommended!
9/30/2019
Kelly is an absolute godsend. She's warm, funny, and a terrific person to be present for you and your family. Incredibly knowledgeable, she listens to you and your preferences and has information to guide and support your approach. By meeting with us twice before the birth, she was able to learn more about our family and establish a relationship with us that was a blessing the day of the birth. She met us and stayed at the hospital the whole time and visited shortly after we got home to check in and see how we were all doing. She is so great and easy to work with.
As new parents with little support in the area, I really can't recommend it enough. We weren't sure we would need one, and now I will never do this any other way. Imagine the most stressful and uncertain day of your life: you're exhausted, you're nervous for your partner, you're worried about the baby, and doctors and nurses wake you up and ask you to make decisions with little or no time to decide. Kelly was an advocate when we were too tired to fight who would speak up for us when our voices weren't being heard in the room. She had techniques to help relax and keep labor progressing and keep mom more comfortable. She did all this without being confrontational with hospital staff in a way that brought them around to the way we asked for certain things to be done that led to fewer medical interventions overall.
No birth is easy, but your birth will be much easier for all involved with Kelly as your doula
9/18/2019
Kelly is a doula supreme - always available and always responds in a timely manner. She was a wonderful support system for my wife during and after labor. She's warm, funny, kind, and incredibly knowledgeable about all things-pregnancy. Can't recommend enough!
9/17/2019
Kelly is absolutely incredible. She is so compassionate, loving, knowledgeable, and supportive, which is exactly what you want in a doula. I cannot recommend her highly enough.
7/2/2019
Kelly came to us as a postpartum doula for our second child and was a Godsend. In addition to being a much-needed second pair of hands, she is a veritable fountain of knowledge about babies with incredible resources. I felt like I knew it all being a second time mom, but frankly all her information was eye-opening and really set me up to thrive as a mother of two. The beauty of Kelly is that she helps to take care and support the entire family as a unit. I had such anxiety about how I would manage two young children on my own but I have to say that I felt empowered when our time together came to a close. She helped give me the tools and confidence to survive and thrive. Do yourself a favor and invest in the best start for your family!
10/13/2018
Kelly was an amazing support to me and my family as we welcomed our second little blessing. I was trying for a VBAC and Kelly helped me achieve that goal. I felt so well taken care of, safe and confident with her as my birth support. She knew just what I needed when I needed it without even having to ask. Highly recommend!!!
10/10/2018
Kelly was really helpful in our birth delivery. My wife and I are firs time parents, and let’s say, a doula is well worth it during those crucial hours. Imagine, trying to find your way home through the dark, the doula is the light that paves the way. There were so many unexpected surprises when we had our first-born. No books, no classes, no amount of warnings could prepare us for what happened. But, with Kelly there, she provided us with comfort and guidance when it really mattered. We had a 48+ hour labor delivery. Kelly was with us the entire time. She provided expert advice: “Squeeze those hips, SQUEEZE!!” Those hip squeezes were a life saver. We managed to deliver a healthy young baby boy without a C-section, and my wife is recovering very well.
Words cannot say how much we appreciate Kelly’s help throughout the birth. If you’re on the fence of whether to get a doula, get one. Get Kelly! :)
For the price, if depreciated over time of the kid at 5%, it would cost only about $13.
Thanks Kelly for everything!!
6/8/2018
We loved working with Kelly! She was so knowledgeable and level headed when we both, well... weren't. My husband credits her with helping shorten the time I spent pushing. I loved that she stepped out of the way and let him guide me through transition (later, she said that he might've been a doula in a past life). Her presence meant that my husband got meal breaks if he wanted them; she even held my hand while they administered the epidural. Before delivery, she was very available to us. If she didn't know the answer to a question we asked, she researched and sent me personalized options to investigate. Even though we had three fake-outs (which meant lots of extra trips to the hospital for Kelly), she was always kind and supportive. My first delivery was a scheduled C-section (due to my older daughter's breech position), and I can honestly say that this second labor with Kelly-- a VBAC-- was the birth experience I was hoping for.
2/13/2018
Kelly is the #1 doula in this area, maybe in the whole world. She is the only doula I have ever worked with but never mind that. I cannot speak highly enough of her and how important she was to the birth of my son. I recommend to anyone that is pregant to most definitely hire a doula and choose Kelly if you are in her service area. Perhaps the best testimonial is that my husband - who was skeptical about hiring a doula, but humored me - is now 100% a believer in the benefits of a doula and recommends hiring a doula to any couple he knows who is pregnant.
I sought out Kelly because she is certified as a birth and postpartum doula. I had a few specific goals in hiring her: to gain more knowledge and moral support, since I was anxious about some pregnancy complications; to help me reach my goal of a natural birth without an epidural; and to have someone for my husband, so that he could rest if needed, be given direction on how to help me, and overall have a better birth experience. Also, to have someone provide "tutorials" once I was home with my son.
With Kelly we met all these goals and more . She is extremelly knowledgeable, kind and upbeat, well-prepared, and a reassuring presence in the delivery room. She and my husband worked as a team to keep me as comfortable as possible. I made it through three hours of pushing without an epidural and just barely avoided a c-section: it was literally down to the last push the doctor would allow before wheeling me to the operating room. There is absolutely no way that I would have had the mental and physical stamina to avoid a c-section without her there.
I am forever grateful that my pregnancy story includes only a challenging labor and not labor and a c-section, and I credit this to Kelly. Her fee is modest and it is easily the best money we ever spent.
1/15/2018
Kelly is very nurturing, kind, attentive and knowledgeable. I recently had a daughter via a scheduled c-section and have a 15 month old at home. Kelly came highly recommended from two people I knew. I was hesitant on having someone I didn't know help at my house with a newborn, but we're so glad we hired her. She was great with both my kids and was a great resource and help my first week home. I highly recommend her to anyone having a baby who may need an extra set of hands, an ear, or postpartum support.
1/13/2018
Kelly was a wonderful presence during my pregnancy, at my birth, and afterwards. I was very anxious about the pain of labor and she never made me feel judged for that. Instead, her accepting, calm attitude helped me through the entire process. My labor progressed fairly quickly and Kelly helped me manage the pain well (changing positions, massage, etc.) and feel confident. She worked well in tandem with my partner and allowed us to have plenty of private moments. When I decided to get an epidural she was very supportive, which was important to me in a doula. I highly recommend Kelly for her friendly, down-to-earth, and nonjudgmental approach to supporting mothers and families. I had a good birth in large part due to her!
1/11/2018
Kelly is a fantastic person and doula! We were fortunate to have her post-partum doula support after the birth of our twins. Kelly gave extremely nurturing care to our twins, and helped us immensely with a host of other critical things like pumping, selecting devices and carriers, and advice for parents of multiples. She is so skilled in handling babies - ours loved her. Kelly really brought a calming energy to our busy and often chaotic household (4 kids, 2 working parents). She provided fantastic suggestions to us as parents of twins. Kelly is very much plugged in and knowledgeable about post-partum care of moms and newborns. We were grateful for her excellent care and time with our family. We highly recommend Kelly as a doula. She is simply wonderful to work with.
9/8/2017
Kelly is an absolutely excellent doula! She provided postpartum doula services after my first child was born and I don't know what I would have done without her. She is so incredibly knowledgeable and has so many wonderful tips at her fingertips for dealing with anything and everything that came up during her time with us. She taught me how to wear my baby, helped me to feel more confident giving the baby a bath, helped me to better organize the nursery, gave me a ton of feeding advice, gave me great tips for soothing a fussy baby, and was a wonderful resource for all of my many, many questions. On top of that, Kelly is just a sweet person who is so easygoing and calming to have around when you are just starting to adjust to life with a new baby. I am so fortunate to have found Kelly and I highly recommend her to anyone searching for a doula.
6/21/2017
Kelly was amazingly supportive and helpful during the home birth of our 3rd son. She knew exactly what I needed to kick start my labor and then offered immense comfort and helped me focus during each surge until the baby was earthside. Kelly was an integral part of our birth team and I would hire her again, should we be blessed with more children.
6/21/2017
I hired Kelly after giving birth to my first child. I was seriously so scared when I brought a baby home, and was dealing with postpartum anxiety. Without Kelly helping me to feel confident I dont know what would have happened. I would highly recommend her to anyone. She was a blessing to our family, even in the short amount of time she spent with us.
6/20/2017
I was so glad that I made the leap to have a doula, and found Kelly. She was attentive and knowledgable before, during, and after labor. She was a help physically and emotionally throughout the labor, and went above and beyone, coming to the hospital in the middle of the night. She was a wonderful resource. I could call on her with any question, and she took all of my needs seriously.
6/18/2017
I truly can not speak highly enough of Kelly. She has gone above and beyond for our family. I was initially anxious about the transition of adjusting from two kids to three while also keeping up with household chores, but with her help she gave me a sense of comfort. Kelly was fantastic with my kids, very attentive and enthusiastic. Truly a pleasure to be around. The kids adored her and still continue to talk about her. I also took comfort in her knowledge with an infant. Always had ideas and suggestions for any help I needed. If you're looking for a doula she's your lady!
-Kim H, Mother of 3
4/3/2016
It was so wonderful having Kelly to help me after my son was born. I had a c-section and I had to make the adjustment from having 1 child to 2. My daughter just turned 2 and was used to being my whole world. Kelly sent me reading material before my son was born on preparing your child for a sibling and in helping your dog adjust too. Then when she came to help us she helped by, grocery shopping, running errands that I couldn't, taking out the trash, tidying up, doing dishes, preparing lunch for my daughter, playing with her when I couldn't and by being a great listener. I was afraid how I would manage on my own when she was gone, but she really prepared me to be ready to handle it and she gave me the much needed time to heal. I know my recovery would have been much harder on me, my children and my husband without her. She was just what we needed!
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