Allegra

1/2/2021

Emily is wonderful. She is kind, warm, and a great listener. She is sincere and nonjudgmental. I knew that I wanted to hire someone that was experienced, confident, and unflappable. Her experience as a middle school teacher appealed to me for just that reason! She is all of those things. She was so generous with her time before, during, and after the birth of my son. Even though I only met Emily over Zoom before I was in labor, it felt like having a close friend with me – a close friend who happened to know a lot about childbirth! I would also add that Emily gracefully interacted with the midwifery and OB teams and helped to make sure that I felt informed, cared for, and safe even during an emergency. I would absolutely recommend her highly! 

Katy Federico

12/29/2020

We had a great experience with Emily. With so much up in the air with covid and things changing rapidly, it was so nice to have her calming presence before, during, and after the birth. She really goes the extra mile to make sure you're taken care of, even taking a late night call when we were panicking about an issue we had with our daughter. She definitely knows how to calm new parents and not make you feel dumb. She also did a great job of including my spouse during the birth and making him feel included. I 100% recommend her, you won't regret it. 

Claire

7/3/2019

Emily was the perfect fit for our growing family. She instantly made me and my husband comfortable, and was a delightful presence before, during, and after the birth of our son. She took the time to get to know us before the birth and hear our concerns, and helped us both immensely during labor. She gave my tips for how to be helpful, so I could focus on the act of giving birth and know he was being taken care of. She had useful pain management techniques that helped keep me from getting an epidural. She also helped us think through how to manage our other family members that wanted to come visit us in the hospital. I would highly recommend Emily to other families looking for a doula. It was definitely worth it.

Holly

6/30/2019

I am very late submitting this review of my experience with Emily, but I figure better late than never!

Emily was the first doula we interviewed and from the get go we clicked. 

I had done a lot of reading and research into pregnancy and childbirth ahead of looking for a doula, so I probably didn't take best advantage of Emily's knowledge in our meetings during the pregnancy. She was however great at checking in with me and was available to come with me to one of my birth prep classes when my husband's schedule meant he had to miss one class. It was really nice to have her along so I wasn't flying solo, and she was a great added resource to the others in the class too, including the teacher, who was tickled to have her.

Where Emily really became indispensible was when delivery day arrived. I did not want to have an induction, but unfortunately a few days shy of our due date, it was made necessary due to my monitoring results not being ideal. Emily did a great job of reassuring me through texts before she arrived. I had decided I wanted to do my best to make it through labor without an epidural due medical and personal reasons, and without Emily, that would not have been possible. I have a typically high pain tolerance but my coping mechanisms were failing me. Emily became my personal mantra chanter, telling me over and over that I was strong, that I could do this, that things were going perfectly. She and my husband traded off giving counterpressure and helping me into different positions. She got me over the worst point when I wanted to give up, and continued to reassure me step by step. When we reached the last ten minutes of pushing and the room was flooded with staff, she gave me someone to focus on so I knew what to do. Thanks to her, I made it through my 23 hours of labor with no epidural.

I would highly recommend Emily!

Jennifer H

6/10/2019

Emily was an incredible advocate, soother, supporter, motivator, and listener before, during, and after the birth of our first child. We chose her because of her calm attitude and her philosophy to include and support the father during the birth as well. During pregnancy, we got to know Emily and she was patient as we asked all of our first-time parent questions. During labor when my blood pressure dropped after the epidural and later when the nurse had trouble finding the baby's heartbeat, I looked over to Emily and was reassured by her sense of calm and ease. She also made my husband and I feel less alone and isolated when we had to make decisions at the hospital, like when to get an epidural. She explained things again and gave us time to think. She also helped me find different positions and applied heating pads and pressure to my lower back to manage pain. After birth, she met with us to debrief and answer questions, and she checked in later after hearing about my trouble breastfeeding and postpartum depression. She's a trustworthy, empathetic, encouraging human, and I can't imagine going through the birth without Emily there to support us. 

Najma jarato

5/16/2019

 Emily was amazing. She was there for throughout the whole journey. She made me feel comfortable as she could, she made the process easy and she  was there to talk to me and get my mind off of the pain. She’s great support postpartum and a phone call away from any questions you have. Overall all I loved  Emily for being there for me. Thank you Emily. 

Catherine Wigert

1/31/2019

It feels almost impossible to put into words how much my husband and I appreciated Emily's support and help during our long and, at times, challenging labor. Like others, we weren't positive we wanted or needed a doula. The two of us have a strong relationship, took all the classes, and felt confident going into labor. However, we knew there were potential unpredictable situations that might arise. In addition, all the research says a doula makes a huge difference. THE RESEARCH IS RIGHT. Emily made all the world of difference in how I reflect on my labor. She was invaluable to us.

Emily was present, calm, competent, warm, caring, and compassionate and helped both my husband and I navigate incredibly difficult and scary moments. In particular, I had a bad experience with my epidural and it was Emily who was able to get me through that terrifying situation. Not the doctors, not my husband, not anyone but Emily's incredibly calm and focused voice talking me through my fears and pain. She was incredible.

By the end of our 40+ hour labor Emily had been present and available to us the entire time, fetching us items we didn't even know we needed and always showing us grace. Her voice was in my ear for the full 3.5hrs I pushed at the very end. Our beautiful and healthy boy has a lot of people to thank for his safe entry into this world and one of those key individuals is Emily.

Searching for a doula can feel a bit daunting. And it may feel like an "unecessary" added expense. But both my husband and I are beyond thankful we had Emily by our side and could not imagine the experience without her there. We will forever be grateful for her and her presence during those blurry, wild, carnival house hours of beautifully strange madness.

Claire C Taylor

1/14/2019

My husband and I used Emily Harris through the Swedish Doula services. We loved that Swedish made it easy for us to find a doula. Emily responded quickly to our emails and texts, and was accommodating on timing/location of our meetings.

My labor started abruptly at 4:30am with my water breaking 3.5 weeks early, and less than 5 hours later we had a baby. While my body didn't leave much time for Emily to help out, she was a calm and reassuring presence! She helped ensure I stayed hydrated, gave good reminders/suggestions, and was a known cheerleader during the delivery. She also took a great first family photo :)

Carrie Russell

1/14/2019

Emily was fantastic! Prior to the birth of my son when meeting with Emily, she never assumed what our questions would be and was open and honest about what possibilities might be in the process. She was willing to try breathing and positions with us and look into anything we had questions about. Emily presented a relaxed non-judgmental presence from the start with the prenatal meetings that carried through to the actual delivery. During my delivery, Emily was flexible, present, and willing to do what ever. She has the dance down; helping out when needed, directing myself or my partner in helpful gentle ways, knowing when to step up and step back and humor! We also asked Emily to take picures when our son was actually arriving and she took fantastic pictures that we could have never captured. Emily was available to us after the birth to check in and in general was a fabulous resource throughout. The day we brought our son home from the hospital my partner and I were reflecting on the experience and he turned to me and said, "I just don't think we could have done it without Emily."  I think that sums up how amazing she is!

Colleen Murphy

4/3/2018

I can't believe it has been almost a year since we welcomed our daughter into this world with Emily's help and support.  Time really does fly! Let me begin by saying that we were really on the fence about hiring someone "just to be there"....would it really be worth it?  Afterall, we had gone to classes and talked about what types of things my husband would be able to help ahead of time. Ha!  I am so glad Emily was there!  She was such a calm and warm presence during my labor and was able to roll with everything that came up with such grace, confidence, and ease.  When the contractions starte, nothing my husband could do was "right". Emily would kindly step in and give me the support I needed physically & emotionally to work through the pain. I don't know what it was, but my husband would try to do the exact same thing she did and it just didn't feel the same. I was so thankful to have her there! The day turned into night, an epidural given but she was in the room with me helping navigate the challenges I had with the epidural while my husband was able to get some sleep. She made sure I stayed hydrated and took excellent care of me. When next afternoon rolled around and we ended up having to go in for a c-section we found out my birth photographer would not be able to come in the operating room.  Emily stepped right in with her camera which I didn't even notice and captured the most amazing moments that still make me cry when I look at them.  Somehow, she was able to take all these great photos discreetly while also continuing to provide support and words of encouragement when we had some complications in the operating room.  It was amazing that with everything going on that all I could hear was her voice reminding me to breath.  All of this, just to say that we were so glad that we decided to hire Emily thinking initially that there wasn't really a need....we had no idea how much she absolutely was needed!!!

??shuxuan ?zhou

3/24/2017

Emily was my birth doula and photographer. She was a crucial support during my unexpectedly long labor and healing afterwards. My partner and I planned to have a home birth. We thought we might not need a doula, since we were well prepared (classes, reading, and practices). We still hired Emily because of her amazing photos. During and after my labor, we felt so fortunate that we hired her. My pre-labor last for three days. On Day #1 I had mild contractions, so we informed Emily the labor was coming. The early morning of Day #2, I had contractions every 7 minutes. Emily came to our house. She centered my partner and I: my partner assisted me cope with the pain, while Emily supported us when we requested or when she observed we were needing something. However, my labor didn't progress. In the end of 2nd day, I was very tired and got morphine to have a sleep. Emily came very early on Day #3. This day, when my partner and I were both too tired to keep the rhythem of active coping, Emily started leading us. She did some research, brought some tools, and made a plan of techniques that we could try. As I had been fatigued, it was so helpful that somebody else was guiding me. All of these techniques helped me cope. Unfotunately, my labor still didn't progress, probably because the baby was in a weird position (as my midwife speculated). So we had to transfer to a hospital in the late night, and Emily went with us. When we made this decision, she was the first person asking me about my feelings about this decision. When I was physically exhausted and had to give up a plan that I had worked on for months, she reminded me to process my emotions too. She stayed with us until my baby was born the next morning in the hospital. She supported me to advocate for myself when the doctor asked me to do something I had disliked. She also came to visit my family after the birth to help us reflect on our labor experience. My family really appreciate her support.

Quoc Nguyen

1/10/2017

We had the great pleasure of having Emily be part of our second daughter's birth.  I believe we were her first birth, but it definitely did not feel like it to us.  Emily is fun, thoughtful, knowledgable, and we were lucky to have her on our birthing team.  She really made my wife feel at ease during the birth and she had a way of knowing what my wife needed before she or I even knew.  She would say the right thing at the right moment.  She was confident and reasurring.

Emily had excellent communication.  We could call her anytime of the day and she let us know in advanced if she was going to be out of town for any reason.  We knew we could count on her.  If I had to summarize Emily in a few words, I would just say that she's awesome!  We definitely recommend Emily to anybody wanting to have a doula.