Betsabé D. Castro Escobar

6/4/2025

During a pivotal time of transformation, Melissa Reyes became a guiding light for my family and me. Their expertise as a birth, postpartum, and death doula, intersectional identities, and spiritual depth deeply resonated with my values and vision for birth.

Melissa’s care was holistic, nurturing, emotional, physical, educational, and spiritual. From our first meeting through postpartum, they were intuitive, steady, and deeply present. Their 24/7 support during labor was essential.

My labor began on December 23, 2023, and my daughter was born on December 26. Early labor stalled for three days, and Melissa’s calm presence, grounding practices, and pain management tools helped me surrender and stay focused. When things accelerated and my waters broke, Melissa helped create a sacred birth space with candlelight, ocean sounds, Palo Santo, and ancestral prayers—honoring our birth plan and ushering our daughter into the world 30 minutes later in a peaceful, unmedicated birth.

Melissa’s postpartum care was just as impactful. They prepared my placenta in various healing forms, supported me with beautiful plant medicine, and co-led the “Trusting Your Journey” classes with Kaiayo, which deeply prepared us for birth and beyond.

One of the most memorable parts of our journey was the cerrada ceremony at six weeks postpartum—a powerful ritual that helped integrate my experience and offer closure.

Melissa was not just a doula, but a companion, advocate, and steady presence through every portal of this transition. Their wisdom, grace, and care made this one of the most transformative experiences of our lives.

If you have the opportunity to work with Melissa—don't hesitate, go for it! They are a compassionate, resourceful healer and a true gem in the Bay Area.

Tova Feldmanstern

6/3/2025

My partner and I had a profoundly wonderful experience working with Melissa as my/our doula 3 years ago. As a healer, artist and licensed mental health practicitioner myself, I can say that Melissa is an artist, healer and highly-skilled and trauma-informed provider who bring a level of wisdom and maturity to her work that is unparalleled. Melissa brings deep knowledge and life experience to her work: keen emotional intelligence, understanding of the roles of plants and herbs, physical strength and an awareness of the human body's needs during pregnancy, labor and post-partum and traditional cultural practices to support life-givers and their partners through an incredibly intense transition in their lives and families. Do yourself a favor and request her support immediately - you will feel so lucky to have her beside you on this journey.

Kim R. (Oakland, CA)

6/2/2025

Working with Melissa was one of the best decisions I made during my pregnancy. From our very first conversation, I felt completely at ease with them — they brought such a calming, steady presence that guided us as first-time parents through my second and third trimesters and that made a huge difference during my labor.

My son's birth was long and really challenging at times, but Melissa was there through every moment, offering support in exactly the ways I needed, even when I didn’t know what that was myself. They remembered preferences I had shared during our meetings prior to my labor and gently offered those to me throughout the hardest moments. Whether it was a grounding touch, words of encouragement, or just quietly holding space, Melissa knew how to meet the moment with so much care and intuition.

A few minutes after my son was born, I experienced an unexpected medical emergency. Melissa stayed right by my side, helping me stay calm and safe while also making sure my newborn and partner were supported too. I’ll never forget how much that meant in such a vulnerable and scary moment.

I’m so grateful for the way Melissa showed up — not just during birth, but before and after as well. I truly can’t imagine having done it without them.

Erica P

6/2/2025

If you work with Melissa, you can expect a superb, tailored-to-you blend of evidence-based practice and deep, experiential wisdom. She is both organized and flexible, both able to move quickly but also help slow everything down. I found leaning into the wisdom she brings was extremely liberating for a mind usually consumed with very statistics-driven, literalist worries. 

Upon first contact with Melissa, I felt listened to, safe, and intellectually engaged. She grounded us with patience and knowledge through the antsy anticipatory months, helping us map out a birth plan while also practicing acceptance around our ultimate lack of control. When actual labor arrived, Melissa rolled up her sleeves and got so physical with me/us, in a way that felt necessary for making it through an unmedicated, no-intervention birth in a hospital setting. She advocated for my wishes with the Kaiser staff, while maintaining excellent working rapport with them. I have flash-bulb memories of her anchoring me to this world with her hands while I was also going a portal to the place between life and death- I know it sounds dramatic but I don't know any other way to describe it. (I was never in danger or anything, but the act of creating life naturally brings you to that place, I think, and it's a place Melissa is intimately familiar with.) 

And post-partum, Melissa was asbolutely instrumental to helping me turn things around after two weeks of intense postpartum anxiety. I wasn't fully prepared for the physical, animal terror of estrogen crash (and suffering from insomnia). I could barely form coherent sentences, just hit by waves of irrational panic. We asked Melissa to come earlier than the scheduled postpartum meetings, and the wordless, body-to-body techniques she used to help me soothe my nervous system felt literally life-saving. 

Melissa will help you through the portal to parenthood with kindness and expertise. 10/10 would do again

Judit Zádor

2/7/2018

I don't know what I would have done without Melissa! She was with us during the entire delivery, but of course her help started way before then in the form of pre-birth consultation. We called her when my contractions were strong enough, late in the evening, and she was there for me, and for us, for almost 24 hours, with seemingly infinite energy. My delivery was not easy, but I felt safe the whole time. She has a calming presence, which both guided me according to my birth plan, at the same time she created the mental space to accept that I ended up having a C-section despite all my efforts and plans. She helped me feel happiness instead of something else when I finally held my baby in my hands. As a bonus, during one of her postpartum visits she managed to massage away my persistent, nursing-related backache. Melissa is a treasure!