Positive Impressions
Ravensdale, WA Service range 35 miles
Birth Fee
$2000
Postpartum Rate
$65
Availability Remarks: I am available for up to 5 overnights a week. Sunday - Thursday
Birth Fee
$2000
Postpartum Rate
$65
7 years and 135 births attended
7 years and 60 families served
Type of practice: Solo practice
Clients per month: 0 to 4 births and 0 to 4 postpartum families
Attends hospital births? All Hospitals
Attends birth center births? All Birth Centers
Attends home births? Any Home Birth
BA/BS
Homeward Pets Foster Parent
I am a certified Birth and Postpartum Doula as well as a Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant. I speacilaize in twin birth and postpartum support. It is an honor to be invited into my clients birthing space and I strive to make the experience a positive one. I charge a flat fee for birth of $2000. Postpartum overnight support is $65/hr and I do a 6 hour minimum.
Ravensdale, WA Service range 35 miles
Post a testimonial for Christine Yates
9/9/2024
My wife and I were in need of short-notice help during a gap in our scheduled postpartum care in August, and we were fortunate to connect with Christine when she had availability. It turned out to be the best coincidence we could have asked for on our postpartum journey. Christine joined us when our daughter was about 1.5 months old, shortly after our previous live-in nanny transitioned to a new family. At the time, I had already returned to work, and we were feeling quite overwhelmed managing our daughter’s care during the day, handling night shifts, and navigating the uncertainties of new parenthood without guidance.
From the very first night, Christine made us feel completely at ease with her approach, which was marked by kindness, care, and attention to detail. Admittedly, we can be particular about how things are done, but Christine exceeded our expectations in almost every way when it came to overnight care. She was incredibly supportive of our preferences, quickly familiarized herself with our nursery setup (even taking the initiative to map out all our tools that we didn’t have the time to go over), and demonstrated a genuine commitment to our daughter's well-being.
Some key highlights of Christine’s care that we especially appreciated include:
- Christine consistently took our notes about our daughter into consideration and offered thoughtful observations, personal experiences, and non-medical suggestions.
- She was able to settle our daughter back into her crib for most of the night, which gave us great peace of mind knowing she was sleeping well.
Christine kept detailed notes of the night’s events, allowing us to take over in the morning with a clear understanding of how the night went.
I honestly cannot imagine a better doula. I highly recommend Christine to any parents seeking postpartum care, knowing that your baby will be cared for with the utmost love and dedication.
8/20/2024
We realized pretty soon after our daughter was born that we needed overnight help. My husband had to return to work early and the sleep deprivation was exhausting. We consider ourselves fortunate to have found Christine to help with overnight care 3 times/week for our newborn. She was extremely reliable and took great care of our baby. She came in on time each night, made sure to not disturb me if I was asleep and tiptoed around our house, washing bottles/pump parts, feeding, burping, swaddling and doing night time diaper changes for our baby. Our baby was having issues with acid reflux and Christine was careful with paced feeding, holding baby upright and burping her. She also helped me with pumping, bringing the pump parts to me at 4am each morning and appropriately storing the breastmilk when I was done, so I could go back to sleep. We recommend Christine for anyone in the throes of early postpartum to provide much needed care and support.
4/21/2024
My husband and I hired Christine to be our doula during the labor and delivery of our daughter. Christine was an incredible source of information, reassurance, and compassion throughout the entire process. In our meetings prior to labor she answered any and all questions about the process, and made me feel secure and calm about what was ahead. During labor and delivery she as an invaluable support to both myself and my husband. At some anxious moments during the process she provided comfort and expertise that helped to put my mind at ease. When we brought our baby home she gave us key sleep and bedtime routine advice, which has led to several very successful nights of sleep with a newborn. She has also answered several of our new parent questions throughout our first few weeks. Christine was a big part of making our labor and delivery experience a positive one. We are very grateful we hired her.
6/3/2022
WE LOVE CHRISTINE! Christine offers great wisdom and honest advice in such a kind way. She is so knowledgable and perfect at helping new parents feel supported and confident. It felt like we were a team in this journey together. She truly was excited to see our little ones each night, as were we to see her.
11/20/2021
What can I say about Christine? She was with us from the day one of our twins being born until they were 4.5Mos and we would have kept her forever if we could. She coached us through so many hard moments: breast feeding issues, helping us find a lactation consultant, sleep conditioning, normalizing new parent stress. You name it, she coached us through it. She's so knowledgeable but also very clear on when she will refer to a specialist. She's a great communicator and listener. She's supportive and non-judgemental of all new parent decision-making. She basically wants to do anything to make your life just a little easier during those early newborn days. I can't recommend her more highly. She will be part of our family forever!
6/13/2021
Hiring Christine as our doula was one of the best decisions we made in preparing for the birth of our son. Everything about how my labor and delivery went was exactly the opposite of what I expected, but Christine was so supportive and encouraging the whole time. She is so knowledgeable about so many things surrounding birth and offers her knowledge in a very tender and caring manner. She was great at communicating with both my husband and I via text and in person and was super flexible about our meetings. She gave both of us so much emotional support during my labor. She was able to empower my husband to know how to support me and helped the two of us work better together. My husband and I both say there is no way we would have made it through labor without her. We both felt equally cared for by her. Christine is so kind and nurturing and was able to help create this calm environment for us. We would highly highly recommend her to anyone!
4/28/2021
Christine came highly recommended from a dear friend who also hired her as their doula, and I have to say I knew from the first phone call interview that I wanted Christine to be part of my birth team alongside my husband. Her knowledge, support, and guidance leading up to my delivery and especially during my delivery was phenomenal. Having a trusted medical professional there to advocate for me and help partner with my husband to ensure delivery day went as well as posible was incredibly important and Christine delivered on all fronts. I had a bit of an abnormal labor and delivery and her support during some of the most trying hours of my life were invaluable. My husband and I both tell anyone that hears our birth story that Christine was the best decision we made in preparation of our daughter's arrival. I would gladly hire her ten times over and will absolutely come back to her for our future children's deliveries.
2/20/2021
Christine is a godsend. Having a newborn and 5 year old is quite challenging esp with the pandemic. Christine came to our rescue! She is wonderful with both of our children and is great to bounce ideas off of and gives good recommendations. She is super responsive and flexible when setting up appointments. She is easy to work with and is absolutely amazing with putting our house back together-cleaning bottles, dishes, folding clothes and pitching in wherever we need help. We feel so much better after Christine visits-if only she could live with us ;)
5/22/2020
Christine was an amazing night doula for us. She gave us the gift of sleep when we had newborn twins. She gave us a lot of tips to help get them sleeping better as they grew. I'm not sure how she does what she does especially with twins but I would highly recommend her as a night doula and had a great experience.
4/23/2020
We had a great experience working with Christine. I knew I wanted a doula for my first baby, and it was a difficult decision figuring out who was the best fit. After interviewing a few doulas, we ultimately went with Christine because of her calm and reassuring demeanor.
Prior to labor & delivery, Christine was always extremely prompt in responding to text messages and answering our (several) questions. She always came prepared to our prenatal visits, took copious notes, and posed important questions for us to think about.
My water broke 3 weeks early and when I first suspected it, I texted Christine at 3AM and she responded within 15 minutes. We maintained text communication as I was triaged at Swedish. Once we confirmed my water broke, we made a plan and she came a few hours after I started pitocin, prepared with her bag of tools as well as a few of our extra requests. Throughout labor, she helped ease contractions with massages, hip squeezes, and words of reassurance, and communicated with my husband to make sure our needs were being met by the hospital staff. For instance, my IV insertion site was painful throughout the day even though my nurse told me it was normal. It was noticeably uncomfortable and did not improve, so she encouraged me to advocate for a new insertion site. Once I did, it made a big difference. Christine's calm and comforting presence was definitely felt throughout labor & delivery.
Even 8 weeks postpartum, Christine continues to answer my text messages quickly about sleep training. We enjoyed working with Christine and highly recommend her!
2/21/2020
Christine was our doula for the birth of my daughter earlier this month. I am so happy we had her! My labor progressed very quickly. My contractions started strong and pretty close together, I was 6cm by the time we made it to the hospital so Christine met us there. She arrived about 5 minutes after we did which was awesome. She was able to help with my breathing while I waited for the epidural (I was about 8/9cm when I finally got it). My epidural became less effective after 2 hours and Christine rubbed my back and feet and worked to soothe me while helping with breathing and counting. It turns out they forgot to mention I could press a button every 15 minutes to keep the epidural at the same, consisten level. Once that was sorted out things progressed normally but after 5 hours of pushing the doctor recommended trying the vacuum. It was very overwhelming to have a bunch of new people come into the room to tend to the baby because she was likely to be in distress when she came out. Christine has a calming presence that I really needed. Unfortunately the vacuum didn't work and I had to have a c-section. My husband is squeamish, thankfully Christine was able to come into the OR with me - another overwhelming situation! Just having her there was very comforting. She was able to distract me from all my worries and anxiety about the surgery, the health of my baby, etc. Everything worked out in the end, baby was healthy and so was I.
Delivering a baby takes a long time, so it's important to choose a doula you can connect and chat with. A good portion of the night was spent chatting. Christine is easy talk to and has almost 50 births under her belt. I highly recommend her and I will gladly work with her if I have addition children.
1/2/2020
When we found out we were having our first kiddo, I debated a lot about whether or not we wanted a doula - it's an added expense at an already expensive time. I decided to look for one, because the data showcased real results - happier birth experiences for mothers, reduced use of meds, etc. And when we found Christine, I knew we'd made the right decision - and I feel even more strongly about that now (12 weeks after delivery) than I did then. Here's why:
1. Christine has a calm, non-judgmental but matter-of-fact approach. She wants to help you realize your birth goals without her own agenda. Even in our first interview, we enjoyed her presence. Given that she was going to be with us throughout a vulnerable time, feeling comfortable was a blessing.
2. She's done this before. For us, this meant that in labor we could trust her to alert us if there was something we needed to know. Otherwise, we could focus on us - which meant my husband could really stay present and not worry as much about me.
3. She's hospital personnel at some locations. When I needed an unexpected c-section, only one family member was allowed into the surgery with me. Since Christine was considered hospital personnel, though, she could also come - so my husband could watch over the baby and Christine could stay with me.
4. She's great with babies once they're born, too! Having her available to watch our newborn while I recovered was both helpful and educational: she taught us more efficient swaddles, beginning sleep training tips, etc.
We've already decided that we'll use her for our next kiddo, too. Can't recommend her highly enough.
11/21/2019
We used Christine for postpartum support in the first couple months after my daughter was born and she was amazing. She showed me how to soothe, swaddle and provided so much insight and advice that was much needed during the early weeks. Even after our contract was over for night-time support, I still sought help and advice from Christine on everything from sleep training to creating successful nap and eating schedules and even just guidance on how to navigate new developmental stages. She has always been there for me and she was truly the greatest resource for everything baby-related. She is so knowledgable and I can't recommend her enough for post-partum and sleep support. She is truly a life-saver and we have the most well-rested, happy baby because of all her help.
11/8/2019
Christine was my postpartum doula that supported me nights for almost three months. I was diagnosed with postpartum anxiety early on and she truly saved my life. She was someone I could trust with my new infant without any concern, which allowed me to get the sleep I needed. She listened to my struggles and offered as much support as she could.
She also became a friend and is someone that I still talk with. Christine genuinely cares about her clients and her babies. She is also incredibly trustworthy and is in the business because she loves what she does. She does right by her clients and she was the one that ended up telling us that we didn't need her anymore. She was right, but having postpartum anxiety made it difficult to accept.
During the first three months postpartum I had several doula's and by far Christine was the best. She helped us get our little one sleeping longer, which made a world of difference when we started sleep training. Unlike many doula's in the Seattle area, she stays up with her babies and does as much as she can to make things easier for new parents (i.e. baby laundry, bottles, sanitizing, organizing, etc.). She is honestly a diamond in the rough and exceeded all expectations!
Without a doubt, I would recommend Christine to help any family postpartum. She is bright and is continuously trying to improve herself through continuing education and certifications. I honestly think she would succeed at anything she put her mind to and she definitely is by far one of the best doula's in the business.
9/27/2019
Christine was an amazing asset to my birthing team. She's responsive, full of great ideas/tips leading up to the birth, helpful during home visits, and very hands on during my labor. Her TENS unit was useful to me in the beginning of labor and the fact that she's spinning babies certified and knows how to work a rebozo was also a huge plus. Things like electric candles and a portable fan are also incredibly helpful during labor. Would definitely recommend Christine's services to anyone.
8/1/2019
Christine was amazing! This was my first pregnancy and I had SOOO many questions. Christine was patient, responsive, and made me feel like no question was off limits. She normalized things I was feeling and I was so grateful to have someone of experience to turn to. I had a pretty drawn-out labor and Christine was there to talk me through every step of the way, making sure I knew all my options. I feel like without her, I would've been calling the doctor every couple of hours. It was so nice to have a constant presence who knew me, what I was hoping for in delivery, and who could be an advocate with all the doctor and nurse change-overs we had. I would recommend Christine to anyone looking to have a wonderful experience with a doula.
8/1/2019
Christine is nothing short of heaven sent. Myself and my husband don’t have family in the US so we were pretty anxious about the delivery experience. Christine put our minds completely at ease the first time we met and she was so supportive through our entire birth and postpartum journey. I honestly don’t think I could have done this without Christine’s positive guidance and amazing humour! We will definitely be calling on Christine again the next time round as we couldn’t imagine going through this process without her. Thank you so Christine!
6/17/2019
We had an amazing experience working with Christine as our doula. She is a lovely, warm, knowledgeable, and very intuitive person and we immensely enjoyed all of our interactions with her. We feel she was absolutely essential for us in feeling confident and comfortable in our prenatal planning and the birth of our baby girl, and know it went much better for everyone (us, our baby girl, and our extended family too!) because she walked through it with us!
My husband appreciated that she equally included him in all of our discussions and in our preparation so he could feel confident playing a key supportive role, which we did not find with all doulas that we interviewed.
She provided a childbirth education class in our home since we struggled to find a class that worked for us and our busy schedules. She was available for questions any time and right when we needed her for the birth (which of course, happened to be 2 a.m.). She was reassuring and informative during the delivery. She visited us postpartum and helped with the essential new parent concerns like breastfeeding and our baby's first bath which was so important at an overwhelming time!
We would highly recommend Christine as a doula, especially for first time parents! Having a doula is indispensable to having a healthy birth!!
6/6/2019
We hired Christine because our baby was not sleeping. She was 6 months at the time and still waking up every 2 hours during the night and refusing to nap. We had some bad sleeping habits that got to the point where I was having to sleep sitting up with our baby on my arms. She worked with us and gave us useful tips about maintaining a consistent schedule (which she provided), playing loud white noise, and having a security breathable blanket which made a world of a difference for our baby. Right now she is taking naps on her own and is only waking up 2x during the night which is more than we could have dreamt of. We are very happy and will highly recommend her.
5/25/2019
Christine was such an important part of our birth experience! From the moment we first interviewed with her we knew she would be a dedicated, knowledgeable and positive part of our journey. After days of frustrating prodromal labor, Christine came to our home and worked with us through almost 12 hours of early labor that helped us progress safely and successfully before we could be admitted into the hospital. Once in the hospital she gracefully guided us through our desired birth plan while reminding us of all our options. She was our cheerleader the entire time, even after 24+ hours of being stuck with us, she kept us laughing and happy till the very end! Her love and passion for what she does is present in every interaction. We count ourselves lucky that Christine is part of our birth story.
5/18/2019
Christine is an amazing doula. From our very first meeting, my husband and I were drawn to her calm and friendly demeanor. She made us feel immediately at ease and helped us understand how her presence could support our birth experience. Given we were having twins, there was an extra degree of unpredictability about our birth plan, and Christine helped us navigate what different scenarios could look like. Christine's prepartum visits provided education and support, allowing us to feel empowered and prepared no matter how the birth progressed.
During our labor and delivery, Christine really shined. She supported us through an induction and labor, providing relaxing massage, coaching through laboring positions, and offering context and explanations when possible. We ended up needing a c section to safely deliver our twins, and Christine was able to join us in the OR. It was so reassuring to have her by our side, especially when my husband needed to go with our daughter to the NICU for a short period.
We couldn't be happier with our decision to hire Christine. Not only were we incredibly grateful for her support, but we also received glowing comments from the medical staff about what a pleasure it was to work with Christine. We highly recommend her as a doula.
5/13/2019
As a first time mother, I am so grateful to have had Christine as a vital part of my birth experience support team (along with my husband and sister). I felt comfortable with her immediately beginning with our first meeting and was especially impressed that she has pre- and post natal doula experience. From the prep sessions to my birth experience our connection and trust with Christine continued to flourish. She made herself reachable throughout the process for simple to complex questions and her wide range of experience gave my husband and I context and confidence as we prepared for the birth of our son.
She shared coping techniques with us ahead of time and gave us the opportunity to practice some of the tips and tricks so that when it came time for my (long) labor we were comfortable working through different positions. Having her in the room helped relieve our anxiety as she kept us informed throughout labor of what was going on, and was quick to update nurses of any changes or concerns I was experiencing. Having a trusted advocate present allowed my husband and I to focus on us. I also appreciated her healing touch, especially the hand, neck and lower back massages. She has a keen sense of intuition and gave us our space when we needed it and was present in all the right moments, while supporting us every step of the way.
After our son was born, she came to our house for a post natal night shift which was such a gift. She is a baby whisperer knowing our little one was in good hands I was able to get some quality rest. She also offered breast feeding tips as well as other newborn tips that we use to soothe our son.
She was so wonderful to have (and continue to have) by our side and I'd highly recommend Christine after our experience.
3/27/2019
I cannot speak more highly of Christine. My husband and I had our first child in January and thought a doula might be helpful (but honestly had no clue having never been through this before!). Christine far exceeded our expectations! She provided me, my husband and my Mum (who also attended the birth) with so much support. Leading up to labor, she was always available for questions. Once my labor began, she was amazing at making me feel safe, reassured despite all the new things I was experiencing and as comfortable as possible. Her approach was very flexible and accommodating. I know that having her there made my husband and Mum feel a lot more at ease too - they knew I was being so well cared for! One thing I really appreciate about Christine is her ability to partner with the nurses and doctors. Her personality, presence and knowledge gave both me and my family confidence in the process and I couldn’t imagine our son’s birth without her. We will definitely have Christine attend future births. I could not have dreamed of a more incredible birth experience and that’s largely because of Christine!
3/8/2019
I had the unmedicated birth of my dreams thanks to Christine! I really could not have done it without her. My labor was long (41 hours start to finish) and not once did Christine lose steam. Her positivity and patience remained throughout the process and she was such a supportive force. She was a great advocate for me in the delivery room and helped me know what questions to ask and how to navigate the process. She also was very skilled with respect to laboring positions- she would offer suggestions for poses to get into, and picked up on the ones I liked and would recommend trying them. She was also willing to go above and beyond and help however needed- we even put her on "mom" duty and she kept my mother (who lives in Atlanta, GA) updated with the labor progress!
It is obvious that Christine was born to go into doula work, she is a natural!
3/8/2019
My partner and I were so grateful to have made the decision to have a doula and were so glad that it was Christine. Her contribution was invaluable.
I had read about the value of a having a doula during childbirth, but remained on the fence about having one throughout most of my pregnancy. Ultimately, with my husband's strong encouragement, we decided it could be a benefit and found Christine. Our first discussion session with Christine came the same night we heard the horrific news about the loss of a friend's pregnancy. Christine was very understanding of the grief we were feeling and offered emotional support around this while also guiding us into a space to be present in the joy and anticipation of our baby and preparation for our labor as I was just two weeks from my due date. We knew we had made the right decision and that Christine was the missing support we needed at our birth.
Christine was supportive and responsive to my questions and concerns prior to going into labor and incredibly calming and reassuring during labor. She anticipated my needs in a way I really hadn't expected and in a way that even my husband and sister could not. She assisted us in cultivating the calm birthing environment that I could only have imagined was possible. When after more than three hours of pushing my OB wanted to discuss using a vacuum, she provided emotional support around the decision making and calm counseling and reframing, encouraging me to focus on my goal of a healthy birth for mom and baby, allowing me to make the decision to accept the intervention and feel comfortable with that decision. Following the birth she came to offer doula support at home within our first week at home. It was so lovely to have her help to get chores done, answer questions about infant care, help bath our baby, allow me to take a bath and even provide me with massage (as she had done throughout my labor).
= Available. Calendar last updated: 09-18-2024
= Available. Calendar last updated: 09-18-2024