The Adams Family

9/30/2024

Aside from Jelly's sweet disposition upon meeting, her skillset in cooking traditional Chinese meals was why we decided to go with her. We didn't plan on doing postpartum confinement, but we ended up doing so due to an emergency c-section with the harsh reality of hemorrhaging 3.5 litres of blood, so I was severely anemic. Jelly was there in my postpartum recovery room to setup the carseat and to drive me home. Upon returning home, she followed the musicality of the postpartum journey:

- The first month was a haze, where I had to rest from anemia, so it was Jelly who took care of everything throughout the daytime and my husband who took care of everything during every single night shift. While I slept throughout the days, my husband's time with Jelly was a bootcamp on how to take care of our baby for his night shifts, from cloth diaper changing to putting on outfits to bottlefeeding.

-  She cooked up a storm: day-of meals to eat right away and to have a variety prepped for the following evenings. It was so important to have nutrient-dense meals to produce breastmilk without having my body resort to my own body's nutrient reserves. Even after getting the hang of things, the food that she had prepped lasted for after her time with us, which was critical to the transition into new parenthood without Jelly.

- Do not underestimate the work of cleaning and breastfeeding. Jelly washed and sterilized pump parts and bottles after each use; brought the breast pump to me every 2h for 20 min; and trained our newborn on learning good latch.

- Encouraged me to shower even when I didn't feel like it. Patted me dry. Checked the healing progress of my wounds.

- Jelly attended pediatric doctor appointments with my husband, where he learned how to independently care for our newborn by watching Jelly perform diaper/outfit changes hygienically and efficiently, which helped him optimize our diaper bag needs.

Joel and Gloribeth

9/23/2024

Our experience with Jelly is hard to put into words but we will try.  As first time parents we were feeling all of the emotions and nervousness coming home from the hospital, but with Jelly by our side in the first few weeks at home were an incredible experience.  Jelly's ability to inform us, answer our questions and be a guiding light was beyond our hopes of what she would bring to our family.  She was incredible with her guidance and knowledge around breastfeeding, and general care of our baby.  She also encouraged us to sleep while she was managing all other aspects of our baby (and we might add she is incredible with dogs, even our crazy 7 month old puppy!).  Anytime we are with friends and family we talk about our experience with Jelly, and above all, she was part of our family for the time she spent with us.  We would highly recommend her services, compassion, care and positivity for any family bringing home a new member of their household.  

Willy

9/4/2023

Angelica was amazing.  We hired her to help after the birth of our daughter (our first kid) and she was perfect.  Our daughter came a month early and Angelica was critical to helping us through those tough few weeks.  She's incredibly knowledgeable and competent, as well as flexible and easy to work with, and just a joy to have around!

Kristy

5/3/2023

Angeleca really is the best postpartum doula a family could hope for. As someone who was apprehensive about having a doula, I was so impressed how Angeleca was able to immediately put me at ease and make me feel so comfortable having her in our home and taking care of our new little man. Not only is she equipped with expert knowledge and skills regarding infant care and postpartum recovery care for mothers, she is simply a joy to have around! Such a joy in fact that she can even make 3am feedings a fun time-a nearly an impossible task. The other quality that really impressed me about Angeleca is her helpfulness. She had the uncanny ability to anticipate my needs to the point where she understood what I needed even before I did! The fact that she’s an amazing cook, gives fantastic feet and calf massages, keeps the kitchen and breast pump/bottles clean and tidy, and draws luxurious baths for exhausted mothers is simply the cherry on top. She operated with such ease and confidence with our baby-he simply adored her- and I trusted her completely with him. She also helped me out tremendously with guidance and instruction when I was struggling with breastfeeding. Angeleca truly is an amazing doula and person and my husband and I are so grateful for all she taught us. I’m definitely a better parent because of her. 

Sam and Kiks

3/5/2023

We had the best experience with Angelica and would recommend we to anyone! She helped make our transition to being first time parents so nice. Her help made sure we could focus on bonding with the baby and not frantically googling things or stressing the small stuff. She's also a great cook! We miss her already! 

Wen

2/25/2023

Angeleca was our post partum doula for ~3 months for our first born son, and worked a mix of both day and nights for us. She was a complete lifesaver, and we were SO lucky to have her! On the first day right after we returned from the hospital, she proactively prepared food to make sure we were fed and could get some much needed rest, and immediately jumped into action in taking care of our son. She was so patient and great at working with our son, it put us at ease. She was also incredibly knowledgeable about a wide range of topics (e..g, postpartum care, breastfeeding techniques, feeding, misc newborn care, babywearing), it helped us to build confidence as first time parents and helped with the recovery process. In addition, Angeleca is a fantastic cook, and kept us well fed. 

Beyond all the help that Angeleca provided, she was simply a joy to be around. She was always very positive and encouraging. We would highly recommend her without hestitation to any of our friends!

Andrew

1/16/2023

We hired Angeleca as our doula from Nov-Dec 2022 and we were so thankful for everything she did for our family. Postpartum care in Asian culture is very important and Angeleca was very knowledgeable in postpartum care. She cooked nutritious meals for mom (and dad too), brought ingredients for sitz baths, wrapped mom for belly binding, and helped out with our daughter when needed. We were so glad we found Angeleca to be our Doula and would recommend her if you are looking for a postpartum doula!

Rajeev

10/4/2022

Angeleca is an incredible post partum doula! She had years of expertise as an infant nanny before becoming a doula. Beyond her credentials and motivation, she has so much warmth, empathy, and communication skills. We didn't even realize how fortunate and lucky we were to find her!

From the beginning, she always knew what we needed and she was part of the family. She navigated all the relationships with grandparents  perfectly. She was excellent in the baby care, helping set up our place before baby was born, and supporting us during nights. We had a roller coaster post partum period coupled with early going back to work - she was so flexible during our times of vulnerability. She stepped up over and over again (going beyond our contract) to support us during our journey and was 100% reliable.

Because of her amazing help, kindness, and flexibility, we were well poised to venture and travel with our baby for vacation after a couple months. Angeleca is also a phenomenal cook which was an unexpected but amazing thing on top of everything she brought to our home.

We actually missed her presence in the home after our baby daughter was 3 months old and we were ready to continue on past the newborn phase.  She always described her goal was to help us so we would not need her. She was our baby daughter's first friend! We cannot rave enough about her, and feel so lucky to have met her. Unequivocally recommend! 

Victor

4/29/2022

I have hired 3 different doulas so far from DoulaMatch.net and Angeleca is deifinitely the best of them. Some doula charge you a quite high rate but their work is just so-so. They only do minimal work to meet your basic requirements. Sometimes, I am wondering if the money is really worthy.

However, Angeleca brings us a very different experience compared to others. She always exceeds our expectations by not only finshing all of the work we asked with high quality but also actively helping us to share more work. For example, each time after her visit, everything in baby's room is always neat and well-orginized. 

If you are looking for a doula to help you take care of a new baby, I would highly recommend Angeleca.  I can assure you that every penny you spend is more than worthy. 

Sushmita

11/2/2021

Angeleca joined us when our son was just 2wks old. I had an unplanned c-section with a difficult recovery and she helped me a lot. She guided us on every aspect as we being first time parents had no clue. The very first day she taught us baby wearing and side laying breastfeeding positions.

I truly believe I have been successful with exclusive breastfeeding my son only because of her. She encouraged me to pump during her shifts so that I have a small stash for when I go back to work. She helped me with various breastfeeding positions and also her lactation cookies are bomb!!

My son had extreme gassy issues, she was so helpful during all her shifts. She was with us during weekdays for daytime and also did overnight for us. She helped us tremendously by ensuring we had food to eat. She did cooking for us and would ensure we had food in the fridge always. Helped us run errands like grocery shopping, returns. Above all she met my baby boy at his pace. My baby boy is a big time contact napper and angeleca would let him contact nap on her while I rested. Angeleca was with us for 4months and we are so sad to let her go. We love her and cannot recommend her enough.

Laura

9/6/2021

Angeleca was a breath of fresh air when we needed it. She helped us with our twin boys during their first month home, and continues to help us when we need. What struck us about her- and now having experience with a couple of other doulas- is that she gets "right in there" in a very respectful way. She is very hands on, and immediately set us at ease. With other doulas, I've felt timid in asking them to engage in more support for us around the house, but Angeleca takes the initiative herself, listens, picks up on what's important to us, and makes it happen. This is amazing, since it's hard for me to ask for help. She has taught us some better systems for our daily life with twins, and is very good with the kiddos. She also has taken the time to ask us about how we are doing, and gives us a platform to share and sift through our thoughts with her- which we didn't realize how needed that was until it was happening with Angeleca. She was the first person we trusted with the boys, so we could leave the house and go on a much needed date. She is dependable, "on top if it" and we highly recommend her services!

S Saigal

9/4/2021

Angeleca helped out family after giving birth to twins and had a toddler to care for as well. She mainly handled days but assisted with a couple of nights I requested as well. She was a complete natural with my toddler, spoke her language and somehow got her to do everything I was never able to! Eat, play elsewhere if babies napped, get dressed and style her hair (a first!). She adored and respected Angeleca and this was so heartwarming to see as a mom. I was able to bond with babies while she spent quality time with my toddler and kept her from feeling left out. With the twins she handled their needs like a boss. Nothing frazzled her and I always felt confident leaving them in her care day or night. Her calm demeanor is contagious and helped with tantrum de escalation daily. Makes a mean omelette also! Highly recommend Angeleca as someone who will help you feel like things are taken care of with baby so you can rest. Toddler still asks about her and misses playing with her. Always punctual as well. Enjoy your peace of mind if you hire her!

Liz

6/17/2021

Angeleca was an incredible support and positive presence in our lives when we needed it most. I have been recommending her to all my friends who are pregnant, and we strongly recommend her to any family!

EXPERIENCED AND TRUSTWORTHY: We felt comfortable having Angeleca in our home and caring for our baby, and our baby was comfortable with her too. Angeleca was prompt to respond to baby-related questions and concerns, and provided helpful resources along with her own experience and practical knowledge. She helped walk us through many baby-care firsts, such as bathing, nail trimming, and baby-wearing. 

CARING AND SUPPORTIVE: I experienced traumatic post-partum medical issues, and Angeleca’s calm, warm, caring presence and thoughtful questions helped us unpack our experience. She checked on my well-being at each visit, and provided reassurance and practical support in response to my new mom insecurities, which helped build my confidence and competence. We appreciated that she focused on the whole family as a unit, caring for our well-being as parents and people, as well as our baby.

PROACTIVE AND RESPONSIVE: Angeleca was proactive and found something to do on her own that was useful and helped our household stay organized and peaceful. Angeleca was also really good at anticipating needs: If the baby seemed hungry and I was about to start breastfeeding, she was right there with my pillow, water bottle and a burp cloth.

ELIMINATION COMMUNICATION (EC) AND CLOTH DIAPERING: Angeleca is very experienced with both of these. For EC, she shared online resources and did an observation session so that we could learn the baby’s cues for peeing and pooping. She also talked us through the pros and cons of each type of cloth diaper cover, and sent written recommendations based on our situation and needs.

We are so grateful to have had Angeleca alongside us at the beginning of our parenthood journey.

Erika and Jim

5/30/2021

Angeleca's care brought our family from a state of crisis to one of stable capability.

We were struggling with lack of sleep, lack of confidence, and the challenges of needing to get on with life's responsibilities while still in the deep end of learning to be first time parents to a newborn. Angeleca joined us when our son turned 5-wks old and was with us for 2 months providing overnight care for 3-nights/week. She took care of the on-call feeding, diapering, burping, and nightime snuggles with our son during those nights. This enabled the two of us to get some needed stretches of sleep. She listened to our worries, anxieties, and questions, and helped us develop our parenting skills and find workable solutions that fit our family.

Welcoming a stranger into our home to care for our only son was not a small thing. Angeleca understood and respected the intimacy and responsibility of her role. We found Angeleca to be trustworthy, reliable, competent, dedicated, enthusiastic, caring, encouraging, and stabilizing. We appreciated her willingness to follow our parenting preferences and her coaching when we felt clueless. We were also thankful that Angeleca took COVID safety precautions seriously.

When our son was four weeks old, we were wild-eyed with sleep deprivation, were challenged by anxieties, and had little confidence in our capabilities. Because of Angeleca's care, we were capably independent new parents with a thriving little boy 8-weeks later. She made a positive difference in our lives and we recommend her care.