Rachel

4/3/2023

The birth of my first child (son) was very traumatic. Despite being with a great practice, in a good hospital, in a good area, my voice was not heard, my needs were not met, and negligence occured. My son and I ended up being okay, but I required extensive therapy and suffered a great deal. The main issue was not allowing me to labor how I needed, forcing interventions that turned out to not be medically necessary, and having an emergency cesarian without making sure the epidural worked. I essentially had an unmedicated surgical birth, and no one even acknowledged me as I was suffering. It impacted both my son and I, espcially with bonding early on, and we are still healing almost 4 years later. I was scared to ever have another child, but knew we wanted more.

When we became pregnant with our second a few years later, I was excited but terrified. There were issues finding a facility that would allow for a VBAC attempt. After extensive research, we found a facility, and we found Abby. 

I truly mean it when I say she saved us. Our voices were heard. She gave us words when we couldn't find them. She made space for us in places we didn't even know we could take up space. There were still HUGE hiccups with the new practice we were using that altered the trajectory of how the birth could have occured. It still resulted in an emergency cesarian. But I was able to labor my baby. Abby made sure the medical professionals stopped and listened to us. She made it so my husband could support me without having to worry about what was going on around us. She held my hand and helped me be present in bringing our daughter into the world. She kept us safe. She helped heal wounds from our horrible birth experience years before, healing wounds with our son. 

Abby was physically part of our lives for a few months, but will be an integral part of our story for the rest of our lives. I am forever grateful for what she has done for me, for us. 

Ali

5/6/2022

Abby was my doula for my November 2021 birth and I can't recommend her enough! My husband is in the National Guard and unfortunately was not able to be home for the birth of our first child. This obviously caused my anxiety to spike, I worried how I was going to be able to go through this enormously emotional and physical experience without him. My mom was going to be there (we actually interviewed Abby together, she was a perfect fit!) but I also wanted a doula to help make this experience calm and peaceful. I'm so glad I found Abby. She provided the experience, support and education I needed to feel confident and strong. She decorated the room with twinkle lights and pictures of my husband. She stayed overnight even when I told her she should go home and rest. It wasn't a short labor - he was sunny-side up and wouldn't decsend completely - but I felt strong and determined and centered and I attribute that to the support my mother and Abby provided. I am extremely grateful for her. She also did a home check up a couple weeks later and left me some awesome homemade chicken noodle soup. I really couldn't have asked for more.

Aisha

10/9/2021

When I first approached Abby I was in a very overwhelming place. My baby girl had been a micro-preemie and came home with an Ng-tube. It wasn't until she was 6 months old that we were able to begin our breastfeeding journey and I had no idea what to expect. Abby was a Godsend, she was so supportive and informative. She was a safe person to confide all my fears and frustrations. I am so glad I reached out because it really is true what they say, we mommas need a village to care for us too. I would recommend Abby's care 1000%

Gabrielle Rush

9/25/2021

I had my baby girl July 2020 at Good Sheperd which meant majority of my pregnancy was through covid. Our first few meetings were held over zoom calls but regardless of the physical distance she has a way of making you feel informed and at ease. Abby is a wealth of knowledge in this field and provided not only me but my boyfriend and mom with an abundance of information leading up  to birth. She is very receptive and understanding of your personal situation. At any point I felt uneasy I was able to shoot her a text and she would get back to me (sometimes within minutes) with different coping mechanisms and articles from different books.

During labor and delivery I had an understanding of everything going around me so I wasn’t left with any surprises. Whenever the doctors left the room she would go through what they said (because let’s be honest medical terms can be very confusing lol) and made sure I was comfortable with the choices before moving forward.

As for my labor and delivery- I could not have asked for a better experience. Abigail set up the room so comfortably for my boyfriend and I. She had brought fairy lights, an essential oil diffuser, little games for us play while in labor, and a speaker.  Not to mention she also took some great pictures with her camera! Abigail is a very inclusive and non invasive doula. My boyfriend was worried when we got a doula that she would take the place of his support but we can both attest that she adds it! She was able to show him ways to support me during labor and ease his nerves about delivery.

The thing I loved most about Abigal as our doula is that she will provide you with so much knowledge and techniques leading up to your big day that when it comes you are able to enjoy it and not worry about what is next.