Lorena Galliot

12/30/2021

My husband and I had Sara's support for the birth of our daughter Anaïs, and we're so glad we did. As first-time parents, everything about the labor, delivery and post-partum process was new and foreign to us. Sara helped de-mystify a lot of it during her prenatal visits, listening to our preferences and answering our questions in an evidence-based, judgment-free way. Her mission was to support our preferences in the birth process without imposing her own. We were very lucky to have a labor free of complications, and Sara's presence helped make it an enjoyable and empowering experience. 

Sara arrived at our home in the middle of the night to assess early labor, helped us ascertain when we should head to the hospital as contractions accelerated, and once there and the epidural was inserted, helped create a relaxing, pleasant environment in the delivery room with music & electric candles and fairy lights (as agreed during one of our prenatal visits). She was attentive, responsive and knowledgeable about using movement to help labor progress despite the limitations of the epidural (using peanut ball and shifting positions). At one slow point where labor stalled, she left the room,  encouraging my husband and me to have some "sexy time" to stimulate oxytocin flow and boost contractions (it worked!).  When came time to push, she switched the music to the motivational "push playlist" we'd put together to give me the energy boost I needed! 

During her post-partum visit, Sara brought a delicious, homemade chicken stew with healing bone broth for us to eat, gave lactation and baby-wearing tips, and watched our newborn while my husband and I took a much-needed nap. Much appreciated in the early post-partum haze. We recommend her highly! 

Jeremy Sisselman

7/28/2021

I was really happy that we decided to work with Sara.   We actually had done a lot of the prep work with another, virtual Doula, but then late in the game/very close to birth, we decided we also wanted in-person support.   We interviewed several Doulas and then hired Sara because we found her to be super easy to talk to, friendly, helpful, and knowledgable.  

We were pleased that our initial impression was correct!   Sara couldn't have been better to work with.   On the night labor began, Sara dropped everything and quickly made it to our place in almost no time at all, then went to the hospital with us and stayed for a very long time throughout the whole birth.   She helped with lots of physical touch, on basically every single contraction until my wife used the epidural.  And then also helped with ambiance, and just being an extra set of hands, picking up food, doing anything that would help the whole time.  She also put her training to the test and would drop helpful bits of knowledge at the right times.   

After the birth, she also came for a postpartum visit (and offered to come for more).   

Overall, would highly recommend working with Sara!