Ellie Chapman

3/17/2023

Highly recommend Maria - she was our birth doula for both of my daughters and could not speak more highly of her. She has a great calming presence, is very knowledgeable and a true asset in the delivery room no matter what your birth plan is. We loved working with her and would do it again in a heart beat. 

Serena

1/22/2023

Do yourself a favor and hire Mia as your doula right now. As a first time mom, I thought having a doula in the delivery room would be a good idea. I figured she would help advocate for my birth plan and guide me through my contractions - basic stuff. But in actuality, Mia was my lifeline, coach, and saving grace through my entire labor, delivery, and first few weeks as a new mom. You can prepare all you want, do the research, and attend the classes, but there's nothing quite like having someone who's seen it all and helped countless women make this unique transition. Mia's was the shoulder I leaned on as I recovered from my delivery and learned how to breastfeed. She is a wealth of information and even responded to my 4am texts to reassure me and give me tips and guidance. In summary, my birth and recovery experience would have been incredibly scary and far more difficult had I not had Mia there by my side. 12/10 would recommend. Get her while she's available as she takes on only 2 clients per month so that she can give her undivided care and attention to each mama.

Kelsey and Nikhil K

1/15/2023

It is difficult to put into words all the ways I am grateful to Mia for supporting my husband and me through the birth of our first child.

From the first conversation we had with Mia, we knew she was different- we appreciated her candor and immense knowledge from her many years of experience as a doula and lacation consultant, but also her own experience giving birth to her three children. Mia always had a calm and collected demeanor, while also being straightforward and supportive about when to speak up and ensure my voice would be heard. Maybe most important was that she would meet us twice before my birth and twice after. No other doula offered to spend so much time with us prior to the birth and in the end, that time was so important for me to not only get to know Mia, but also get to know my future baby!

Mia came to help me set up my breast pump, she taught us how to swaddle, she showed me how to latch a baby onto my chest.. she came and made sure I knew what I needed to feel ready beyond even just discussing my birth plan (which we did, extensively!) When the baby was born and I needed to start breastfeeding, not only was she there to help, but I knew what to do thanks to her guidance beforehand. It was invaluable to me feeling prepared and confident. I had no doubts thanks to Mia's support.

During my birth, Mia was the epitome of supportive. She came to our home and guided me through each contraction, helped us ensure we got to the hospital when it was the right time (and not too early, which we probably would have done otherwise) advocated for me when they tried to have me labor in an uncomfortable position, and maybe best of all- created a moment of calm in the midst of my transition contractions, an incredibly scary and stressful moment. With Mia's help I had a safe, healthy and unmedicated birth. 

If we have another child, I will most certainly be making sure Mia is by our side again. THANK YOU MIA!!

Courtney Evans

12/16/2022

My husband and I are so grateful to have had Mia as our birth doula. She is so knowledgeable and truly helps you to advocate for yourself and for your experience. I don't think our labor and birth would have gone as smoothly if she hadn't had been there. She is calming and really helps put you at ease. We highly recommend Mia if you are looking for a birth doula!

Urvi Gogwekar

11/21/2022

We hired Mia to help us with our first baby. She is extremely helpful, friendly and approachable. Being first time parents she helped us make birth plan, exercises to help ease labor. She patiently answered all the questions and doubts we had. She is always willing to help out for any questions you may have even post delivery. Mia is extremely flexible and helps you make the right decisions and walks you  thru the different scenarios one should thinking of. During labor she was the guiding light and gave me the perfect directions while pushing. I cannot recommend her enough! Thanks Mia for all the help, you are an angel!

Allison L

8/14/2022

We chose Mia after about 6 other Doula interviews and we are so glad we chose her!  Mia was just what I needed for the surprises birth and the hospital threw at us.  She was reassuring when I needed it and focused on me when the hospital staff was overworked and unable to give me the attention I needed.  She also was my biggest advocate when she knew something wasn't right and helped me take the steps I needed.  Mia was our angel watching over us during a difficult and natural labor. She is amazing in every way and I can not recommend her in every way.  She is truly committed to the birth, before and after, and now our family.  She gave us all the attention we needed and continues to visit and answer calls and texts. 

Shaherose

5/18/2022

Working with Mia is like having an empathetic coach to guide, support, and train you for labor and delivery. She spent an incredible amount of time with us, above and beyond what we imagined to getting tune with what was important to us, and then supported that fully. The skills she taught us not only helped us during labor but will be useful for us for every medical decision going forward! She is incredibly responsive and remembers every detail.

You can tell Mia is passionate and dedicated to her craft and her clients. She’s always growing and learning new skills and tools and she took the time to connect with us on a personal level. I would highly recommend Mia to any family! 

Jaimie

2/15/2022

I was referred to Mia by our midwife at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. From the outset, Mia was professional, knowledgeable, and compassionate. In particular, her online profile made it clear that she worked with "birthing persons with anxiety, PTSD, and trauma," which was an excellent fit. I had had a severely negative medical encounter that made the prospect of birthing in a hospital stressful and daunting. However, Mia's diverse experience and non-judgmental approach made it easy to open up to her in order to identify my triggers, practice self-advocacy, and create my birth plan. 

From asking nurses to silence medical equipment alarms to requesting a flesh-colored hospital sock to cover the IV port in my arm to encouraging me to listen to my own body rather than defer to someone else, Mia made sure that I knew that I had choices and exercised them. Her evidence-based approach and training in hypnobirthing allowed me to imagine, and have, a natural, unmedicated birth far better than anything I'd been led to expect from others’ birth stories. I can genuinely say that the beauty of meeting my daughter in this calm, supported way healed a lot of my medical PTSD. This is absolutely due to the care that Mia took to empower me and my husband with practical techniques that allowed us to handle this life event with confidence and as a team.

Mia works with hospital staff rather than against them, and she knows when to step forward or hang back in terms of personal support as well as medical advocacy. During both pregnancy and labor, I felt absolutely safe and trusted her to guide me through circumstances--incl. an induction at thirty-seven weeks--that would have otherwise overwhelmed me.

Hiring Mia felt like a gift that I gave both to myself and to my family, and this continues to be the case postpartum. I'd highly recommend having Mia in your corner. In my husband's words, our experience with her was life-changing.

Sara

12/13/2021

Working with Mia was amazing. It was recommended to me to get a doula but I really had no idea. Doulas are so critical for labor/births. But Mia had the extra care. From meeting her before hand to texting her with lots of questions. To having to be induced- she was there. I really did not have a birth plan but Mia helped me figure out what was truly important to me. She comes with her Mary Poppins bag- it makes it nice. She had things that helped with labor or items that my support person forgot. She set up a relaxing bath for my labor. She helped during some trying times and was there to support me along the way. She also gets along well with hospital staff.  You will not regret hiring Mia! 

Deliana

12/10/2021

Mia was the best fit for our family. She was so nice and easy to work with. She brought a lot of calmness and clarity to the process. She gave me really good pointers about pumping and breastfeeding so that there wasn't as much guesswork when the baby arrived. She also had me and my husband clarify our birth plan to each other, pointing out things we may have missed. Based on that plan she advocated for us when labor came and I was pretty much out of it. 

She made herself available through phone and text the whole time she worked with us. I leaned on her a lot the last few days of pregnancy when you just want the baby out. She calmed me down and helped me focus on the end goal. 

Having her by my side was so reassuring and ultimately one of the best experiences of my life.

Louisa

12/7/2021

Having Mia be part of our birth team was the best decision that my husband and I made in our birthing process. We did not even think about hiring a doula until we took our parenting class in the third trimester, and leared about all the benefits of having a doula. We suddently realized the vastness of what we did not know about labor and caring for an infant and realized how much we could use the additional support of a doula. I feel so lucky that we were still able to work with Mia, despite our procrastination. Mia has a refreshing openness and warmth that made it immediately comfortable to share such an intimate life event. At every step of the way Mia was a wealth of knowledge and support and I don't know how we would have done it without her. My only regrets are not taking Mia's advice sooner (about doing a full inversion during labor, about eliminating dairy to help my little guys milk protein intolerance, etc...). Mia greatly exceeded our expectations before, during and after birth and I cannot recommend her highly enough!!