Megan

8/1/2022

My first birth was tough so I knew going in to my second that I wanted a doula to provide extra support for my husband and myself.  I found Anna and we clicked at our first meeting. I didn’t need any support during my pregnancy but Anna was always there and checked in on me periodically.  When labor started she was there and ready to help even though it was Father’s Day. Anna was flexible. She did whatever we needed from her in the moment: counter pressure, supporting my weight in a squat when my husband needed a break, keeping me hydrated, even parking our car when we transferred to the hospital. My birth didn’t go at all as planned but that’s why I’m so glad I chose to have Anna there with us. I felt supported, heard, and respected the whole time. I would recommend a doula and specifically Anna to anyone.

Megan Bruce

1/30/2018

Anna was incrediably supportive and helpful throughout out entire pregnancy and birth experience.  She listened to our previous birth experience without judgement and helped me to regain confidence with #2.  Whenever I had a question, Anna was there to answer it, she comforted me when I felt crazy or overwhelmed, and she calmed me down when I was uneasy with OB decisions.  My husband was very appreciative of Anna at the hospital.  Frankly, in labor he wasn't my favorite person.  I was a lot happier surrounded by empowering women.  I think Anna was a great guide throughout the entire birth process and for the moments immediatly after.  She moved seemlessly and anticipated my needs as the birth progressed and changed.  She always told me what was happening and asked my permission.  She was patient, kind, and made me laugh when it was all over.  We couldn't have appreciated her more.  Thank you Anna!

Amanda Lynne Meyer

1/4/2016

There are not enough words to express how much I have appreciated Anna as my doula! She honestly goes above and beyond her duties to make our whole family feel supported and loved!

My soul sister had a doula for her recent birth and highly suggested getting one since my husband (Rolf) and I have no close friends or family in the area that could help support our birth. My husband was a little unsure at first, but after our birth instructor also emphasized it being a good idea, he got on board. We interviewed three doulas and immediately after interviewing Anna, we turned to each other and said "Yup;" we knew she was the right fit for us.  Anna has this personality you just can't help but click and get along with- she is warm, passionate, honest, and knowledgeable; perfect for first-time parents.

Anna made everything so easy for us and time after time she was there supporting us. She did home visits for pre- and post-pregnancy (we live in Fayetteville), listened to our concerns, and offered sound advice. At our birth, she provided different positions, heat pack and pressure, rebozo, and ideas to help the birthing process. She helped me advocate for myself and keep me on track for my birth plan on items we could control. With her assistance, and the assistance of my birth team, we had a very powerful and empowering birth; I can honestly say the experience would not have gone as smoothly without her. After our birth, we had breastfeeding difficulties. When Anna heard, she came to visit and talk about what had happened as well as what we could do moving forward and offered some other suggestions.

In sum, Anna is an amazing and thoughtful woman who goes above and beyond our expectations. She has helped us meet our goals, and adjust them when things didn't go according to plan. Anna has been such a blessing to our family, our lives are better because we hired Anna as our doula.

Samantha Fortner

10/22/2015

I would highly recommend Anna to any one looking for a doula. She is worth her weight in gold! My husband was initially very skeptical that a doula was even necessary, in the beginning he only went along with the idea becuase I really wanted one as a first time mom. Of all the doula's we met, Anna's personality seemed to mesh well with his which is why we picked her. My husband is now the bigget doula cheerleader since we welcomed our son. I had both a complicated pregnancy and delivery. Anna was there for us through it all. I could always count on her when I needed some advice or just someone to listen. And when the delivery got tough she helped get me through it. I can safely say we avoided an emergency c-section by having her there. Our son was stuck transverse for a period of time and I had to push for 4 hours to bring our miracle baby into the world. Without Anna's coaching and position changes I don't think I could've successfuly had a vaginal delivery, let alone an unmedicated one. She kept me motivated when I was ready to quit and at times I really needed her to push me. She was also really great working with my squeamish husband. She even got him involved more than he initailly wanted to be. Which was HUGE for him! The NICU team had to take our son after birth and Anna was right there making sure they were getting their job done and immediately bringing him back to me. Skin-to-skn was super important to me and i was upset they had to take him. Anna made sure he was in my arms as soon as possible for skin-to-skin. When i started hemhorraging she had my husband skin-to-skin with the baby and was right back holding my hand and supporting me through the ordeal. It really allowed my husband to stay with the baby/bond and also have peace of mind that Anna was with me. We delivered a healthy 9.7lb boy and Anna was one of the most vital members of our birth team! If god ever blessed us with a 2nd miracle baby, Anna will definitely be there!!

Emily DeVan

9/11/2015

I am going to write at length about the lovely, Anna, but the skinny is that we highly recommend her!

My partner (John) and I met with 6 doulas, and we asked Anna to be our doula because we simply "clicked" with her. She was very relaxed, down to earth, calm, professional, kind, and helpful. During our pregnancy, Anna guided us in making a birth plan/ wish list, discussed coping mechanisms and spent time getting to know each other better. She was available by email or phone and as our due date drew closer she would check in and see how we were doing. I went to 42 weeks before we decided to induce. We called her in to the hospital early in the morning after starting induction the night before. When Anna arrived I was having frequent, intense contractions. A lot of the coping mechanisms I had expected to rely on (massage, music) turned out to not work for me. I wanted very little touch and other forms of stimulus. I even made poor John leave the room to chew his food at one point. :/  Anna arrived, asked me a few questions, and quickly helped find that a heating pad on my lower back with lots of pressure felt good to me. She kept this up through position changes throughout the rest of my labor. John was as involved as he wanted to be at any time-- Anna was very good at encouraging John's role as my primary support person. We labored and made it to the pushing stage but the baby was not tolerating contractions well, so we ended up choosing to get a c-section. Anna stayed nearby in case John had to accompany the baby to the NICU or something, but luckily baby Auggie and I both were fine. Meeting Auggie was the most amazing moment of my life thus far! Anna helped make sure we were ok in the recovery room, and left to give us time to bond. It was wonderful seeing her again at our postnatal visit, and she gave us a beautiful birth story written from her perspective. I treasure it! John and I only have good things to say about Anna!

Britney Farrell

8/22/2015

I cannot say enough about my wonderful experience with Anna...two times! And I know my husband feels the same way. I desired to have natural births with both of my pregnancies and despite how different each birth was, she helped me to accomplish it - I truly believe it wouldnt have been possible without her and I am forever grateful. She was with us every step of the way and went above and beyond - After two journeys together, I consider her not only an amazing doula but a friend :)

If any moms-to-be want to chat in more detail about my experience, I am happy to do so!

Britney

Amanda Miller

7/20/2015

I couldn't have asked for a more awesome Doula! With my second child I was determined to have a med-free birth. Anna helped make that possible by guiding me through my birthplan and helping me determine the best for my baby and I during birth. Throughout the pregnany she was always in touch, checking in,  and quick to respond to any questions and crazy paranoias I had. During labor she was the most amazing support for not only me, but for my husband as well! She guided and helped him as much as she did for me!  He has said SEVERAL times that he could not have helped me through my labor without her! We are truly blessed to have Anna in our lives, and when we have a third baby she will definitely be on the "first to know" list!

Brittani Kern

7/17/2015

Anna was an aandmazing help during the labor and delivery of my precious baby girl. My husband tells everyone he could not have done it without her. He was amazing as well, but he said it was great being able to just focus on my breathing with me and helping me because she was being proactive and thinking of things he didn't have to. She pushed on my back where it hurt, she had bags heated to help with the pain, she insisted on me drinking water every chance I got and eating at least bread when I finally gave in to an epidural. She stayed calm and was knowledgeable with information about the decisions we had to make. If we have another child in the future, we really want Anna again. We recommend her to everyone!

Malvika Dutt

6/30/2015

Anna was my doula for the birth of our first child. I liked how professionally she conducted her service. She was always prompt to respond to my text messages and phone calls. This gave me the confidence that she would definitely be there when I really needed her help.
As expected she arrived at our house very early in the morning when my labor pains had started. She suggested many ways for me to handle the contractions and was very adept at using her ribozo to relieve the very painful ones.
She was a great support all through my long labor and helped us with the many decisions we had to take regarding using medical interventions to speed up my labor, all the while helping me stick to my birth plan as much as possible.
She wrote up the details of the birth in the form of a birth story and gave it to me when she visited us post partum. It's great to have a detailed record of one of the most important events in my life.
I would definitely recommend her service as a doula!

kirsten reberg-horton

4/16/2015

When I asked my husband if he would recommend getting a doula to other expectant families, he said “without a doubt.” When I asked him “why?” he said that having Anna there made him more confident about the decisions that we were making during our daughter’s birth. It was good to have another, more experienced person there, on your side, helping you to evaluate what the nurses and midwives were telling you. Anna was incredibly positive and professional during our entire experience with her. She shared her opinions and knowledge without making us feel that if we made a different choice, that it would necessarily be the wrong choice. That’s a difficult balance to strike, and Anna does it well.

Anna supported me during contractions with rebozo and with coaching on breathing, as well as helping me to remember other strategies that were available. She encouraged me to use the bath, take walks, and stay with standing or sitting on the birthing ball when that felt right. She was observant and helpful without seeming to intrude. We are very grateful to Anna for partnering with us as we endured an extremely long induction process, and celebrating with us at the final birth of our beautiful daughter. We would recommend Anna to other couples looking for a doula.

All our best, Kirsten and Chris

Rachel Fann

10/25/2014

I first met Anna when I was pregnant with my third baby. She wor king on her doula certification at the time and needed to attend births as part of that process. I had had two babies already without a doula, including a rather difficult second labor, and didn't really think I needed a doula but was happy to let her come to help her out. I am so glad that I did! Anna was wonderful support and has become a wonderful friend as well as an amazing doula. In fact I was thrilled to have her once again by my side when I gave birth to my fourth baby three months ago. She is a kind, and caring woman and worked tirelessly to make sure I was comfortable.

Brookelyn Vance

10/10/2014

I wasn't sure I needed a doula  at first. I was planning a home birth and my husband and I had taken some birthing classes. I decided to go ahead and meet with Anna anyway and see if I could benefit from having a doula. She met with my husband and I one afternoon, and we immediately clicked and ended up talking for hours. I knew then I wanted/needed Anna at my birth. My husband and I were still talking things over when the unexpected happened. My blood pressure got really high and I was told I could no longer have the home birth I had been planning and I had to be induced. I immediately contacted Anna explained what was going on and asked if she could be available last minute. She agreed... That was on of the best decisions I made about my birth. Anna was amazing! She talked to me when I was having a hard time dealing with not getting the birth I had wanted and once she got to the hospital she became a God send. She talked me through every contraction, did counter pressure on my back to help with the back pain, encouraged me to keep eating and drinking, and kept suggesting different positions to help get through the pain. I pushed for over three hours, Anna was by my side the whole time encouraging me and making sure I had plenty of water... Afterwards when it was just my husband and I again he told me how grateful he was that we had hired Anna as well because he had forgotten everything we learned in birthing class from seeing me in so much pain. Anna was able to tell him things to do to help me and I know that was such a relief for him.

Christina Willliams

10/2/2014

Anna attended the home birth of my 2nd daughter. She is not only kind, caring, and thoughtful, she did amazing things that helped with the back labor pain. I highly recommend Anna for anyone looking for a greatbirth support person!

Leslie Overby

7/11/2014

Anna was great. I was VERY nervous at the end of my second pregnancy because I had such a bad birthing experience with my first child. She was able to calm all my fears and I ended up having the best experience. I was able to have my baby naturally and very quickly because I was more confedent having someone who knew how to help me through the contractions. She was calm and collected the whole time and was very good with my husband and mother and how to be involved and removed at the same time.

Tara White

7/2/2014

Anna and I have been friends for a couple of years. I hired her as my doula for my second birth and she was very supportive throughout my pregnancy. Unfortunately, through no fault of her own, she arrived only 15 minutes before my son was born. Even though things didn't work out as I had hoped I was happy to have her there and would definitely hire her again. :)