Testimonial for Erin Stertz-Follett, Hypnobirthing Educator & Doula
Ten seconds after meeting Erin, I knew she was going to be my doula. I had done my research, read her profile, and read pretty much her entire website. We were kindred... I contracted her to also provide childbirth education - I figured with all those letters after her name, she knew what she was talking about - and I hated the hospital class we went to with our first child (I'm not a group person, I need time to process information, and I don't like asking questions about my lady-stuff in a room full of people).
Getting Erin's personalized attention, in our own home and with our older child present for some of it was the best thing we ever did. My labor and delivery was not ideal (it was awful) and pretty fast, so there wasn't a lot of opportunity for the hands-on support. Erin's childbirth education and prenatal visits prepared me and my husband to advocate for ourselves, to ask questions of our health team when we didn't understand what what happening, and to know *why* we had made the decisions about our birth plan that we did (seriously this was one of the hardest exercises she did with us; I hated it at the time and yet it proved vital to our birth experience).
All of that preparation and planning was infinitely more valuable than the entirety of her well-stocked doula bag (though had things gone as planned, I'm sure that half of that bag would have come into play at some point). And before I forget - her educational stuff is both fun and educational - the exercise with a balloon and a ping-pong ball is not to be missed - you (and your partner) have a new (and accurate) understanding of just what that uterus of yours is doing!
If I were to have another child, I would definitely call Erin first. And I recommend her to every mom I can. My four-year-old even recommends her because, in his words, "I love her. She's so nice."
-Rebekah Doyle
October 16, 2013
Birth Fee: $1800
