Testimonial for Kim James from Deb Alterman

Testimonial for Kim James

As luck would have it, my contractions kicked in at the very end of my delivery window when we knew our original birth doula would be out of town. We first met Kim, the back-up doula, when she dropped by our house with a TENS unit to help get through these contractions. Kim was lovely and personable and gave us lots of helpful suggestions on getting through these pre-labor contractions. The following afternoon, she invited us to stop by her house and chat for a while to see how the contractions were going. When the contractions got more serious at 9:30pm, she came by our house and sat with me for a couple of hours while I was in the bathtub so my husband could get a nap. She really went above and beyond without any hesitation, even before we left for the hospital, despite the fact she was “back-up”.

In the hospital, Kim was incredibly helpful at key points throughout a long and tough labor. Though we ended up having to give up on our 3 primary goals from our birth plan, she helped us feel good about our choices in the context of how labor was progressing – pointing out that it’s possible to move with an epidural, and reminding me that we weren’t leaping into heavy interventions left and right. She helped us talk through the decision to have a c-section, and once we came to a medically reasonable conclusion she then helped us to feel good about the decision consistent with our values. She gave us good advice about how to approach the situation in the OR and photograph it, so I am able to look back and see what happened while I was so out of it. Her notes on the birth helped me reflect on it after the fact and remember all of what we had been through. Kim single-handedly prevented an unexpected c-section from becoming a scary or traumatic experience, and minimized my distress about it after the fact. We are so grateful she was there for the birth of our daughter, and we highly recommend working with her!

-Deb Alterman

November 02, 2010