Testimonial for Melissa Espey-Mueller
I hired Melissa to be my doula and paid the $1000 fee up front. I met with her to interview her and second meeting was a week or so before I delivered. I asked specifically for the phone number to a back up doula in the case she wasn't available. She said it's not necessary bc "I will be at your birth."
Well the night I went into labor I called her at 9pm to tell her contractions started at 6pm. She said she was tired and leaving another birth and going home to rest and to call her when my contractions were 5 minutes apart lasting one minute long for an hour. She suggested drinking a glass of wine and taking a bath and rest. My husband and I called her later 6 times - YES 6 TIMES - and she never answered and there was no option to leave a voicemail. Within the next hour my labor progressed and my water broke and I hit transition at home. We had to rush to the hospital so quickly at 4am that I barely made it. I arrived at the hospital 3 minutes before my baby was delivered. It was VERY scary, traumatic, frustrating and confusing, which are the reasons I hired a doula to begin with - to help and support me and my husband through my natural delivery.
Melissa came to the hospital for about 20 minutes arriving an hour after my baby was born and helped a little with nursing. She never called me to follow up or set up a follow up appointment. We emailed her we were upset and asked for a partial refund and she agreed to help me with nursing. She came over twice a few weeks after the birth which was in fact helpful - but a very weak attempt to remedy the situation AND not worth the $1000 we paid.
I am so disappointed in her service, communication, unreliability and refusal to refund any money when she did NOTHING during my labor and delivery and made it worse. I write this because I want to protect other women from going through what we went through.
-Sara Reardon
March 03, 2016
Melissa Espey-Mueller
VOTED BEST DOULA IN DALLAS
Birth Fee: Not specified
