Testimonial for Jennifer Mendelson

My best friend worked with Jennifer and had nothing but fantastic things to say, so I knew she was going to be a huge help after the birth of my son Tom. That said, I didn't know what kind of help I'd need exactly, or just how impactful it would be to have Jennifer working with us for the first 7 weeks of his life. From the beginning I loved the fact that she knew just the right way to check in on me, since that's the first step to happy mom and baby time. She helped us through a lot of firsts, as well as difficult challenges with acid reflux, with expert advice and without any judgment whatsoever or any one way of doing things. Neither my husband nor I have family nearby, but even if we did, having a professional who is also completely objective was what we needed to build our confidence as new parents. By the end of our time together I found myself really looking forward to Jennifer's visits not just for the hands on practical advice which we benefitted from, but as I would a super smart (and very funny!) friend who I knew had my and Tom's best interests at heart 100%. I'm now telling all the pregnant women I know that they absolutely should hire a post partum doula (Jennifer ideally). We hire experts for everything else it seems - to do our taxes, to manage our finances, even to detail our cars - why on earth would we not hire an expert to help with, while the most amazing, arguably one of the most stressful experiences in life? Hiring Jennifer for Tom's first months was literally the best decision I made related to bringing Tom home & it set us up for a very healthy & happy babyhood.

-Corinna Calhoun

February 24, 2011