Testimonial for Janine Mason
We decided to work with a doula because my husband was working overseas until a few weeks before my due date, and I wanted to have support just in case our baby came early. We interviewed several doulas in our area, and Janine was the most down-to-earth and genuine of all of them. It came down to the question: "with whom do I think I'll feel most comfortable in my most vulnerable, open state?" and she was the one! We got together many times leading up to our son's birth, sometimes spontaneously running into each other at events in our little town, and so we also got to know her sweet little family. We'd planned on a natural birth - having been through the high intervention process of IVF to start our pregnancy - I wanted to give my body a chance to do the end part on its own! But on my due date, we discovered that our boy had flipped back to breech, and so we had to decide between an external version and induction (with only a 50% chance of turning him and still possibly leading to an emergency C-section) or choosing to schedule a C-section for the next morning. We were so disappointed and scared, and when we got home, called Janine to tell her the news. She helped us calm down, and gave us the superb advice of taking a break to eat lunch before we made our decision (we were feeling pretty strung out from the stress, and doing something "normal" really helped bring us back to earth). In the end we decided that a planned surgical birth would be the gentlest, most peaceful way for our son to be born. Janine sat with us and kept us cool-headed while I was prepped for surgery by keeping the conversation light and totally non-birth related, and brought us a lovely basket of snacks and homemade banana bread (the girl can bake!!), and a super-cute moose blankie for our little guy after he was born! She is just so sweet and a truly grounding, calm presence; we are glad to know her and so thankful she helped us feel at peace about how our birth turned out. :)
-Aimee Parnell
September 21, 2016
Janine Mason
Rooted in Love ~ Doula
Birth Fee: $1800
