Testimonial for Laura DePasquale, CD(DONA) from Serena DePhillis

Testimonial for Laura DePasquale, CD(DONA)

My husband and I were late to the game with getting a doula (I was 34 weeks). After reseraching on doula match, we were really impressed with Laura's reviews. After mentioning to my midwife that we were considering a doula, she mentioned Laura right away, without realizing that we were already considering her.

My husband's biggest fear was that I would go into labor on a Friday night after a long week at work and he would be so drained from work that he would be a horrible support system. Sure enough, early Saturday morning at 1230 am I woke him up telling him I was in labor. We called Laura right away, and you would never know that we woke her just up. She was so calm and reasuring and reminded us of the tips she had tought us during our sessions with her. Within an hour the contractions were 2 minutes apart. Laura offered to come to our house, but the midwife recommended we come to the hospital at this point. We live 5 minutes from the hospital, and we only beat Laura by 10 minutes.

During the whole labor, she was calm and supportive. I was able to use the shower, tub and yoga ball during the course of the labor, all the while calm music and aromatherapy were in use. Laura used a heat pad and massage to help me through the contractions and kept reminding me to drink drink drink so as to not get dehydrated (I had no IV). My husband loved that she kept him involved and instructed him what to do (massage her shoulders now, offer her a drink, etc) as he was too tired and stressed to think straight.

After our son was born at 544am, Laura was right there helping him to latch correctly. I also loved that she came to our house for a post partum follow up, and further helped us with breastfeeding. I can't imagine what our birth expereince would have been like without Laura and I highly recommend her, particularly if you want a natural birth.

-Serena DePhillis

November 20, 2016