Testimonial for Laura Fortner, CD(DONA) from Lauren Little

Testimonial for Laura Fortner, CD(DONA)

Listen. You need Laura. The end.

But seriously.

The first thing I learned about Laura was that she was deeply connected within Medical City Las Colinas, which is where our OBGYN is. Everyone thought we (in East Dallas) were crazy for birthing there (far away from East Dallas), but MCLC is right next to my office, and Dr. Ellis is life itself, so I wasn't going anywhere. Anyway, Laura and Dr. Ellis' team are tight, and that was not only a huge draw, but turned out to be a giant blessing when it came time for our (unexpected) delivery.

I was admittedly a little nervous that Laura might not be as "available," considering her managerial role within NDDA. Her actions quickly put those concerns to bed. She is consistently lightning fast to respond to text messages about anything and everything. And have you seen her participation on the NDDA Facebook page(s)? She. Is. On. It. She was also very forthright not only about her availability, but also her boundaries, which I also respected (ex: have a middle-of-the-night emergency? Call, don't text, because despite being a doula, she's also a human being who requires sleep and might miss a subtle ding of a cell phone. Also, we may need to meet somewhere in the middle to get together because she has kids and a life and those things are important. Things like that).

Laura has a master's in real talk. She was definitely a secret weapon for my husband when we went into labor/delivery early and our doctor was out of the country (shout out to Johanna Congleton - midwife extraordinaire!). Laura talked him through everything, checked in on him/us routinely, and worked behind the scenes directly with Johanna and Dr. Ellis (all the way in Italy - that's how much they care!) to keep them in the loop with what was going on.

If you're on the hunt for someone who is responsive, real and on your team, Laura's your girl. We're so glad she was on our side!

-Lauren Little

October 25, 2017