Testimonial for Laura Fortner, CD(DONA)
My husband and I had planned on a natural birth even before I was pregnant. Unfortunately, my pelvis had other plans and it’s safe to say things did not work out as we had envisioned. We went through 38 total hours of labor, an epidural after 7cm, pushing for several hours watching baby’s head come in and out, a failed vacuum extraction, and finally an emergency c-section as baby girl had a very large head and asynclitic presentation. Throughout all of this, Laura helped me walk the halls and squat through contractions, used counter pressure and massage, coached my breathing, and positioned me to alleviate the pain. She even stepped out to pick up medication for my husband who happened to come down with an ill-timed virus. Baby ended up in the NICU at another hospital, though we both made it through healthy in the the end. During this experience, Laura was not only essential to me, but to my husband as well. She was there at every turn and never missed an opportunity to coach with her wry sense of humor and she reacted to us in exactly the way we needed her. Surely we could have done it without her as we would have had to, but she took a traumatic situation and made it bearable. We felt safer with every decision knowing she was there as an informed advocate. For those of you reading this, your birth will hopefully go smoother, but we were thankful we had chosen a doula that was a realist who never once passed judgment or flinched when it really counted. To top it all off, during our follow up visit, she was the only one to catch our baby’s lip and tongue tie and referred us to a dentist to have it revised, solving our breastfeeding issues. Thank you Laura! We hope you will be around whenever we attempt a TOLAC for future baby!
-Alyssa Hechavarria
May 23, 2018
Laura Fortner, CD(DONA)
Voted Best Doula in Collin County
Birth Fee: Not specified
Postpartum Rate: Not specified
