Testimonial for Tara Withey

Words cannot express the benefits of having Tara as my Doula. I took Tara’s childbirth classes and learned more about the experience than ever. She was fantastic. I knew I wanted her to share in our childbirth. Having her as a doula was the best decision. I shared with her my birth plan and how I desired to have a natural childbirth. Unfortunately, when I went into labor, the dr. that I didn’t care for was on call. Because of the stress of this, my labor pretty much stopped when I got to the hospital-so they told me I could be induced or go home. Because I already arranged childcare for my other 2 children and the fact that it was 3 am, I asked them to give me a bit to see if I could get things started on my own. Tara was wonderful. We turned off the lights, turned on the music, and she massaged my feet. Things started to pick up again and we walked around and contractions were once again regular. I wanted little contact with the staff and not only was Tara there to help me physically, she was there as an advocate as well by telling me how to ask things in a certain way which resulted in little contact which I wanted. She also helped with my husband so he knew different ways to help me physically and emotionally. My labor was the worst of all 3 and I could not have gone through it without Tara. She knew exactly the words to say and when to say them to give me strength to get through. Although I experienced the worst pain of my life, it did not matter because I achieved my goal, and when my third precious baby was placed on my chest alert as could be without affects of drugs; the pain was immediately worth it. The emotion I experienced with the immediate bonding with my baby is something I’ll never forget. Again, I could not of achieved this without the support of Tara.

-Rich Ritenburg

December 01, 2011