Testimonial for Barbie French, CD(DONA), CPD(RI) from Krystle T

Testimonial for Barbie French, CD(DONA), CPD(RI)

Barbie is a fabulous doula. We had a different doula for my first birth and the experiences were night and day. My first birth ended up with many medical interventions we had hoped to avoid and we did not feel that our doula was helpful in suggesting new things or really being more than a third person in the room. She was also medically inclined, which perhaps pushed me towards more interventions. My husband and I went into our relationship with Barbie being very upfront about our prior experience and our hopes for our second labor. As soon as we met her, we knew she was perfect! She has such a warm, calming energy and she was so knowledgeable. She was invaluable to have around during my labor. She (as did we all!) thought that a second time mama at 6cm would have a super fast labor, but alas! I ended up with a c-section after 18 hours of no progress and a baby in distress. But, despite having high hopes for a drug-free (and fast!) labor with my second, my husband and I feel great about our experience. Barbie was very supportive, but really pushed us to explore different options. When we finally made a decision to go ahead with a c-section, it felt like we had truly explored all options. Even though it was not the birth we had planned/hoped for, we felt incredibly at peace with how things turned out and we have zero regrets. We had a healthy, beautiful baby and an informed labor. We are so grateful that we had Barbie and we wholeheartedly recommend her! She was such a calming, supportive presence and she helped us work through the variety of options. While we were generally pretty well-informed, she taught us many things that we did not know and helped us to make better decisions. The home visits were also great and gave us tools that we did not have. If we have another baby we would hire her again in a heartbeat which is the highest praise there is for a doula!

-Krystle T

December 01, 2019