Testimonial for Heather Karlson (DONA)
Five years ago I had my first child. Heather was so helpful that I always knew I’d use her help again. Fast forward to January 20th, 2020 and I was in the hospital getting induced. This time I had gest. diabetes and gest. hypertension, so we were inducing at 37 weeks. Once my water broke, I quickly felt things rev up so I texted Heather. I had no idea we were just at the start of a merciless two hours of pushing. What we didn’t know is that baby Warren was coming down kind of slanted and was going to enter sunny side up. The next two hours were the hardest hours of my life and had Heather not been there, I don’t know what would have happened. I had to have Heather right in my ear, holding me and coaching me through every second. I held on to her for dear life. We tried birthing on all fours, on my back, on my side and on a stool. She cooled me with a wet wash cloth, reminded me I could do this and most importantly, was able to calm me down time and again. There were times when I moved that were so difficult that I began to shriek and scream and Heather was able to quickly get me grounded again. Finally, I was able to push a head out, then the shoulders and Warren was born. Heather had calmly explained me earlier that he was going to be taken away by a neonatologist since there were some heart rate issues at the beginning of pushing. Once he was out I began to shake uncontrollably and I refused to even look at, let alone hold my new baby (whom the neonatologist deemed in perfect health). Heather continued to help me calm down, eventually got the baby on me and hand fed me pizza. She also questioned the nurse’s assertion that I needed to give the baby formula to help his sugar levels and sure enough, the nurse came back after double checking and we didn’t have to do any formula. There are so many ways Heather supports a birth from the prep weeks, to the labor, delivery and beyond. I can't recommend Heather enough.
-Malia Ropp
March 05, 2020
Heather Karlson (DONA)
DoulaKarlson.com
Birth Fee: $1800
