Testimonial for Dawn Harris
We absolutely enjoyed working with Dawn and highly recommend her. She offered to meet with us more than other doulas and spent the time with us to build trust and understand our needs. We gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic which really changed our plans and she was with us the whole way. We had met with her a few times in person before the stay at home orders necessitated converting to video calls, and she was great about helping us work through our concerns and supporting us through the changes caused by the pandemic. Our meetings included going over the birth process, comfort measures, breastfeeding and establishing our birth philosophy. In the birth philosophy we worked through what was most important to us and under what conditions I would want to receive medical interventions, which ended up being a very valuble process.
Our goal was to have an unmedicated birth in a birth center, and ultimately this isn’t what happened. After a longer labor failing to progress, we moved to the hospital where I had an epidural and was able to have a vaginal birth. Dawn was with us for a day of early labor over the phone and then for 28 hours on a video call for active labor since she wasn’t allowed to be with us in person. While this wasn’t ideal for anyone, Dawn adapted with us. She helped encourage us, suggested laboring positions, and helped us make informed decisions about our birth. It was a comfort to have Dawn there when we needed to change our plans and switch to the hospital when things weren’t progressing as we had hoped.
While I was learning to push in an overstimulating hospital room at the peak of my exhaustion, Dawn was a source of calm guidance. My highest priority was to have a vaginal birth, and her coaching during pushing helped me do this when the OB was starting to consider interventions. I’m thankful we had her there with us and for the help she gave me to process the experience afterwards too.
-Rachel
June 23, 2020
Dawn Harris
Hilbre Doula LLC, CD(DONA), CCCE
Birth Fee: $650 to $2500
