Testimonial for Joyce Havinga-Droop CD(DONA), CLC, SpBCPE, BRM Pro
We are so grateful that we found Joyce to support us in my pregnancy and the birth of our daughter. We met around week 24 of my pregnancy, when I was feeling anxious about birth and full of questions. I felt an instant connection with her calm presence as she used her tremendous knowledge to reassure and help us to understand our available decisions through pregnancy and delivery.
Meeting her was a true turning point for us for the better. She helped me become much more engaged with my body and in control. She met with us twice before delivery and was available for countless texts and emails in between helping address things that came up. She always had an answer or a recommendation - including great body workers in my area - and time to talk through a decision. Her answers always felt like they weren't just based on her own experience, but built from the experience of women around the world and through history. She took time to get to know me, but also my husband and us as a couple. This really helped my him open up and become more engaged in the pregnancy and birth prep. All this support alone would have made the decision to work with Joyce worthwhile, but then came the birth.
I was able to have a natural birth without an epidural, something I never thought I was capable of doing. I could not have done it without Joyce. From the moment she arrived at the hospital in the middle of the night, and in the middle of a pandemic (she always took extreme care), she was by my side, encouraging me, massaging my back, and reminding me of my power. I don't think she took her hands off my back until the baby was born. The next days her visit and availability for calls and texts helped ease my new mother worries and help heal my body.
I am so grateful to Joyce and cannot recommend her enough. She is the warm, knowledgeable, stable presence that I dearly wish every pregnant woman and new mother had by her side.
-Jilly
April 11, 2021
Joyce Havinga-Droop CD(DONA), CLC, SpBCPE, BRM Pro
BirthAmbassador
Birth Fee: $3250 to $4500
