I am high risk due to age and lupus so I had a highly monitored pregnancy and was induced at Seton Main. I didn't think to get a doula until the last couple weeks of the pregnancy, so I literally met Alicia in the height of my painful induction at the hospital. Until she arrived, I felt prodded and poked at, stressed and inadequate. I wasn't dilating, I was in excruciating pain, baby wasn't moving "enough" and I was exhausted. Alicia showed up right after I had gotten my epidural and finally passed out for a couple hours. I woke up to being completely unable to move my right lower quadrant. I was so out of it, yet she swooped right in with this loving air of calm and confident. She moved my body for me, she had all the tools to help me feel safe and progress, she explained everything that was happening and what all my options were. And she never left. That was huge for me. As soon as she came, my body relaxed and I fully dilated within a couple hours. And during the birth, the doctors wanted to use more unnatural interventions, and with her support by my side, I was able to ask what my options were and see that I could say no. So I did. And I'm so glad I did. After we came home, Alicia paid us a house visit and literally put my breast pump together for me and showed me exactly how to use it while my brain was still too flooded with hormones and first-time-mom craziness to figure it out myself. She was our guardian angel, for sure. If we have another child, I have no hesitation that we will call her as soon as we find out. I can only imagine the empowerment and support she could give throughout an entire pregnancy, based on our experience with her through just my labor and delivery. Alicia. Is. Amazing.
-Heather Nirenberg
February 01, 2022
Birth Power Doula Services
Birth Fee: $1000 to $1600
Postpartum Rate: $40 to $50