Testimonial for Mia Gertsch
I was referred to Mia by our midwife at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. From the outset, Mia was professional, knowledgeable, and compassionate. In particular, her online profile made it clear that she worked with "birthing persons with anxiety, PTSD, and trauma," which was an excellent fit. I had had a severely negative medical encounter that made the prospect of birthing in a hospital stressful and daunting. However, Mia's diverse experience and non-judgmental approach made it easy to open up to her in order to identify my triggers, practice self-advocacy, and create my birth plan.
From asking nurses to silence medical equipment alarms to requesting a flesh-colored hospital sock to cover the IV port in my arm to encouraging me to listen to my own body rather than defer to someone else, Mia made sure that I knew that I had choices and exercised them. Her evidence-based approach and training in hypnobirthing allowed me to imagine, and have, a natural, unmedicated birth far better than anything I'd been led to expect from others’ birth stories. I can genuinely say that the beauty of meeting my daughter in this calm, supported way healed a lot of my medical PTSD. This is absolutely due to the care that Mia took to empower me and my husband with practical techniques that allowed us to handle this life event with confidence and as a team.
Mia works with hospital staff rather than against them, and she knows when to step forward or hang back in terms of personal support as well as medical advocacy. During both pregnancy and labor, I felt absolutely safe and trusted her to guide me through circumstances--incl. an induction at thirty-seven weeks--that would have otherwise overwhelmed me.
Hiring Mia felt like a gift that I gave both to myself and to my family, and this continues to be the case postpartum. I'd highly recommend having Mia in your corner. In my husband's words, our experience with her was life-changing.
-Jaimie
February 15, 2022
Mia Gertsch
Cozy Doula LLC
Birth Fee: $2000
