Testimonial for Bonnie Rovics
In the months leading up to "the big day" she was great–communicative, informative and supportive. However, she was not these things when I was actually in labor and afterwards. My experience with Bonnie was a mixed bag, but overall I would not recommend her to anyone.
Bonnie did to me what I feared the medical world would do—dismiss a Black woman who was telling her story. When I was in labor I complained about how long I’d been in labor, but Bonnie shot me down. She scolded me and told me to not make my birth story a traumatic story when it hadn’t been (it ended up being that & more). I was taken aback by how stern and cold she was but I was in so much pain that I didn’t have the energy to address it in the moment.
There was no compassion from Bonnie. Instead, it felt as though she was the overseer of my pain. When I began asking for pain management solutions Bonnie didn’t shift to support me in that decision, but instead only focused on the negative aspects of epidurals. All I remember hearing was “epidurals make labor last longer” which in my mind translated to ‘she has been here a long time and wants to go home.’ But looking back at text messages between her and my husband she was there 12-14 hours max, not the 17 she claims.
She did not support me and didn't check in on us once the entire weekend (my son was born on a Thursday via c-section). The only time she "checked in" was to indirectly ask us for payment. One of the nurses asked if my doula had been back and I laughed because it felt as though we’d been abandoned. Bonnie didn't reach out to us over the weekend because she "had to be on call for another doula and hosted a doula meetup". I believe a doula’s rate of success should be measured by how supportive they were during and after a (complicated) birth. And well, in this case Bonnie did not thrive at all.
-Evelyn
July 25, 2022
Bonnie Rovics
Boston HypnoBirth
Birth Fee: $1800 to $3000
