Testimonial for Jesse Waller, PD, PPD, CILFS, LMT (she/they)
My labor and delivery experience.... did not go as planned. I had read the books and done the classes and written the birth plan, but when it was time, it all went out the window. In fact, it's taken me 13 months to write this review just to bring myself back to that room. We hit hurdle after hurdle, but the single thing that remained consistent was Jesse's presence.
I spent 36 hours in that room, and Jesse spent every single one of them in there with me. To this day I don't know when she ate or slept (or if she did at all), but I know that every second I needed her she was there -- with water or chicken broth or a story or a joke. She showed me how to breathe through contractions and how to stand in the shower so the water could help with the pain. After a full day, she got on the bed with a sheet under my belly to try to move baby around and just give me a little relief. I don't know where her strength or energy came from, but she gave it all to me.
When I couldn't do it anymore and I opted for a C-section, I told Jesse she should go home. She didn't. She stayed. And thank god for that. I hemorrhaged during the procedure and she stayed with me so my husband could be with our baby. I can't imagine how scared I would have been laying there by myself.
She visited me the next day and helped me understand what had happened, and has continued to do so for the past year+. Just the other day, I saw her at a support group at the My Birth studio and she followed up that night with some resources she thought would be helpful for me. She was there all 2160 minutes of my labor, and she's still there for me today.
I am so grateful for Jesse and everything she and doulas do for mamas and families. Once it's time for us to try again, I hope to have her there with me - and hopefully postpartum, too! Labor is simultaneously beautiful and terrifying, and I can't recommend Jesse enough as a partner though it.
-Whitney White
May 17, 2024
Birth Fee: $1500 to $1700
Postpartum Rate: $40 to $45
