We are so happy we hired Gabe to be our doula. My wife was pregnant with our first baby and trying for a natural (as possible) childbirth was important to both of us. Pre-labor, Gabe met with us multiple times and helped elicit our hopes and goals for the birth, and create a birth plan. She provided helpful (and visually pleasing) materials on natural methods to induce labor. She has a can-do, confident attitude which helped ease our anxiety going into the labor process.
In labor itself, she was totally indispensable. My wife was induced and had rapid-fire contractions from the start, and was quickly in a lot of discomfort and needed a lot of support. Gabe was a calm, positive, tireless presence at the bedside: coaching my wife, providing massage, suggesting different labor positions, and using aromatherapy (which sounded a little woo-woo to me when she was describing it before labor, but helped my wife a lot during labor to distract herself from the pain and tap into something more pleasant emotionally).
It was really important to me to be there and support my wife throughout the labor, and it was truly an amazing experience to witness -- but it was also exhausting and at times demoralizing (hard to see her hurting, and anxiety-provoking as I worried about her and Baby). For me, this is where Gabe really shined: she was a really good teammate to me, especially during the last few hours of labor -- always making sure I felt comfortable stepping away to go to the bathroom, eat a snack, etc, and stepping up in her support of my wife during those times.
There is a lot more I originally wrote in this review (all positive--e.g., she worked really well with our medical team), but I had to cut down this review to meet the character maximum. TLDR: we highly recommend Gabe as a doula!
-Will and Emily
August 19, 2024
Sacredsong Birth & Wellness
Birth Fee: $1800 to $2000
Postpartum Rate: $40