"My husband and I hired Christie in May of 2013, in the last 8 weeks of my pregnancy. I had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and as my pregnancy went on, the unmedicated labor and delivery that I desired seemed to be getting less likely. We hoped that hiring a doula would help us to navigate our options as well as support us should things not go exactly as planned.
This decision proved to be one of the best ones that I made my entire pregnancy. Though she stepped in late in my pregnancy, Christie proved to be a valuable resource to us. She assisted us with positions, pain-management techniques, massage and advice. She helped us to verbalize what our desires were in a way that made it easy to communicate them to my medical team through drafting our birth plan for us.
When I did go into labor, she was in contact with me all day long, making sure I didn’t need anything, was comfortable and not alone (and would have come over, but I kept telling her she didn’t need to.) Throughout delivery, she was right there helping and supporting not only me, but my mother and husband as well. Because she’s also an RN, she “translated” a lot of the medical talk for my mom and husband so they understood what was going on. She was a calm and needed presence in the delivery room and was with us every step of the way --she even took notes and pictures throughout the entire day/night so that I could remember all the little details!
After birth, Christie was with us in the hospital for several hours making sure everything was okay (which is saying something because my daughter was born after midnight!) She helped me to nurse right away and visited us at home many times when nursing wasn’t going so well for me. She has even assisted me recently, via text message, 10 months later, when I was having issues with pumping.
I truly believe that women should put at least as much time, effort, research and resources into their births as they do for their weddings. Very few women navigate a wedding without the support and help of someone who knows what they are doing and working for them only. I would never give birth again without a doula, and I would hire Christie again in an instant! I do not think that I would have achieved my goal of an unmedicated childbirth without her help and for that, I am truly grateful." ~Paige
This decision proved to be one of the best ones that I made my entire pregnancy. Though she stepped in late in my pregnancy, Christie proved to be a valuable resource to us. She assisted us with positions, pain-management techniques, massage and advice. She helped us to verbalize what our desires were in a way that made it easy to communicate them to my medical team through drafting our birth plan for us.
When I did go into labor, she was in contact with me all day long, making sure I didn’t need anything, was comfortable and not alone (and would have come over, but I kept telling her she didn’t need to.) Throughout delivery, she was right there helping and supporting not only me, but my mother and husband as well. Because she’s also an RN, she “translated” a lot of the medical talk for my mom and husband so they understood what was going on. She was a calm and needed presence in the delivery room and was with us every step of the way --she even took notes and pictures throughout the entire day/night so that I could remember all the little details!
After birth, Christie was with us in the hospital for several hours making sure everything was okay (which is saying something because my daughter was born after midnight!) She helped me to nurse right away and visited us at home many times when nursing wasn’t going so well for me. She has even assisted me recently, via text message, 10 months later, when I was having issues with pumping.
I truly believe that women should put at least as much time, effort, research and resources into their births as they do for their weddings. Very few women navigate a wedding without the support and help of someone who knows what they are doing and working for them only. I would never give birth again without a doula, and I would hire Christie again in an instant! I do not think that I would have achieved my goal of an unmedicated childbirth without her help and for that, I am truly grateful." ~Paige
