Birth Doula Services
AS CALM AS POSSIBLE
AS COMFORTABLE AS POSSIBLE
AS FAST AS POSSIBLE
We are professionally trained doulas in the Pittsburgh area. We specialize in using natural comfort measures to make your labor faster, comfortable, and empowering.
As a birth doula we help you develop a birth plan prior to delivery, and provide 24/7 on-call support via phone up until your due date. When you are in labor, we can join you at home and assist you emotionally and physically at home until you are ready to transport to your hospital or birthing center. When we arrive at the hospital/center we help you through the contractions and help your partner assist you as well! we like to think of birth as not just a baby being born but a family as well.
We use massage, counter-pressure, rebozos, positioning, squats, Myofascial release and spinning babies techniques to optimize baby’s position for an easier labor, movement and position suggestions, essential oils, breathing techniques, calming techniques and visualizations. People report lower pain and higher birth satisfaction with doulas, we love empowering families at their most transient time. We support all of your decisions, whether you want a medicated or unmedicated birth, c-section, water birth, to breastfeed or formula feed, we are not here to judge but to lift you and your decision.
All of our birth doula services includes two prenatal visit(s) that we will go over your birth preferences and options you may not even know you had, you will have 24/7 support over phone until your due date, labor support in your home if you choose and then at your hospital or birthing center (unlimited hours, some births are 6 hours some are 45 the price is the same, we don't want you to feel like you are "on the clock"). After the birth we stay for an hour or two postpartum to snap a couple photos for ya, help with first latch, or with skin to skin if you choose, and stay to make sure your repair is complete and the placenta is delivered. We check in on your and come for a visit in about 5-7 days or chat virtually to discuss how feeding/sleeping/caring for this new human is going!
We hope this gave you a little bit of insight into what I can provide you! If you are interested in scheduling a complementary consultation!
Some things we have done as doulas-
Helped remind the doctor that the partner wanted to announce the gender so it wasn’t ruined as a surprise
Reminded a nurse about a patient’s wish not to have their water broken moments before they were about to do it without asking
Asked for a timeout and to think about a choice that was offered before deciding, giving the family time to wrap their head around a cesearean and still see it as a beautiful way to meet their baby
Assisted with skin-to-skin in a ceserean
Helped guide a father’s hands just-so for the perfect hip squeeze so he was involved and she was comforted
Got dad a cold cloth and a chair because he was about to pass out, reassured the mother that her baby was coming soon, and coached her breathing to reduce tearing
Assisted in a positioning technique which unlocked a stalled labor that was stuck at 6cm for 10 hours due to an asynclitic baby
Offered a suggestion to ask their care team for alternatives to an induction which a client didn’t realize was not medically necessary, she went home and slept in her own bed only for her water to break on its own the following morning
Reminded a doctor about the family’s wish to have delayed cord clamping and requested vitals be preformed on baby’s chest as long as baby is doing okay.
United the care team on the parent’s goals of a gentle cesarean when the plan had to change.
Made sure mom had her favorite juice, blanket from home, and music playing- then wrote down the song the baby was born to.
Snapped a few photos of their first hello, held a hand and wiped the tears when it got hard.
Doulaed not only the family but the mother in law and the grandma to be in the family lounge when their nerves got the best of them.
Explained what is normal and what to expect, taking the scary/unknown part out of the equation
Please scroll to the bottom of our Services Tab to see our packages!
Client Exclusive Access
Client Library Access to Renting Books
HypnoBirthing Recordings and Handouts
Spinning Babies Reference Guide
Newborn Medications Guide
Kickstart Labor Guide
Partner Cheatsheet
Birth Plan Template
Access to MotherBoard Birth Planning
CUB Birth Stool in Labor
Imani Birth Trained Doulas- Jewish Birth Traditions
First Dibs on First Night Home Service and Placenta Encapsulation Availability
In addition to a standard doula training, all doula have training on Spinning Babies, Hypnosis during birth techniques, VBAC support, Supporting Jewish birth traditions, Birth after loss, and Kangaroo Care. Every client gets a primary and a secondary doula, and you get the combined experience of all of the doulas whenever you need extra support or advice!
What does having a doula look like?
Think of having a best friend who knows a ton about birth and how to keep you calm and comfortable during a wild experience, we are by your side from the moment things feel tough throughout the whole journey and 1-2 hours postpartum.
Some things we have done for clients: Calmed nerves and anxiety about birth, encouraged the ways their baby and their body will work together in labor, gave guidance on ways labor can start, helped with birth preferences, navigated evidence-based information, helped parents navigate their choices regarding circumcision, assisted partner with suggestions on support during labor, gave an extra hand carrying in bags during labor, wiped your brow with a cold cloth, gave a suggestion based on baby’s position to help labor move along, gave a suggestion to prevent a stall of labor, gave a suggestion to use gravity, gave a suggestion to manage the intensity of labor, relieved the intensity of labor with a position/massage/hip squeeze/ or comforting tools, helped clients to figure out when to go to the hospital, helped clients switched providers during later in their pregnancy, advocated against “big baby inductions” with evidence-based suggestions, snapped a photo of your partner meeting your baby for the birth time or holding your hand, made a note of the song that was playing when your baby arrived, texted family and friend after Golden Hour, assisted skin-to-skin in the OR, contacted to President of West Penn to advocate for a client to have their doula in their scheduled cesarean, Printed the placenta in the room with cord blood so the client could have custom art before they had to send the placenta to pathology, offered supplement advice for ways to get a better postpartum, assisted with getting a deeper latch, connected a client to mental health resources, taught a client how to use their new baby wearer/walk the dog with a baby/swaddle tightly, talked with you about how amazing or hard your birth was and what a bad ass you were, watched your baby grow and kept an ongoing relationship to have advice as your child grew.