Shelby was a great doula for us and we highly recommmend her! We hired Shelby as our birth and postpartum doula and we had a great experience! We had a couple meetings before birth to talk through all of our questions and prepare a birth plan. During delivery she was calm and reassuring, which helped both of us. In the first couple of weeks after birth she thought us a lot about baby care, like baby bath, how to use a baby wrap…

Shelby was wonderful to work with! We had to switch locations of care last minute and ended up losing our original doula due to the change in distance. For a while we thought we wouldn’t be able to find a doula on such short notice to help us so my husband spent lots of time doing his research to be able to help me but was still worried he wouldn’t know how to help or what to do in difficult moments. We got connected with Shelby & she was willing to help us out in the final few weeks of our pregnancy and completely saved us! During our first conversation over the phone she was personable and supportive. We talked about my desire for a natural childbirth and what my husband and I had done to prepare. Shelby mentioned that part of her job is to make sure BOTH of us are able to enjoy the experience and that it is equally important for the husband to able to enjoy the labor of their own child and one of her focuses is to guide him to be able to effectively help me. I knew right then that this would be a great fit! Shelby came to our last couple appointments with us at the birth center and asked the midwife important questions I didn’t even think of. Baby ended up being 42 weeks and we essentially timed out of being able to continue at the birthing center and had to deliver at the hospital, which was what I was trying to avoid the whole pregnancy. I felt a bit defeated, to say the least. Shelby sympathized with me but also remained extremely positive and reassured me that a natural birth was still possible at a hospital & that she would do everything she could to advocate for us and our birth plan. Shelby came totally prepared and brought things I didn’t think of or think I’d need that came in handy later. During labor Shelby helped keep me calm and work through breathing with contractions as needed. She suggested different positions and was hands-on in helping reduce the pain/intensity of contractions and did a great job guiding my husband in ways he could be an active participant as well. Shelby even got food from the cafeteria a couple times so my husband could eat and not be hangry! It was true teamwork between the 3 of us! Shelby was very professional when communicating with the doctors & nursing staff. I feel like I can easily say we were only able to achieve our goal of having a natural birth (at a hospital, nonetheless) because we had Shelby there to advocate for us and uphold our birth plan! I am so thankful we had her with us- the birth of our first child was very special and memorable, and we have Shelby to thank for it. If/when we have another baby I would love to work with her again!