“Demi was wonderful! I truly don’t know that I could have made it through the labor and delivery without her support. My husband and I welcomed our baby boy on Monday, August 19th at 4:17pm (after 33 hours of labor) and everything went just as we had hoped – a natural delivery free of any pain medications, epidurals, or medical interventions. We were discharged after about 28 hours and have spent the last two weeks settling in at home getting used to our new normal. 🙂 Baby boy is wonderful and healthy – just working on getting him back up to his birth weight as he lost quite a bit in those first 36 hours.”
“Taniqua was an amazing night doula for our little girl, she came with a calm and happy energy each evening and we loved her so much we also added some day hours as well. Not only was our little girl in great and experienced hands, we felt very seen as new parents and learned a lot from Taniqua every time we saw her. She has a wonderful way of both honoring our wishes with tracking bottles and diapers but also noticed patterns much faster than we would have (turns out, our little girl wanted bottles warmer than we were making them!).”
“The consultation went very well. I got a nipple shield which is help and more importantly, Ziad gained weight about 6 ounces. I think we have a good plan moving forward and I’m starting to feel better. Thank you again for all your help, compassion and understanding. It really means a lot to me.”
“… Such an awesome team, and we were very grateful to have you with us. I mostly appreciated your expert knowledge, and the comfort of knowing I could ask you almost anything about birth and babies.”
“When we first found out we were expecting our second child we were absolutely thrilled! As the reality of a second pregnancy set in, I started realizing I was going to have to eventually deliver this kid one way or another! My first delivery had been just plain bad. We weren’t prepared, we didn’t understand some of the complications that happened, and my husband and I were both physically and emotionally drained after the nearly 40 hour process. In the end we were blessed to have a perfect, healthy baby girl– but it definitely wasn’t the dream delivery we had hoped for. So we decided with baby #2 to take a different approach. I wanted to have a fully natural birth without any medical intervention if possible. I needed to be more mentally ready for the experience and we knew we needed to find help. I began researching different doulas in my area. I found and immediately liked what I read about Doulas of Northern Virginia. One main difference is they work in teams so you would always have someone available. I scheduled an informational meeting and the doulas came to our home to meet us. They were very laid back without a set agenda. They asked about our first birth, about what we wanted from our second experience, how our family worked, and just took some time to get to know us. I felt very at ease. As we moved closer to our son’s due date, they would check in and offer support. On delivery day our doula met us at the hospital and stayed with us the entire time. She helped me to focus on each contraction and advocated to our nurses for different types of birthing balls and equipment so I could continue to work towards a natural birth. Our doula remained extremely calm during the entire process, which helped me to stay focused. Our son’s birth progressed quickly and I was able to have the natural birth that I wanted without complications (yay!). It was a totally different experience than our daughter and I just kept asking if it was really already over once our hearty 9.4 lb son joined us earth side, it was a truly beautiful experience!”
“On top of letting us get a few nights of real sleep each week, having Taniqua around to help with baby dishes and laundry was invaluable. We never felt too swamped with an extra set of hands to tidy up. Her joyful energy was a blessing to have in the house and we attribute our little girl’s sunny personality to having Taniqua with us in those early weeks. Taniqua definitely became a close friend during her time with us and we’re excited to have her come back to our home and help out with baby #2!”
“Looking back, hiring the Doulas of Northern Virginia was one of the best decisions we made. Knowing that someone was going to be there to help coach us through the process helped to reduce the overall anxiety and worry I felt around the birth process. Our doula really was an intricate part of our delivery team. Without her coaching and (counter pressure!) I’m not sure we would have been able to follow our natural plan. If we decide to expand our family again, I would not hesitate to involve the Doulas of Northern Virginia—they met all of my expectations and truly helped me to feel empowered and ready to welcome my son to the world!”