Testimonials

Maria was incredible on our journey to a beautiful elective c-section birth, following a difficult emergency c-section with our first baby. She presented unbiased information and extra resources to help us educate ourselves about our options, equipping us with confidence in our decisions, and enabling me to advocate for myself in appointments. It felt as though we had inside information; we knew exactly what to expect on the day, the clinicians followed our gentle birth plan that Maria had guided us to compile, and the entire birth experience transcended everything we thought it could be. Following the birth, Maria also offered breastfeeding support, which we also wished we had the first time! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It’s difficult to put into words how much Maria helped me and my husband especially during labour. She was also a fountain of knowledge with any questions we had before baby! During labour we had the most beautiful experience and I put a lot of that down to Maria and her calm and informative attitude. I would absolutely recommend using Maria. She helped make our pregnancy and labour experience so special and sacred, thank you Maria ❤️❤️❤️

“Maria is caring, supportive and incredible knowledgeable, I’m so happy we had her support during my pregnancy and during birth. My first birth was a traumatic experience for me and I knew that I needed to feel more in control this time. Maria put my mind at ease by listening to my birth story and providing a lot of great resources, all evidence based, to help me decide on my birth preferences. This helped me to regain confidence in myself and my ability to make my own choices. When complications during my pregnancy arose, Maria helped me stay calm and navigate the sometimes-confusing health care system, laying out all my options. And when I unexpectedly got hospitalised at the end of my pregnancy and had to be induced, again it was her support and guidance that kept me positive and ensured that I was in control and able to make the right decisions for me. The actual birth was beautiful, healing and an empowering experience and I’m convinced that Maria’s preparation and presence played a large role in that. Despite needing another induction, which wasn’t part of my preferences, I was calm and collected and not scared. Despite not being able to be on the Midwife led unit, a big preference of mine, Maria made the birthing room on the consultant led ward beautifully calm and relaxing with fairy lights and aromatherapy. Her communication with my midwife and my partner was great and I felt extremely supported by all of them – it was a team effort! My birth went really fast in the end, only 2h in total and only 8 minutes of pushing – it was an incredible experience, very intense but also made me feel strong and empowered. Thank you, Maria, for guiding me through all of this!” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“We would highly recommend Maria as a doula. After a long labour that ended in a c-section with our first child, I knew we needed support with our second and booking Maria was the best decision we made. We had a positive VBAC with Marias help. We knew Maria was the right fit for us as she was non-judgmental, and I felt at ease talking to her about our concerns and preferences with our second. Maria was supportive, and pointed us to information, research, and books to help us make informed decisions. In addition, to achieve what we wanted, she helped us put an “out of guidance” birth plan in place which was instrumental in our birth. I also found her emotionally supportive, and she helped us advocate for ourselves. Maria joined one of our midwife appointments too as we didn’t feel confident enough to put our point across to the hospital by ourselves, but she let us lead the conversation and only providing input when requested. Maria put a biomechanics exercise plan in place for my third trimester which I believe helped for a positive birth experience and to get the baby in the optimal position for my body. Maria came to our house when we called her once I felt I needed her during labour. She was a calming presence and helped me through surges. When it was time to go to the hospital, she confirmed our preferences with us again, kept me calm (as the birth centre was closed) and made the labour ward room feel very cosy with lights etc. and helping me with surges. My husband also found Maria to be supportive throughout but never intrusive. Our second baby arrived within about 90 mins on entering hospital and Maria ensured I caught my baby and had skin to skin (this was very important to me). Maria built a good relationship with the midwives which helped. After our baby was born, I needed a backrest but there was none so Maria sat behind me so I could lean back on her back! Maria also stayed with us (including postnatal support and helping with the first breastfeed). It was useful to reflect on the birth 2 weeks after with Maria, to fill in the gaps we couldn’t remember. I found this birth to be empowering and very positive. Our only regret was not having Maria at our first birth!” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐