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FIRST TESTIMONIAL
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Maria was such a wonderful resource during the postpartum weeks. We initially weren't
planning on hiring a doula, but because Alice had a very rough delivery, David hired her
and from the first moment we met her, Maria exuded calm confidence and immediately
addressed our most urgent needs which allowed us to focus on loving our new child. Her
positive attitude and wealth of information really made a difference for us, especially
in the areas of breastfeeding,sleeping and general childcare 101. Maria worked with us
as a team, never dictating, but always supporting our style. Besides supporting Alice
in any area to make her life easier, our son, Lowell, really took to Maria and loved
sleeping in her arms and playing with her. Now months later, we realize Maria's impact -
during the nanny search process, we kept comparing everyone to her. While we did find
a couple of good nannies, Maria continues to be our gold standard! SECOND TESTIMONIAL My hope for my labor and delivery was to avoid medical intervention as much as possible, but I had labored all through the night and started asking for an epidural by morning. Maria knew that I had wanted to avoid this, knew instinctively that I wasn't really positive that I was ready for this. Without the slightest bit of judgement, she encouraged me to try to get through 5 more contractions. There came a point when I was absolutely sure that I needed the epidural, and I am so grateful that she was so wise to help me to wait till I was sure, because I have no lingering doubts now that I did the right thing. The epidermal worked beautifully, actually, it worked too well, because when it came time to push, hours passed before I could feel anything. The doctor had me pushing on my back, then on my side, but no progress was being made. The doctor and nurse left us for a moment, and Maria quietly slipped out of the room, retrieved a squatting bar, and set it up on the bed. She had me put my feet up on the bar and placed a sheet around the middle of the bar for me to pull on as leverage. By the time the doctor came back in we'd made great progress pushing. I often wonder if there would have been additional medical intervention if Maria had not gotten things moving. She was also a great support during the pushing phase by making sure I had a moment for a deep breathe in and out between pushing, rather than constant pushing, and it helped me tremendously to focus in on her face and follow her coaching. I am so grateful that Maria was a part of my labor and delivery support team.
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