Dancer Ashley Jones and her husband Geo had the fully natural birth they envisioned for the birth of their first child.
I cannot say enough great things about Janel! Janel was my doula and also my prenatal yoga instructor. In fact, my water broke during her yoga class, during the first 10 mins after the opening mediation. She was literally there through my whole pregnancy and labor! Janel has so much knowledge and experience, my husband and I were so relieved and comfortable to have her in the room with us. When we were first talking about hiring Janel as our doula, we had a family emergency that resulted in unexpected expenses. Janel was extremely kind and understanding and worked out a payment plan that worked for our budget.
During my pregnancy, she always checked in on me. She remembered when my husband was going out of town near the end of my pregnancy and came over to see if there was anything I needed and to go over breastfeeding techniques. During labor, she was fantastic!! I had a natural labor and delivery that she fully supported. She offered massage and counter pressure during my contractions that were very helpful. Having Janel in the room with us was so comforting. She knew what all the beeps and readings on the monitors meant. She reassured us that the baby’s heartbeat was great and that the labor was progressing well. She was so on top of it, that she asked my husband to go get the nurse to have them check me, because she knew that I was about to have the baby soon. And within about 20 mins I was pushing!
After coming home, Janel came by for a postpartum visit and constantly checked in to help with any breastfeeding questions I had. Janel is truly an amazing person to have on your birth team. I only wish that we haven’t moved out of NYC so we can have her on our team for Baby #2!!