Morgan Stanley executive Lara Porter describes how grateful she was to have Janel's guidance during her unplanned homebirth.
We found our birth doula, Janel, through Phoebe. We connected during a Phoebe Zoom session on labor and birth. She was extremely thorough and came to our apartment for multiple sessions on birth and childcare. It was those educational sessions that prepared us for our unusual birth. I wanted to have a low intervention birth and Janel helped us prep with movements for labor and explained the importance of feeling comfortable during the labor process.
I spent my labor at home, listening to music, hanging out with my husband, and moving around to help move the labor forward. I ended up having a rare case of precipitous birth - shortly after my water broke, I felt my daughter crowning. When we realized we wouldn't make it to the hospital, Janel coached my husband over the phone and called 911 to make sure me and my baby were taken care of as soon as possible.
I felt like we were prepared for labor because we understood the dynamics of comfort, stress, breath and movement during labor from Janel. Everything happened so quickly that we didn't even have time to call the doctor. We were so fortunate to have Janel as a resource to help us navigate our unusual and special birth! We're very grateful to the Phoebe team for the educational content, access to experts, and support.