Doula support

Emma

During my first pregnancy, my husband and I were (of course) nervous. When Geraldine came to give us a birthing lesson before the delivery, we started to feel more confident. Her knowledge, calm, and warmth made us feel that we were in good hands — and provided much practical info! Geraldine also attended the birth itself, and had she not been there it would have gone quite differently.Afterward Geraldine helped us as a postpartum doula, answering all of my questions and allowing me to get a bit of extra rest and lots of extra peace of mind. She is exceptional with babies, and from the very start my daughter felt as safe with her as I did. I also participated in her postpartum yoga group, which was a highlight of the week in those strange but wonderful early days. Geraldine is a generous, funny, highly intuitive, and deeply compassionate person who builds communities everywhere she goes, and I cannot recommend her services more highly..

Geraldine supported us as a doula through the birth of all three of our

children. We did prenatal classes before our first but really, once the

day came, I had very little idea of what to do to help my wife with what

she was going through. Geraldine was such a calming and helpful presence

through it all. She knew what to do to help my wife physically and

mentally as well as help me to do the same. Geraldine was also able to

help us with our communications with the medical staff and later was a

great help with settling in to breast feeding. All of our experiences

surrounding the birth of our kids was so much more positive thanks to

Geraldine. She was wonderful!

Geraldine helped our family with labour and delivery and postpartum support with our son, Arthur, who was born during the earlier part of the pandemic. Even though, due to hospital restrictions, Geraldine was unable to accompany us to the hospital, she provided excellent support helping us navigate the birth process, including decisions around induction. Her postpartum support was absolutely crucial for us during a time when it was difficult to reach out to our extended networks for help during the second wave of the pandemic. Geraldine exudes kindness, calmness and confidence, which is exactly what new parents struggling to figure out newborn life need. She is extremely responsive to questions via text and phone calls, including late at night. We felt immediately safe and confident having her help us with Arthur. We are so grateful to have had Geraldine's knowledge, help and support during Arthur's first year. She truly made a difficult time much more manageable for us.

Geraldine’s care was calm, careful, educated, present, loving, warm and confident.From our pre natal preparation classes to the birthing experience and especially after ward; coming home with baby and her tireless on- going reliable, steadfast support throughout nursing and weeks later getting oriented at home. I cannot ever say enough about her presence in our life at a wonderfully wild time.

Geraldine supported me and my husband in the most essential time as we settled into being a family of three- after the adrenaline wore off, real life set in and the sleep deprivation hit hard. She came every week to offer her love and support- a walk with the baby so I could rest, a warm meal made for us for dinner that night, support around breastfeeding and so much more. I truly looked forward to Wednesday mornings knowing I would have a friend, a partner and a fellow mother in the house with me and my daughter. It brought joy and peace into my journey as a new mom when I needed it the most. We will be forever grateful for the support Geraldine offered our whole family in these special, tender times.

Geraldine was our doula for our second child and provided us with incredible care. Our first child was born six weeks prematurely, and so the second pregnancy was followed closely by the fantastic staff at Mount Sinai. Having Geraldine's warm and empathetic support helped us get through a very anxious time, and provided a much-needed personal connection. She was available for my questions and concerns, no matter how small, and provided level-headed advice on parenting worries that have helped across ages and stages. 

Geraldine crafts community and connection for new parents, and it was a game changer for us. Her kind and experienced support was always helpful. Just the best person! 

Geraldine led our birth support classes and her expertise and energy really calmed our anxieties and put us at ease. We decided it would be amazing to have this energy at our birth, and so hired Geraldine to be our doula. Leading up to the birth, we really appreciate the thoughtful sessions with Geraldine that helped us plan what we hoped for our birth, as well as navigate choices we might have to make if things deviated from our plans. It was also very reassuring to know that we'd have someone with tremendous experience to help us throughout the birthing experience and to advocate for us at the hospital along with our midwife. What I didn't realize when hiring Geraldine as a doula was the precious gift of postpartum support that we were also investing in. In the weeks after giving birth Geraldine offered us invaluable support that really helped me on my breastfeeding journey and with some postpartum depression and anxiety that crept up. 

Geraldine has an amazing energy that has always left me feeling calm, cared for, and heard.  The postpartum care we received from Geraldine was invaluable to our experience as new parents. We were so thankful to have someone to call or come visit as I navigated breastfeeding, healing, postpartum depression/anxiety and learning to sooth a colicy baby. I would highly recommend investing in Geraldine as postpartum doula.

Geraldine's birth support class was so helpful to my partner and I in so many ways. Besides learning a lot of helpful and practical information, she also asked us the right questions which prompted us to think and talk about aspects of the birth we might not have on on our (i.e. Fears, options, preconceived thoughts or expectations of the process or each other. Particularly our discussions and exercises, on pain and pain management really helped calm my anxieties and encourage me that a natural birth was something I could do.