Amelia was an absolute dream to work with! She is the perfect combination of personable, warm and friendly, while also being a confident professional. As a first-time mom (and generally anxious person), I felt completely supported by Amelia. She had a plethora of tricks, tips, and strategies to help me/my husband feel confident and empowered in this birth. As a doula, she walks you through the options that you have, and provides evidence-based strategies to support for making your birth/parenting preferences and decisions. Amelia seems to have a sixth sense for noticing and responding to what my husband and I needed to feel supported throughout the entire process. When I was anxious she helped me re-frame my fears... when I was starving and needed soup during labor, she saved the day...when I was exhausted and needed strategies for support with breastfeeding, she was there! Amelia also has a sweetness and professionalism that allows her to build a strong rapport with the medical team, and the doctors and nurses took note of this and made sure to compliment me on how wonderful Amelia was to work alongside. Throughout the prenatal, birth, and post-partum visits my husband and I kept saying to each other that Amelia was worth every penny that we spent on her services. My husband and I truly do not know what we would have done without her support and expertise in this journey, and we are so happy she was part of our birth team! We felt 100% more confident and prepared because of her. The icing on the cake is that her doula services include professional birth/newborn photos. These photos will inevitably bring you to tears! read more

Amelia Protiva - One of the photos Amelia took....Amazing! - Doulas Near Me

I recently had the pleasure of attending (as a midwife) a home birth with Amelia as the doula and photographer. She has a lovely way of blending into the background so she is unobtrusive, but as soon as she was needed she was right there, anticipating the birthing mother's needs and adding a helping hand. I would recommend her to any family looking for a doula. I had met her previously through the local birth networks, and have seen her attending continuing education trainings and sessions with other doulas to hone her craft. This is such a good sign when you are looking for a doula. Amelia is the real deal. read more

I just had a newborn photography session with Amelia, and it was an awesome experience! Amelia is super sweet, easy to work with, and has such a positive, warm energy about her. She's great with newborns and was very creative with posing our daughter and accommodating her moods (our baby was not 100% cooperative and kept giving us her "grumpy grandma" face). Our session lasted 45min, just the right amount of time for us. Amelia came to our house promptly on time, and was very flexible, easily working around the messes in our nursery and our fussy baby. I would definitely recommend Amelia as a newborn photographer. I have not used her services as a doula, but could absolutely see her being great in that role (she's a natural!). read more

Amelia was everything we were looking for in a doula. We chose her because of her previous experience with multiples and because we got along really well! Pre-birth she took the time to get to know us, our desires for the labor, and to answer any questions/concerns we had. She is knowledgeable and informative! She did not impose any "right way to do things", rather tried to help us achieve our preferred birth experience During labor she cared for me with nourishment, massage, and position suggestions. My husband found it helpful to have someone to tag team with throughout the long induction and labor. She helped immensely in requesting time from the doctor to make decisions, which we would not have done on our own. She also helped us experience labor as a natural, non-emergency process even though we were required to give birth in an OR (due to concern for the second baby's positioning). She recognized the signs as my labor progressed and kept hospital staff informed. We also hired her to take photographs throughout the day, and she documented it wonderfully. Within hours of birth, she sent us a couple beautiful photos of our babies to send to our loved ones. She took great care of us the following week with a couple home visits, preparing meals and helping us settle in and recover. If you are looking for a calm, sensitive, and knowledgeable doula, I highly recommend Amelia! read more