Last month Lea helped bring my daughter into the world in the comfort of our bedroom, and I can…read morehonestly say it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Lea was calm, confident, and in total control during the labor and delivery process. Her experience shined through -- she told us exactly what was going to happen before it happened -- guiding us from first contractions to a successful and beautiful birth of a healthy baby girl. I literally never felt uneasy once during the process, and I think this was because of Lea's presence. Before the birth, she told us she "can be as 'zen' or as 'medical' as she needs to be, depending on the circumstances" and we saw this first hand. At times she was sitting cross-legged in the corner, calming us down and supporting my wife, and at other times she was on hands and knees with a heart monitor making sure everything was ok. We loved working with Lea during prenatal visits all the way through our 6 week postpartum checkup. She became a part of our family, coming by our home every Sunday to check on my wife and to get to know us all better. She was also so great at including our young son throughout the process, having him "push the buttons" on the heart monitor and then listen to his baby sister's heartbeat. I highly recommend Lea and Bay Area Homebirth. A quick note about home birth in general... I really wasn't sure about home birth at all when my wife started to consider it, but I researched it extensively and learned that while it is not for everyone (Lea will definitely tell you honestly if it makes sense for your circumstances), it is safe, natural, and leads to consistent if not better outcomes compared to hospital births. Midwives have extensive training, have seen hundreds if not thousands of births, and have all the necessary medical supplies short of epidurals or c-section equipment. It was even clean... which was important to me since this was happening in our bedroom :). What an incredible experience.

Lea was my doula while she was in midwifery training, and I could not have asked for a better…read moreexperience. She was extremely supportive and comforting in her doula role, both during pregnancy and the birth. I felt she was my advocate for what I truly wanted my birth to be like. At the hospital, they were overwhelmingly busy and we were left mostly on our own, which was perfect. Lea set up little candles and helped me all the way through. When my baby was born she nearly had to deliver it herself, which would have been fine by me -- at one point Lea even reassured a nervous resident with way less experience! I would have zero hesitation about hiring her as either a doula or a midwife again.

After reading Shannon's beautiful and transformative book Born Far From Home, I felt so drawn to…read morehaving a homebirth. I loved reading about Shannon's journey to Islam and birth work, and how her faith and spirituality intertwined with her midwifery care. I also enjoyed reading the compelling birth stories and the beautiful way in which she writes about birth. I especially felt connected to her book as a Muslim woman who was curious about homebirth, but wasn't sure if it was for me. Once I finished the book and had my first appointment with Shannon I felt confident, reassured, and excited about having a homebirth for my first baby. Since the start of my prenatal care with Shannon, I felt so comforted by the amount of time and personalized care she dedicated to us by listening to our concerns, answering our many questions, and providing the guidance we needed during this special time in our life. Her level of knowledge and expertise combined with her warm and comforting presence brought us ease during such a delicate time. I also have the same great things to say about Tara who was the second midwife to be present at the birth and meet with us for the postpartum appointments. Tara also has such a warm, beautiful, and comforting spirit and has been such a pleasure to meet with. When expressing the troubles I have with breast feeding, she has been so sweet and reassuring and I really appreciate the level of care she not only provides for our baby, but to me. I feel so fortunate and blessed to have had a successful and empowering homebirth with the utmost care and support from Shannon and Tara and I highly recommend them. I am so grateful to have been in their care.

I don't have enough good things to say about Shannon and her business. She was absolutely…read moreincredible from start to finish. From the very first phone call I felt so comfortable and genuinely heard. She took the time to answer every question and listen to my previous birth story and never made me feel rushed. She listened with understanding and compassion and for the first time I truly felt like a care provider was really listening to me. For my first birth, I had a typical hospital birth with a typical OB. Although I did not have a traumatic experience, I wanted something different for my second time around. I found Shannon and it truly was a blessing. The level of care and attention to detail was above and beyond anything I had experienced before. When the day came to give birth, having her there made me feel so safe supported and empowered. If I was ever to do this again, I would not hesitate to use Shannon and her team and have another home birth. It truly was a defining experience and something that I believe that all women should be able to experience. If you're looking for a quality Midwife service that treats you like family and truly listens to you look no further. I cannot recommend Shannon enough!

I recently had the pleasure of working with Rebecca as a lactation consultant, referred to me by my…read moremidwife. Rebecca made a fantastic first impression with her quick email replies. Maybe she could sense my desperation? Either way, we quickly set up an in-home visit (an invaluable bonus of not having to leave the house with a 2 week old baby). She not only had a very reasonable rate, but even offered a sliding scale. After struggling with breastfeeding in any and every way possible (latching, positioning, etc.), Rebecca's help was extremely welcomed. She was calm, confident, reassuring, caring and knowledgeable. We worked together for over 2 hours at that session, calling it quits at the baby's discretion. Although I don't have a "miracle worker" story about how everything was magically fixed and we lived happily ever after, I do have a happy ending the breastfeeding saga. It took a few more weeks (and a few more tricks) for me to really apply everything that Rebecca taught me in that session, but now my baby and I are pros, and I really do owe much of the success to Rebecca's help. I would highly recommend her services as a lactation consultant to anyone!

Rebecca Plum is an extremely talented, composed, and compassionate Midwife. I worked with Rebecca…read morewhile she was the primary Midwife for my doula clients, and from the very beginning I was impressed with the quality and the individually tailored care that she provided. I was first exposed to her work ethic and birth philosophy during our homebirth -team meeting. This is a time for everyone who is planning on attending the birth to gather and discuss the women's birth vision, discuss roles and prepare for various scenarios that might unfold. Rebecca smoothly moderated the session so that everyone knew what was expected of them which allowed us to all see ourselves as a team working to provide this couple with the love, respect and care that they deserved. What really stood out to me was Rebecca's deeply intuitive nature and her ability to address under currents and subtle signals, bring them into the conversation and positively harness all the unknowns and natural anxieties that can accompany birth. While being ever professional and remarkably prepared, she sparked an excitement in the air and made it down right fun. During the birth Rebecca continued to be the ever calm, smooth and joyful presence. As a doula, I have been a part of many birth teams and seen many provider's styles. Rebecca's style is at the core about trusting the birthing woman, the natural birth process, and giving the woman space to trust herself. She imbued the birth space with laughter and a true love for her work and the family that she served. It was contagious. Knowledge, experience, choice, and laughter- not a bad combination for a midwife!

Working with a midwife like Susanna has always been a dream of mine, and she exceeded every hope I…read morehad for what this experience could be. From the very beginning, her rare combination of skill, deep experience, warmth, and dedication to building a true relationship with our family put me at ease. She trusts birth as a natural process, and that trust was contagious. Few midwives are as devoted to their craft as she is. She spent so much time with us, never rushing a single visit. Every appointment felt spacious, thorough, and unhurried. She was attentive to every clinical detail, while also bringing so much heart and presence to the process. During the birth itself, Susanna held an incredibly powerful and steady presence. I felt completely safe in her hands. I truly don't believe my home birth would have been possible without her. The amount of surrender required in that moment was only possible because she created such a strong, grounded, and safe space for me to let go. As a first-time mom over 40, I am deeply grateful for the care and confidence Susanna brought to this experience. She helped me have the birth I dreamed of, and I cannot recommend her highly enough.

I hired Susana as my midwife during my first pregnancy in 2021, during the height of COVID. I chose…read moreher because I wanted an unmedicated home birth, and at the beginning everything felt consistent and supportive. My prenatal home appointments were regular, and initially I felt comfortable with my decision. Toward the end of my pregnancy, however, I became increasingly fearful and ultimately ended up being induced at the hospital. What followed was a very traumatic experience that resulted in a five-day hospital stay and an unexpected C-section. During this time, Susana was only partially present, as she was dealing with serious health issues involving her husband. After my C-section, she did come to check on me at home and advised me to remain mostly bedridden and not move much. I followed this advice. Two weeks later, I was rushed to the emergency room with a blood clot. Based on what I later learned, I believe that early movement and walking could have helped prevent this, and I was physically capable of doing so at the time. Overall, my experience was deeply traumatic and left lasting emotional and mental scars that I am still healing from. Looking back, I believe things could have unfolded very differently had I received more comprehensive support and guidance during such a critical and vulnerable time. I'm sharing my experience in hopes that it provides insight for others as they make decisions about their care.

What a great birth experience with Napa Valley Midwives. Originally we hired Heather as our doula…read morefor our second baby. Once Covid hit we decided to change course and have a home birth. From the very beginning Heather and Kristina were so engaged with me and my pregnancy. It was the complete opposite of my OBGYN who changed all my appointments to be virtual and even forgot to schedule a few. Heather and Kristina saw me in their office and in my home following all the best practices during the pandemic. I felt safe every time I saw them. I really enjoyed the fact that they rotated which one of the saw me each appointment so that I could develop a relationship with each of them. By the time I went into labor I felt so comfortable with both of them. I believe this made the birth experience just that much better. During my labor and delivery, they were so professional but also felt like close friends since we had developed a great relationship and they truly care about their mamas. Once I delivered my baby, they gave us time to bond as a new family. While we did this they busily cleaned up. It was so impressive- you'd never know a birth had taken place in my house (haha). If you're considering a home birth, you'll be in loving and supportive hands with these two fabulous midwives.

I am not one to write yelp reviews, however, the care we received from Kristina and Heather was so…read moreegregious that I am scared for other women and feel an obligation to write about it. Our care with these midwives ended when I was 37 weeks pregnant and on day 5 of contractions. These contractions were not "real" labor contractions but rather contractions brought on by drinking large quantities of red raspberry leaf tea. They prescribed this to me because they said my son was too big and needed to be induced 2 weeks before his due date (this was later proven to be incorrect, as my son was born 11 days after his due date at a normal size and weight). During this bout of fake contractions, they registered a high blood pressure reading and told me that they feared for my life and needed to take me to the hospital or call 911 and have me removed from my home in an ambulance. I knew my high blood pressure reading happened as a result of feeling stressed out by the midwives and ultimately unsafe in their presence. They seemed to have little knowledge of white coat syndrome (a common occurrence where people have higher stress levels in the presence of a medical professional). I decided to fire them on the spot and switch my care to another midwife. Thank goodness I made this decision, otherwise I would have had a traumatic, premature hospital birth for no good reason. There were several signs along the way that Heather and Krisitina were incompetent. They made several incorrect diagnoses which were later proven incorrect by an MD at the hospital who said I was "a healthy pregnant woman ready for a homebirth." Misdiagnosis: Gestational diabetes: They put me on a very restrictive diet which caused me a lot of stress. When I raised concerns about the validity of at-home diabetes testing, Heather said she still thought it was in the ball-park. My health really suffered because of following their weird diabetes diet (I was encouraged to eat large amounts of meat, even in the middle of the night--this was the worst!) They told me they feared my son was too big and needed to be induced. This put enormous stress on me in the later phases of pregnancy and was completely inaccurate. My son was born at a totally average weight less than 8 pounds even 11 days after his due date. Another misdiagnosis! GBS. After my own research about this, I decided against antibiotic use. They went along with this, but encouraged a very expensive regime of supplements and consistently encouraged me to have antibiotics during the birth. Heather admitted to my mother that she herself had GBS and refused antibiotics in the birth of her own child. Hypocrisy?! They misdiagnosed me with a fever. Thankfully my mother was there and suggested it was warm in the house because of the heating (In December). When I went outside, my temperature was totally normal. Lack of Professionalism: They were late to most appointments. Kristina was 45 minutes late to one appointment. One time, Heather completely forgot an appointment and never showed up. She never even followed up with me to apologize, and I had to reach out to her to schedule the next appointment. They frequently did not have the right supplies for tests I needed to take, were missing batteries for their devices, and they only gave us the birth supply list at 37 weeks, when the baby could already have been born! As a first time parent this was very unsettling! Poor Communication: They didn't tell me which provider from their team would be at my birth, which was very unsettling. Then they set up an appointment with a colleague of theirs who gave me totally different suggestions about how to manage my "gestational diabetes," and at the next appointment Heather said I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do even though I was following her colleague's recommendations. Lack of Emotional Attunement. Both of these midwives acted from a place of extreme fear, rather than actually being able to see the person in front of them. They both never checked in with my husband and barely acknowledged his presence in our appointments. They asked questions in a style that felt more interrogatory rather than helpful/understanding. We left every appointment in fear, which was the last thing we wanted to feel approaching the birth! In addition to all of the grievances listed above, when we reached out to them to let them know that we had a healthy home birth and requested a refund for the fees we paid them, their response displayed a lack of compassion and accountability. They only gave us a 25% refund and never even congratulated us on the healthy home birth of our son, which was supposed to be their number one priority! I think their lack of professionalism, incompetence and lack of knowledge is evident with the numerous examples above. If you want to have a safe home birth and get good quality care, I would highly recommend choosing more experienced midwives.

The care I received prenatally, postnatally and randomly when I've had emergencies from Shiela &…read moreHannah was/is extraordinary. Every visit leading up to my birth was filled with introspection opportunities, support, friendly conversation, holistic (body/mind/spirit) exercises, etc. I looked forward to each and every visit with them. All the appointments after birth were even MORE IMPORTANT (I needed help with swelling, hemorrhaging, finding a comfortable position to co-sleep with baby, pregnancy Carpal Tunnel, etc). They also referred me to INCREDIBLE THERAPISTS (acupuncture, massage, etc). Long after my care was over with them I would still reach out, in emergency cases, and they were always swift & so generous with help/advice and support. They are who I turn to when I need expert advice. I am eternally grateful to have them as my support team.

I was debating doing a home birth or birthing center. I interviewed a few different lovely people…read morewho I knew were perfectly capable of delivering my baby but there wasn't that magic. Then my doula recommended Sheila and everything clicked. My husband and I went to go meet her in her in her Yurt and just talked for a little over an hour. She was totally open and listened to us. Very non judgmental. I am a bit of a control freak and planner. Letting go and putting so much trust in someone else isn't easy for me, but my birth team made the experience wonderful. Other than not having to drive to the hospital while having contractions, the best part of the home birth for me was getting to recover in bed and have Sheila come to you for postpartum checkups. When I first learned I would basically be in bed recovering for a couple of weeks I didn't think I could be cooped up that long. After having the baby there was nothing better than laying in bed with him. Having her come to you and not having to get you and the baby dressed and deal with car seats and doctors offices is so wonderful. It's also amazing to have the breastfeeding/lactation support. For something that is seemingly so natural it can be pretty difficult. When we have our next baby Sheila will be one of our first phone calls.

Paula was inattentive during checkups, responding to texts, only looking up when her apprentice,…read moreJamie, asked a question. We discovered my baby was breech and, with an OB, came up with a plan for spinning baby and what to do if he didn't spin. Two days later, I went into labor. My husband updated Paula on how strong & close together my contractions were, and she said to call her back in an hour, nothing about heading to the birth center 40 minutes away. We trusted her and stayed put. She had no sense of urgency until 15 minutes later when my husband told her my water broke. My breech baby was born in an unsafe environment and needed to be revived by paramedics. We were transported to a nearby hospital separately, and I didn't see my baby until he was 3 hours old. Paula showed up at the hospital and asked my mother to watch her daughter. Almost a year later, in front of her former partner Fawn, Paula claimed that Jamie was the primary for my care and birth. This was a surprise to my husband and me. Jamie didn't know I was in labor until after my water broke as my husband was solely communicating with Paula. My baby spent time in the NICU hooked up to all matter of wires. He was in a cooling blanket for his first 3 days, during which I could only hold him for one hour a day, but not close. He suffered seizures and is still attending High Risk Infant doctors appointments over 18 months later. I'm still coming to terms with my traumatic birth and grieving the birth I wanted. When we chose Paula, there was a couple in the birthing room with their new baby. Paula said they lived 40 minutes away, but she had told them to come early. I loved that and felt we were in good hands, that we would be provided the same care. Instead, we paid thousands and were told to call her back in an hour.

Oh boy ;) where do we even start? We are beyond blessed to have found Paula as our Midwive, we…read morealways knew we wanted a home birth but knew very little about it. My wife hated the thought of going to a hospital, so we went searching and came up on "The Midwives". The whole process during pregnancy, including checkups, and all were so pleasant, Paula was very helpful and guided us on anything we had questions about. We felt very very comfortable working with her. After so many months our baby boy was finally born. It all happened exactly like we wanted it, AT HOME! It quite literally wouldn't have been possible without her. God-willing we have more babies, Paula is our go-to for that!

Amber has a beautiful, gentle and calm presence and her time with us after the birth of our…read moredaughter was so very valuable. She came and supported us during my postpartum time, cooking delicious, nutritious meals. Making warm spiced chai, special teas and sweets for lactation. Her expert knowledge around birth, postpartum and hormone balancing is excellent. Combined with her gentle touch through abayanga massage, which was so very restorative for me, especially after I had quite significant blood loss during my birth. I felt totally held and nourished and couldn't recommend her highly enough for this incredibly tender time, she is a really special person. Thank you again Amber! X

My husband and I had a wonderful experience working with Alana Corrin through Healthy Mamas,…read moreHealthy Babies. First, learning about the services and speaking with Amber was great. She is highly organized and very responsive. I also loved the online mom support groups with different topics covered each week - these were so helpful! For the doula services, Alana was wonderful. She is very laid back and easy to talk to while also being super knowledgable and attentive. I wasn't sure if I was going to try to have a natural birth or get an epidural and I felt like Alana was ready to support me no matter what option I wound up choosing. Also, my husband tends to be very anxious around any medical or hospital setting so we weren't sure if he would be able to be with me for all of labor and delivery. Our meeting before birth was great because Alana was able to listen to his concerns and talk him through what L&D would be like so he wouldn't be so nervous. We only wound up being able to have one pre-birth meeting because my baby decided to show up 6.5 weeks early! Thankfully, Alana was able to meet us at the hospital within an hour of my husband calling her (around 3am??). My labor proceeded very quickly and we were both overwhelmed because we had not anticipated having our baby that early. Alana remained a calm and consistent presence throughout my labor and for a while after delivery after they took my baby to the NICU. She was also able to ask the nurses and doctors questions we had completely forgotten to ask and kept us up to date with everything that was happening. My husband wound up being able to stay for most of L&D and I think a lot of that has to do with Alana being there - we both felt fully supported the entire time. We had three post-partum sessions with Alana and they were also incredibly helpful. I would definitely recommend her to others and would love to work with her again if we wind up having another baby (hopefully closer to my due date next time, hehe)!

Words cannot adequately express how grateful we are for Amanda. She cared for me throughout my…read moreentire pregnancy and her calming, grounded demeanor helped both my husband and me feel completely comfortable and safe choosing a home birth. Seeing how naturally she connected with our family made us feel so held and supported every step of the way. During the birth itself, Amanda's guidance was invaluable. She made me feel entirely confident in my body and my ability to birth my baby safely, and she even helped me avoid tearing, which had been a huge fear of mine going into it. The entire experience from bump to birth was empowering and peaceful. We couldn't have asked for a better team, and I truly can't wait to do it all over again with Amanda for our next baby!

Amanda was our midwife for our second child and we had a better experience than we could have…read moreimagined. We used east bay midwives for prenatal care, home birth and post natal care. Amanda brought both experienced midwifery care (our son was her 314th birth!) and a strong level of personal care. She is a birth worker that truly loves what she does, is incredibly skilled in her work, and has a deep sense of care for the mothers, families, and babies she works with. We were so impressed by how supported we felt during the entire pregnancy, birth, and post partum period. I truly wish every mother could receive midwifery care as exceptional as east bay midwives. We also had excellent experience with Grace and Sophia- the team that Amanda works with are also amazing birth workers. I highly recommend east bay midwives to someone that wants a safe, supported home birth with experienced and loving help!