Holly's birth prep class is absolutely outstanding. This is my second pregnancy, and my only regret is not finding her the first time around! She's engaging, funny, knowledgable, honest, and her main focus goes far, far beyond facts and information (which are also rich and helpful). The exercises in pain coping were excellent. They became even more powerful when paired with the exercises for couples to help us to understand our fears, expectations, hopes, etc. Yeah, I think couples therapists may learn a thing or two sitting in on Holly's classes! Discussing the smells, sights, sounds and other details about childbirth are not a regular part of mainstream Midwestern culture. Somehow, Holly made the information and exercises approachable and not at all weird to do in front of a group of other people. Holly is a great facilitator. A lot of great ideas and discussion came from members in the class because she made space for participation, thought, and sharing. This class involves making art. Normally I think that kind of stuff is total hippy BS, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe I had some pent up stuff from my previous birth experience, but whatever it was, it was awesome. I totally surprised myself with that. I uniquely appreciated Holly's class because she was totally welcoming despite the fact that I was the only one in the room that already had given birth once (emergency c-section not at all what was in my "plan"), and also the only one without a partner in class. Holly made it easy for me to be there, and to participate even though there was a lot of partner work. I really looked forward to coming home to share and practice with my partner. Holly also shared information and guided discussions in such a way to help the couples to manage their expectations and understand all of the possibilities and interventions that can occur, including c-section. She also spent time helping folks in the class to understand their emotions and expectations of themselves and each other. I'm paraphrasing, but she focused on helping us to prepare for the birth that gives us our babies, versus the 3-page plan of stuff that we "want." One thing is not "better" than another, only different, and understanding how to navigate it will make for the most positive birth experience. Holly has spent time at all of the area hospitals, so her tips on productive communication with staff and doctors at the hospital, as well as what to remember to ask for ( eg. squat bars, fresh batteries for the fetal heart monitor) were totally awesome. I'm so happy I took this class with Holly. I'm due in a few weeks, and my partner and I both feel far more prepared for how to navigate our way through the labyrinth, whatever path that may be. read more

My husband and I took Holly's Birthing From Within Childbirth class and really enjoyed it. We both had read and connected with the book Birthing From Within so the class seemed like a natural extension. We went to Holly's house for 3 Saturdays and covered what to expect physically and emotionally in labor. I was impressed with Holly's overall knowledge and passion and how she was able to get all of the couples to participate so thoughtfully. I recently gave birth to our first child and throughout my labor I was able to connect with things that Holly had said and so was my husband. Even though she constantly told us that labor is unpredictable, I had some mile markers in my head from what I had learned and it was very helpful. I highly recommend this class! Thank you Holly :) read more

After researching doulas for the birth of our first child, my husband and I met with Holly and knew she was the right fit for us. We attended her two-day birth class with another couple the month before our daughter was born and I can not recommend either the class or Holly's birth services enough. Holly is extremely knowledgeable, warm, strong, and calming - and she was determined to help us get the birth we wanted. Holly's presence, guidance and hands-on assistance (when I needed it) as we went thru the labor and birth experience is invaluable. Can not recommend enough - We will use Holly again if/when we have another child. read more

We hired Holly as our doula after being referred to her by a trusted friend. We interviewed two other doulas, and we knew immediately upon meeting Holly that she was the one for us. She is extremely knowledgeable and very professional. She put us at ease with her great personality, sense of humor, and extensive experience as a labor doula and a mother of three. Pregnancy, labor, and delivery are very intimate processes which involve a number of incredibly personal decisions. Most people have opinions on the matters involved, and it seems everywhere you turn, people are anxious to force their views on you. It was important to us to find a doula who would help us stay informed of our options, but respect whatever decisions we ultimately made. Holly did just that. While I know she certainly must have very strong opinions of her own, she objectively and respectfully helped us navigate our own decision-making process and arrive at choices that worked best for us. During labor and delivery, Holly's assistance was invaluable. She helped me cope with my pain by providing both emotional and physical support. She assisted my husband in comforting me, and reassured him that he was doing a great job. She helped us deal with the unexpected, informing us of our options at every stage, and giving us the confidence we needed to make decisions in circumstances that might otherwise have been overwhelming. Due to the circumstances surrounding my delivery and the doctor who happened to be on call that night, I feel certain I would have ended up with a cesarean were it not for Holly. She interacted with hospital staff in a professional and effective manner, and communicated our needs and desires to them while minimizing any distractions that might have taken my mind off the task at hand. She was the woman behind the curtain, pulling strings and quietly making everything work correctly, yet allowing us to be the stars of the show. I would highly recommend Holly to anyone seeking insight, knowledge, support, and encouragement throughout their pregnancy, labor, and delivery. She's the best! read more

My pregnancy and labor would not have been the same without Holly there to guide us through! When we first met with Holly we immediately knew she was the one to help us through this process. She was calm, intuitive and had tons of experience. We signed up for her birth classes immediately and selected her as our doula. My husband and I didn't know what to expect from the birth classes - especially with some of the topics being feelings and grief and loss. I was worried my husband would think they weren't worth the time, but we both agree they absolutely were! The classes didn't just focus on the act of delivering a baby, but also focused on preparing us for how we would feel and what our expectations were. I think these topics made us much calmer when the day to deliver actually came. I can't imagine my delivery without Holly there. We had an extremely long labor (40 hours with 36 hours unmedicated) and Holly was there breathing through it with me for 24+ hours of it. She was a calming and educated presence in a very stressful time. Whenever I or my husband needed something, she was there. It was amazing to have her constant presence there to calm and support us. I would highly, highly recommend Holly for her child birth classes and doula services. If we still live in the area when we have our second child, there will be no question we will call Holly to be there with us again. read more

We took Holly's six week "birthing from within" class and found it to be incredibly informative, engaging, and a highlight of our week. Holly was frank, funny, and and her class incorporates the perfect mix of emotional and medical preparation. We really enjoyed the evening as a date night and grew closer as a couple in preparation for the big day. read more

Holly is one of the most knowledgeable and wonderful people I've ever met. She is honest about birth, labor, and being pregnant in general. I took her childbirth class with my birthing partner and it was so helpful. It not only helped my birthing partner and I feel calm and relaxed, but it put any fear I had about the birthing experience to rest. Like I mentioned, she is honest and for me, I am appreciative of that aspect of her personality. At the same time, she is caring and motherly and really knows what she is talking about. I am really looking forward to labor (in a few short weeks) and am sure Holly's expertise will guide me through the adventure. read more

Holly is an incredible birth educator. My partner and I enrolled in Holly's class before the birth of our son. Her class goes beyond preparing you for what to expect physically and incorporates psychological and emotional aspects of birth. Holly is professional, enthusiastic, and very approachable. I would highly recommend her. read more

Holly's childbirth preparation class is excellent. My husband and I learned pain coping and a lot of other things you might get in other classes, but we also learned something much more important: how to communicate with one another and really support each other through the process of labor. He was my coach and my rock, and the experience turned out to be an empowering one for both of us! I ended up delivering without any medication--something I had never thought I would be able to do. We have a beautiful, healthy boy, and while labor hurts a lot, we look back on it as a moment of trust, love, and togetherness, a moment when we accomplished an amazing feat together to bring our son into the world. Holly is funny, smart, well-read, and insightful. Many things she predicted did, indeed, happen during our labor, and because of her class, we were as prepared as we could be. We loved her freeform teaching style, and formed friendships within the class because of it. I would recommend this to anyone, and if we have a second child, we'll be back with Holly for the red tent! read more

This is a long post because I cannot recommend Holly enough. She is the best!! ------------------ We interviewed several doulas before meeting Holly. While my husband and I thought the other doulas would be fine and helpful, we had that "she's the one" kind of feeling shortly after meeting her. She was at ease and friendly, knowledgable and open minded, sensitive while being very perspective. There's no pretense. She listened and was easy to talk to. On top of that, all the while, she made us feel that our conversation on birth and her service was about my husband and I, not her. Though initially we had concerns about hiring an independent doula without going through a larger entity, we went ahead with Holly based on our intuition and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. We thoroughly enjoyed the birthing class (part of the doula service package) Holly led. The class was not just about birthing stages - we got to practice pain management techniques and prepare for different sorts of birthing scenarios. Before the class, I was scared of birth (the pain, the risk, the unpredictability, etc.) Yet, the class calmed me in such a way that even though we could not control all the things that might happen in birth, I felt prepared and ready heading into it. Long story short, my birthing experience wasn't without unexpected surprises, but I was able to manage through them calmly and surprisingly serenely. Overall, because of Holly, my husband, and the midwife, I felt supported and cared for throughout. Honestly, I felt I could not ask for a better experience. By the way, hiring Holly means not just having her by your side during birth (which is invaluable in itself), it's also gaining access to the wealth of resources she has and the community she knows. I found my midwife based on her recommendation and later got names for lactation help. Overall, Holly was like the experienced and wise sister whom I can turn to for whatever question I have (seriously, every pregnant/birthing woman ought to have someone like that). If you want to feel supported and being cared for, give Holly a call. read more

We're excited to have hired Holly for birth #2 in a few months. Looking forward to working with her again!

Holly taught one class in our birth class that we took at Bloom Yoga over a series of weeks in the fall. She happened to teach the class about cesarean birth, including role-playing a cesarean (my partner volunteered for the role play.) It turned out that I needed a cesarean -- which was not what I wanted or planned. I credit Holly's empathy and teaching for the fact that both my partner and I knew what to expect and felt less apprehensive about the procedure. read more

We learned more about communication in a 2 hr workshop with Holly than our entire hypno-birthing class. I wish we would have found her first! Thanks Holly! read more

I agree with Holly being a birth-secret-weapon! I honestly could not imagine having gone through labor without her. Her childbirth education class made both my husband and I prepared and empowered. Her expertise and presence at during labor and our daughter's birth was indispensable, and I have recommended her to every pregnant woman I know. Holly, if I haven't told you already, if we are lucky enough to have another child you are hired (again)! read more

I am so happy that my husband and I chose Holly to be our doula. She was such a wonderful support to both of us. She has a very calm demeanor and a fantastic sense of humor, and she put both of us at ease. The pre-labor meetings and phone consultations were extremely helpful; they were a time to process fears as well as problem-solve practical issues. She had great advice when I asked for it, but was also very respectful of my wishes and preferences. And she was a smart, respectful, calming force during the labor itself. The OB who delivered our baby loved her, and told the other OBs in the practice how awesome she was. I give Holly my highest recommendation! read more

As a father, I highly recommend working with Holly. She is extremely knowledgeable, caring, and flexible. Every time we met with Holly or spent time in her classes, I felt that we were in great hands. I learned so much through her even though I felt like I was a prepared father-to-be, On "game day" I could not have been more grateful to have Holly. The birth of our son did not go quite how I expected or exactly as we planned - things change which cause you to adapt. We had a long labor and Holly was perfect at understanding how we were tweaking the plan and was supportive and informative at every step of the way. She was there with us every step of the way. The birth of a child (our first) is a very intimate thing and it felt 100% natural to have Holly there with us and part of the experience. She will forever have a special place in our hearts for sharing that moment and journey with us. We have special memories that we could not have captured without her help. Holly can be relied upon to be a phenomenal guide, a powerful advocate, and an incredible pillar of support for both mother and father. I hope to have the pleasure of working with her again. read more

Holly's childbirth education through Birthing Within was a great experience for my wife and I. I have to admit, going in I wasn't thrilled about losing three Sundays for the classes, but knew it was the least I could do to support my wife and baby as a new father to be. I was really surprised that the class was nothing like I expected. It was very informative, with what I felt was unbiased opinions when sharing the various options of the birthing process. We were given very practical information that has equipped us with insight that will allow for us to make more informed decisions, or at least know some questions to ask, for the upcoming birth of our child. I highly recommend new parents to check out the class. I heard you can never really prepare fully for your child's birth, but I do feel Holly has helped us get more comfortable with everything and we now can go into the experience with a plan, but at the same time remain flexible knowing all the other options we have available to us. read more

My partner & I took childbirth classes from Holly. What a great experience! She was knowledgable, funny, and a great teacher. She uses Birthing from Within principles & techniques to guide you through all the potential ways a birth can go and to help you come to terms with your feelings about them (i.e., kinds of births, interventions, the unexpected, etc.). Her classes also address the basic information, like stages of labor, pain relief options, etc. We definitely feel better prepared for whatever this experience may throw at us, whether it goes as planned (ha!) or everything unexpected happens. Highly recommend signing up for Holly's class! read more

My husband and I took Holly's class to prepare for the birth of our first child and we had a wonderful experience. Holly is very experienced when it comes to the many faces of childbirth and that alone is reason enough to take her class. At the beginning of my pregnancy, I knew what I *wanted* my birth to look like- an unmedicated, low intervention home birth. At 32 weeks, I had to transfer to hospital care because of high blood pressure. This was a huge adjustment for me and my husband. Holly's class helped me become more open minded about how my birth might go and also helped me uncover some of my fears about childbirth and myself. After the last class, I felt much more prepared to enter the unknown of childbirth. I ended up getting induced (one of my fears) but went in with an open mind and had a wonderful unmedicated birth. Another great aspect of taking this class was meeting other soon to be parents and hearing their experiences. I will be recommending this class to anyone looking to prepare for childbirth. read more

My husband and I took Holly's 6-week Birthing From Within class and found it educational, empowering, and emotional. What we liked most about Holly's class was that it prepares you well for something that's truly impossible to "prepare" for--birth and becoming parents--by getting in touch with the intensity of childbirth and covering all of the different scenarios. That means that even if you're hoping for an unmedicated birth, you've learned about interventions, induction, epidurals, and C-sections. Learning about all of the possibilities reduced my fear about childbirth. She also offers helpful pain management techniques and laboring positions. There were numerous times during my induction and labor that I channeled what we learned in class to manage pain and uncertainty. I also really liked that Holly's class encouraged us to get in touch with the more emotional side of transitioning to parenthood through art and discussion (though I'll admit I was skeptical of the art at first!). Holly herself is down to earth, funny, supportive, and tailors the class to the participants. Overall, a terrific experience! read more

Holly's birthing class was way better than my husband and I thought a birthing class could ever be. The class is a perfect mix of experiential learning and information taught. You can tell Holly has been doing this a while, as she has perfected the craft of teaching this class. During my delivery (yes, during actual contractions), there were so many times that I remembered something Holly taught in her class that made me feel more comfortable with what was happening. She truly prepared us as best as I think is possible for the experience of birth and parenthood. I highly recommend anyone take this class. read more

My words can't do justice to how good Holly really is. We took her childbirth education class and she was also our doula for our homebirth. In the classes and in the birth, she was always expertly prepared and knowledgeable, and she was also completely adaptable to every situation and personality type. She prepared us for the birth experience by covering not only the anatomical/biological part of the birth experience, but also the emotional and mental part. She's confident, calm, accessible, down-to-earth, funny, and knows her stuff. As a doula she had an innate sense of where she was needed and exactly how much. I can't recommend her highly enough. read more

Working with Holly on my placenta encapsulation was one of the highlights of my birth experience. She made it effortless (even during a stressful time) & delivered the capsules timely and in a really cute package with a piece of umbilical cord keepsake. I can not recommend her enough and it was very reasonable. read more

We took Holly's class due to a referral from our Doula. We jumped head in and really didn't know much about her or what the class was even about. SCORE. Seriously Holly was the perfect person to help us navigate our birth and get us thinking about what we wanted out of the experience. She is a gem and in general a super great person. Take her class. read more

I cannot recommend Holly's childbirth preparation class. We took the 6-week class and,, even though we only made it through 5 of the classes (our baby came early), we felt incredibly prepared! Holly's class made me feel confident that I had the power to have my baby. It equipped me with a lot of knowledge so that I knew what was happening around me and inside of me so that I didn't have to worry about that and I could focus on having my baby. The classes each had a lot of dialogue between all class participants as well as between couples. My husband and I grew as a couple and strengthened our communication, which helped immensely when I was in labor. I highly recommend Holly's class. read more

Holly is fantastic! Our 6-week childbirth education course with her was the most helpful childbirth preparation we did. She made us feel reassured, confident and at ease. The class is a supportive environment to ask questions and get real answers from a pro. We trusted her experience fully, and she always taught thoughtfully and sympathetically. Highly recommend! read more

I took the 6 week series and utilized Holly's services for doula assistance throughout my birth. I had a great experience with both! The series helped my partner and I mentally prepare for our sons birth and for any scenario that would arise throughout the process. The pain coping techniques were also helpful and prepared my partner for the labor process (things like "this is what it sounds like when your wife is having a contraction - this is normal). Although Holly was not able make it, I was supported by Holly's partner, Natalie, and back up doula, Rachel, through laboring at home and through the labor (I did have an epidural but she helped with ensuring my birth plan went as created otherwise). Holly and Natalie have also been helpful post delivery with answering random questions and provide resources around breast feeding and helping me know what is normal in the healing process. I attribute their support to having an informed and successful :) birth. read more