Nikki and her team are hands-down exceptional! I am so happy that we found Metropolitan Doulas while looking for postpartum support. When I had my baby during the summer of 2020 at the height of the pandemic with a toddler at home, I knew we would need extra support. I emailed Metropolitan Doulas and was busy juggling all the craziness of life and couldn't get back to Shaquanda when she called me. I was so glad she didn't give up on me and she followed up every couple of days. Once we finally connected, we asked a million questions and were overall impressed with her answers and the company's approach to not just postpartum support, but also with safety precautions with COVID. We were focused on lactation support and light household support such as help with the kitchen, laundry and light meal prep. On the admin side of things, Metropolitan Doulas were very supportive when we said we wanted to switch gears from the first doula we worked with and had to tweak the hours of a package we had purchased.
Luckily, we got to work mostly with Nikki. Nikki is amazing. We got along right away, and not only did she provide the hands-on help we needed, but she also played a big role in helping with my postpartum anxiety with her gentle encouragement and lactation expertise. She was very transparent about her activities and safety precautions during the pandemic so I was ensured that she was safe to have over in the house, and she always wore a mask. She gave me all kinds of insight to helpful sleep tips for both the baby and toddler (she's also a professional sleep consultant/specialist!), feeding tips for both baby and toddler, and pumping and nursing tips for me. I trusted her completely with my baby and in the house, and she was excellent at time management. I would give her a list of things to do for the day, and she'd get through them all, while doing additional things around the house too that I didn't even realize needed to get done.
Nikki's also a professional organizer, and she tackled piles of messes that have been sitting around for months!! She even single-handedly helped to change the layout of our guest room to make a telework space for me while also watching the baby. She also helped get both the nursery and my toddler's room organized and in shape which was causing me a lot of stress. Any parent knows how much work it is keeping on top of transitioning the kids clothes, shoes and toys as they grow, and she came up with storage solutions and systems that made the transitions easy. When Nikki traveled during the holidays, she connected me with another doula, Lacy, to cover for the couple of weeks she was gone, who I really liked too. Lacy was wonderful at helping to cook up huge batches of purees for my baby and also helped with my older daughter. She even came over 1 day to help transfer my plants, one of my hobbies that gives me a lot of joy that I was sure I wouldn't have time to do until my baby was at least 1 year old.
Overall, these ladies are fabulous and their company and friendship was amazing during those foggy first couple of months. The postpartum journey is a sacred time and I appreciated Nikki being there for me and her flexibility along the way to what my family needed. I looked forward to both Nikki and Lacy's visits so much. I highly recommend reaching out to Nikki and her team for any support you may need whether you're a new parent or have a couple of kiddos already. I plan on keeping in touch with Nikki for sure! read more