Deanna was not my doula; but I wanted a consultation with her to possibly become my doula. Her CV…read moreappeared impressive, an educator and DONA certified, which is why I emailed via Yelp and her website to set a consultation up....never received a reply. Ended up going with someone who was prompt and responsive. Expected more from a veteran doula.

When my husband and I were preparing for our first baby to be born, I knew I wanted to hire a doula…read morebecause I wanted to give birth naturally with no epidural or any other pain medications. We did our research and chose three doula services that we were interested in. After having multiple phone and in person meetings with all three, I knew Deanna was the right one for me. Meeting Deanna for the first time is like meeting a friend you haven't seen in a long time. She definitely gives you a sense of comfort. She's also very knowledgable and answered all of my husband's and I's questions we had about my pregnancy and prepared us for what to expect during labor and delivery. When that day finally came (about 2.5 weeks earlier than expected) Deanna and my husband were on it. Both of them worked so hard to make me feel comfortable. Deanna definitely helped my husband be more hands on during my labor which took over 24 hours. As much as I wanted to give birth vaginally, I eventually had to get a c-section after pushing for 6 hours and trying all the possible birthing positions Deanna recommended. I was also prepared going in to the operating room as Deanna also educated us about what would happen if I was to get a c-section. Deanna was by my side the whole time up until I had the c-section. When the nurses where not available Deanna was moving the bed to get me to a comfortable position and also helping me get to the bathroom. So if you're looking for a knowledgable doula with lots of experience and is hands on, I would definitely recommend Deanna.

Andrea is a marvel! Andrea was my postpartum doula for eight weeks, during which she taught me SO…read moremuch about newborn care, lactation, Montessori-style enrichment, reading cues, and everything you could think to ask about babies. She even led a "grandparents class" with my parents and mother-in-law, updating them on all the best practices and modern guidelines since they were last taking care of babies, and giving them (and us) the confidence to be able to take care of our baby on their own - widening our support system and creating a wonderful bonding experience for everyone. She also prepared snack tins for me, kept the nursery tidy, washed our baby's laundry and cloth diapers, advised on ways to improve and add to our nursery setup, and more. She even brought us incredible strawberries from her local farmers market. Oh, and she is the best at cutting fruit. She is an amazing teacher and warm presence, and she proactively kept the door open for being able to text her with any questions about the baby even after our contract ended. Hire her now!!!

We were incredibly lucky to have Andrea Berkey as our postpartum doula for six weeks, starting the…read moreweek our baby boy was born. As first-time parents, those early days felt overwhelming, and Andrea's calm presence and support made a world of difference. She has an amazing depth of knowledge about newborns and patiently taught us the basics--burping, de-gassing, bathing, and feeling confident handling our extra-small newborn. As a new mom, I was especially grateful for her help with feeding. She walked me through different feeding positions and helped me get fully set up and comfortable with pumping. Andrea was incredibly gentle and patient with our baby, often lulling him to sleep and holding him for long stretches. Knowing he was in such caring hands gave us so much peace of mind and allowed us to truly rest and recover. She consistently went above and beyond--staying an extra hour on her first day to accompany us to our baby's first pediatrician visit, keeping our baby's dresser organized, always refilling the water in our bottle cleaner before leaving, and sharing age-appropriate activities along with helpful tools and resources. We are really thankful for her little acts of thoughtfulness. She was always flexible and adapted her approach to what worked best for our family. Because of Andrea, we were able to enjoy the first weeks of parenthood without feeling constantly overwhelmed. We are so grateful for her support and cannot recommend her highly enough to any family looking for a knowledgeable, compassionate, and thoughtful support system!

Kaylyn was outstanding! She wasn't just excellent when she arrived, but was also incredibly…read morecaring, helpful, and guiding before I even knew what I wanted. She is incredibly sweet, warm, and comforting at a time when you feel overwhelmed, and I highly recommend her to anyone without enough support and expecting a child! She also makes incredible lactation cookies and soothing postpartum items. My experience: I had reached out to her before delivery without a clear idea of the help we needed, and she was incredibly sweet and communicative from the start. She actually remembered when I was due and sent a few check-in texts while I was arriving at the hospital, and asked how I was and told me where I could expect to go in the hospital. I was incredibly nervous and stressed (as one would expect) and honestly this really put me at ease. She then checked in a few days later, asked how I was doing, and made a few recommendations on how she could help. All without having met me yet or signed a contract! This really impressed me as to the quality of her service, and I ended up scheduling a few overnights, beyond what I had planned -- and she was right! Having her arrive at bedtime, she quickly assessed the situation (it was frantic chaos) while quietly sitting back, friendly and observing, but jumped in to help my older daughter get to bed, and then helping me figure out how to get the baby ready for her to help. The biggest godsend was of course having her help put the baby to sleep, change him, dress him, and burp him, all while my husband slept interrupted and I got a precious full 2.5 hours each time. I thought an overnight doula was pointless if breastfeeding -- I was very wrong. I'm really glad that I found her in the Mom Facebook group for Livermore and that I reached out - she was excellent!

I wish I had known about Kaylyn aka The Little Doula when I had my first child - and would give her…read morea 10 star rating if I could! I knew that with my second baby I would need help, so I researched post partum doulas and interviewed 3 (Kaylyn, Doulas by the Bay, and East Bay Doulas) before ultimately going with Kaylyn. She blew the other doulas out of the running with her extremely vast knowledge and experience, her genuinely caring and warm demeanor, and most of all - her love of babies. She was also highly recommended in my local Facebook moms group which made me feel more at ease about having a doula help me with my newborn. On her first visit, Kaylyn gifted me some postpartum supplies (cooling gel pads, lactation cookies, inspirational quotes book/journal, comfy socks, and an amazing custom binder full of advice and info) which was so thoughtful and sweet of her. Kaylyn provided overnight support and breastfeeding advice right after I came home from the hospital delivery, which was so helpful for me while I was recovering. She helped me feed, bathe, and diaper change the baby while I pumped and attended to my toddler and got much needed sleep. Unfortunately 3 days after coming home I was sent back to the hospital due to complications, and thankfully Kaylyn was there while I was away at night to help my family care for my newborn. I asked Kaylyn to provide me with overnight and occasional daytime support during my 4th trimester so I can heal, get some rest/sleep, and help my baby sleep better (gentle sleep conditioning). Kaylyn is also a certified doula and sleep trainer and by 6-weeks, my baby was sleeping for 5-6 hr stretches at night and is eating well (68% for weight and 88% for height at her 2 month checkup)! I was worried about having people outside of my family come help because of COVID and cold/flu season, but Kaylyn eased my worries because she wears a mask in my home and always around my baby and is super cautious before coming over and will let me know in advance if she has any concerns about health. Kaylyn is always there for me whenever I have questions and responds via text and calls. She is such a lovely, smart, and passionate person who loves helping moms and babies - I 100% recommend her if you're looking for a post partum doula!

We feel extremely fortunate that we got to have Keelia help us settle into being a family of four…read more She was a consistently warm and caring presence, not just for our new baby but for all four of us. And she has a special knack for just finding ways to be helpful even if we're frazzled and don't know what to ask. She's also very thoughtful about providing advice--in addition to answering whatever random questions we have, she gently offers advice without it ever feeling like she's forcing it on us or it feeling overly didactic. We could go on about how great she is, but the long and short of it is that she's amazing at what she does.

I am certain that my experience with Keelia made THE difference in achieving the birth of my…read moredaughter the ways that I wanted it- delaying at home for as long as possible, no pain meds and a positive, empowered experience. My biggest fears were my low pain tolerance and lack of control over knowing exactly how it would go. Shortly before our due date, Keelia came over to review our birth plan and a timeline of what to expect for pre-labor, active labor, travel to the birth center, transition, and delivery. She made sure we practiced comfort measures, breathing and how I wanted to be supported verbally. It wasn't until the last moments with Keelia where she looked me in the eye and said I was ready, that I actually felt prepared to go into labor and meet my daughter. 2 days later, my water broke in the middle of the night. For the next 44 hours of contractions, naps, two car rides up to the birth center, a traumatic cervical check on day one to then be sent back home, many walks around the neighborhood, yoga ball bouncing, 1 game of Monopoly, snacks, massages, and support - Keelia was at our beck and call. By the time we got to the birth center (again) on day 2 after 36 hours, I was only at 1cm and 50% effaced. Keelia helped me calm down from exhausition and frustration at this news, and we made a plan to get misoprostol to thin my cervix but hopefully proceed with no other interventions. Miraculously, Ava was born 7 hours later. Keelia coached me through contractions which came back to back for hours, waved lavendar oil in front of my face for nausea, massaged my back, covered the clock when she noticed it stressing me out, got me into the shower with Joe when I hit the wall of transition, and helped me breathe through pushing - 3 contractions! She reassured me every step of the way - calmly & knowing I could do it at all moments. In this amazing doula's hands, I felt loved, safe, and supported. Thank you, Keelia.

Absolutely wonderful Dr.. She has great bedside manners, talks you through everything, calms your…read morenerves, gentle and quick (huge bonus), and is relatable and professional while being laid back and easy going! I, like most women, I imagine, cannot stand the yearly checkup. I was very bad and put it off for 5 years. I just went and saw Dr. Silverstein for my first gyno checkup in that long period of time, and she made it as comfortable and as pleasant of an experience as it can be. I highly recommend her if you're in need of an OB/Gyn.

Delivered both my babies. Great doctor, easy to talk to. Feel like she heard and listened to me!read more

First, Dr. Starr had moved to PAMF in Dublin, I think Yelp should update this!…read more How should I start? I started to see Dr. Starr in 2011 after I had horrible experiences with another OB in Valley Care. After talking to the office management, they recommended me to switch to Dr. Starr. I instantly felt "She's the right doctor" after my first visit. Out of her busy schedule, she was very patience with me for all my questions. Her wonderful bedside manner just made each office visit pleasant . Through my pregnancy, I had many complications, and she was on top of them. She communicated closely with other specialists about my pregnancy and conditions! On my 6 weeks check up postpartum, she discovered I had my tailbone fractured during delivery. She then referred me to physical therapy and closely monitored my progress on recovering. I was so fortunate to have her as my ob. If she still accepts new patients, I would totally recommend her to everyone who is searching for a great OB.

The pressure around choosing an OBGYN is often minimized by society. We write women off as being…read moredramatic/emotional and that any doctor should be fine. In my opinion obstetrics is probably the most important field in woman's health. It's taken me over one year and a lot of courage to write this review but I feel like what I went through should be shared so that other women deciding on their OBGYN will not have the same result. BED SIDE MANNER I initially wanted to have Dr. Jeffrey-Starr as my OBGYN because of her rave reviews from my neighbor who had a very positive experience with her after a bad experience with her first child. When I first met with Dr. Starr she confronted me with rude comments like why have you seen so many doctors? What is wrong with you? I had seen many doctors due to my endometriosis, it went undiagnosed initially by Dr. Pham who is also at that practice, but later Dr. Beatty (the only doctor I can recommend at that practice) ordered the necessary tests to be able to diagnose it. Every time I asked her questions about my pregnancy she dismissed me as if I was hyper concerned. I thought maybe I was being irrational, given she's done this a thousand times and I have only been pregnant once. She was always in and out of the room after about 5-10 minutes. She would appear visibly annoyed when I asked if I could facetime my husband for the appointment (as this was during the height of COVID) or if I asked if I could go through my list of questions (i.e., is this normal in pregnancy type Qs?) OFFICE FUNCTIONALITY I saw Dr. Starr once every third appointment. She never responded to a single inquiry I had through the online portal, instead it was her office staff who took anywhere from 3-8 days. Her NP would frequently say "that's a Q for Dr. Starr," in which I would never receive any follow through on whether the Q was relayed to her. I consistently waited in the office for my appointment anywhere between 1-2 hours. This is tough for a pregnant woman who is also working. DIAGNOSIS/CARE Because of our infrequency in communication, I didn't really feel like Dr. Starr was my doctor. My saving grace was a family friend who was an OBGYN. I could call her and ask her about symptoms I was having and she would tell me whether they were concerning or not. When she said they were concerning, I went to the ER and got the necessary blood work done. I did end up getting contractions early on and had some symptoms consistent with liver issues (all of these things went undiagnosed) and didn't seem concerning to Dr. Starr. When I was admitted to the hospital due to high blood pressure, I was there for 7 days. The first 72 hours I was induced, on a high amount of pitocin, on an epidural for 4 days, several cervical exams, a serious of high fevers, and very low over sight from Dr. Starr. I had asked Dr. Starr if we should go through a birth plan together, prior to me going to the hospital and she said no. At the hospital, I saw 5 other OBs at the hospital and there was no consistency of care. Finally, I requested a C section after having a very high fever of 102 and my blood pressure shooting up to the 170s. The C section was performed quickly but there was a lot of bickering on the other side of the curtain (overall it seemed like the care team wasn't functioning well together). In the recovery room, I went into septic shock, the rapid response team was called and was transferred to the ICU where my life was literally being saved. There were probably 20-30 different medical professionals buzzing around me, and I didn't see my baby for 3 days after he was born. AFTER CARE Dr. Starr visited me once when I was in the ICU to take my bandages off. I couldn't get an appointment with her for my 6 week post op apt. A different OB said my scar tissue indicates the surgery wasn't performed skillfully. Overall I would not recommend Dr. Starr and actually feel obligated to warn others because the result of having her as your doctor could be fatal.

I called Emily for help when my little guy was 11 weeks old. She gave me great advice on putting…read morehim down for naps as well as transitioning him to a bottle. She was very supportive and gave me much needed encouragement.

My husband and I were so grateful to have Emily as our doula for the birth of our son this past…read moreSeptember. After meeting a number of doulas, we decided to go with Emily. We really liked that she was incredibly knowledgable - pulling out data, studies, and anecdotes from her own education and international travels throughout our conversations - and her easy-going demeanor. The day of my son's birth, after I had been in labor for much of the day at home, with my husband coaching me along, we called Emily to come over when things got a bit more intense. While my husband was an incredible birth partner, we were both so happy to have her very obviously experienced support. She had a very soothing touch - which was so nice in the midst of great pain - and had so many awesome suggestions that contributed so positively to my birth experience (using tools like water and yoga balls, mantras, rhythm, etc). At the same time it felt like she sensed when it was a good time to also give my husband and I space. She would kind of dip in with some magical support then disappear (really just a room away and always available), then dip back in just when it was right. Going in I wanted to shoot for a birth with little or no intervention. We made all of our decisions around that vision, particularly in who would be with us for the birth. We had an awesome midwife (Gwen Haynes) and fabulous coach in Emily. I had a really amazing birth experience with no interventions and I think I owe A LOT of that outcome to Gwen and Emily and all of the guidance they offered throughout. THANK YOU EMILY!!!

Ana was our birth doula and I couldn't have imagined delivering without her! Initially, I reached…read moreout to Ana about her availability as a night doula. A friend who recently had twins recommended her to me and praised the quality of care she received from Ana. That friend also shared how invaluable having Ana as a doula was to a first time mom and mentioned how much she learned from her. Unfortunately, our timelines didn't align on night time support, but I'm glad she was available to assist me at birth. When I first met Ana, I was blown away by how comfortable she made me feel. I didn't know much about doula services, but she was able to explain her role in my birth and it made me feel more at ease with delivering a child. At our meeting, we went over my birth plan in detail, specific exercises / stretches for a natural birth, and she patiently answered my long list of questions. After the meeting, she also made sure to stay in constant contact and send me helpful materials. When it came time for me to deliver, Ana was my biggest advocate. I had a less than ideal birth experience and I was so fortunate that Ana was there to communicate to the nurses and midwives, and to reiterate my birth plan to make sure it was being respected and followed. Ana is probably the reason why I didn't deliver in a tiny triage room! I also decided to not get an epidural and Ana made me feel supported every step of the way. She knew exactly what to do to help minimize the pain or at least distract me from it. During active labor, she continued to guide me until my baby was delivered healthily and safely. After, she stayed to make sure that I was okay before she left us to bond with our baby. Working with doulas has been the best decision during pregnancy / birth and postpartum, and getting the chance to work with Ana was a joy! Ana really focuses on making sure the mommy to be is heard, comfortable and empowered throughout the time she works with someone. Our family can't recommend her enough as she played a pivotal role in welcoming our baby to this world.

My partner and I were looking into birth doulas once I hit the third trimester, and one of my…read morefriends who had recently given birth recommended Ana to me. I couldn't have been happier to receive this referral after working with Ana. Our work together started with an initial zoom call to see if we would be a good match. From the first meeting, I felt very welcomed by Ana. She was very professional and answered every question we had. I really appreciated the timeline and contents of each meeting. Ana was very clear during our meetings and always made herself available to us via text. The meetings were a combination of zoom calls, phone calls, and an in person visit before the birth and one postpartum. She was very knowledgeable not only about birth itself, but also about how to advocate for moms during labor at the hospital. I'm not the fondest of the hospital setting, and Ana did a fantastic job at making me feel safe and respected at the hospital. I really couldn't thank her more for this. As someone who was skeptical about even getting a birth doula in the first place, I couldn't recommend Ana more.