I hired Katrina when I was just around 12 or 14 weeks pregnant...we knew we wanted a doula, and…read moreafter making some calls, I found that doulas book out pretty far in advance! We knew our price range (less than $1k) and what we were looking for in terms of support, and found 5 or 6 individuals or companies that fit the bill. We interviewed 2 - Katrina being the first, and we liked her immediately! She made me feel at ease and that she got the kind of birth I was looking to achieve. We hired her right away, and I really liked having access to her via text in those months leading up to labor with random pregnancy questions. She walked through our birth plan with us in person around 36 weeks - it was really helpful because she had questions for us that weren't on our OB's list, including some of the immediate newborn care. And then, finally, time to have a baby! My water had broken overnight (though I wasn't sure) and Katrina encouraged me to call my doctor when I texted her the next morning. I got busy at work (such denial!) and finally saw my doctor that afternoon and found that I was in pretty active labor! We met Katrina at the hospital, and she was amazing at keeping hubby & I focused throughout the entire process. With a 39 hour labor and 5.5 hours of pushing, we were exhausted. Katrina kept us calm and informed, keeping track of the comings and goings of the nurses and doctors through the evening. She helped me to come up with my questions before the resident came in every few hours. And when labor got really hard, she was great helping hubby to coach me to get that wee baby into our arms, and made sure we were comfortable breastfeeding before she left the hospital. Katrina stopped in a week later for our post partum visit, bringing along a wonderfully written birth story. There's no way I would have maintained the focus that I did in labor & delivery without Katrina's support and expertise!

Katrina was able to be an advocate for me when I was too overwhelmed to be one for myself. When the…read morestaff wanted to push pitocin early on she was there to intervene & buy me more time to labor naturally. She held my arm as we walked the halls, held the trash can as I vomited, had this wonderful cooling band for my head & neck when I was overheating, brought me slushes & kept reminding me that each contraction was one more out of the way & I was that much closer to holding my daughter. With zero pain medication she suggested alternate pain management ideas & was completely patient & supportive when I had no idea what I even wanted! Her encouragement during pushing, guidance during breast feeding, endless source of information before/during/after labor was all priceless!! She absolutely loves people & babies & births & never once thought about herself even though she was also running on no sleep & no food- she was all about my (& my husband's) comfort & experience above all else. She was a pivotal member of my birth team & I cannot imagine having done it without her!!!

I had a traumatic time working with Erin in 2021. It was my first pregnancy and things were going…read morewell at first. In the second trimester, she started mentioning that my blood pressure was elevated. I looked up standards online and it was not yet elevated, so this seemed more precautionary at this point. She kept mentioning that every single appointment. I started to feel extremely anxious going into her office. I was terrified of being risked out and I felt very helpless because I had already paid the majority of the agreed upon payment, so I couldn't transfer to someone else. Around 30 weeks is when things took a turn for the worse. I was panicking about appointments at this point, which of course would give an elevated reading. However, it was when she checked my fundal height and implied that I have gestational diabetes, without doing any testing, that really drew the line. At that point, the only testing I've had was A1C at the beginning and it was borderline pre-diabetes, so based off of that and her checking fundal height, she was asking for a growth scan with no other testing. I was not offered to check my sugars with a glucose monitor, no fasting sugar test, no 1 or 3 hour test, nothing, but her hunch. This also happened at the appointment after I made my final payment to her. At this point I stopped going to her because the anxiety I had was causing me too much stress. Feeling like you will be risked every single appointment based off of hunches made me feel so helpless. She never offered for me to check my blood pressure at home. She never offered anything except what I suspect is discrimination towards my weight. She assumed my higher weight meant health issues, and I guess it was too much liability for her. But, she had no problem keeping everything I paid her. I've worked with other midwives since and they know about this situation and to this day I am measuring BP at home because doing it in office brings up a lot of this for me anxious. That's why I called this experience traumatic, it truly was for me. To make things even worse, when I was giving birth at the hospital, she transferred records and in her records had but that I have hypertension and gestational diabetes, which led to extra testing to my baby. The hospital was shocked by both of those records because my BP was perfect during birth and my and my babies sugars were perfect as well. They wondered after the fact why it even said that. So not only did she risk me out for refusing a growth scan, she then sent false records based off of her hunches to a medical facility. The hypertension part I can understand bc of the readings in office (they never actually reached 140, which is the diagnosis for hypertension), but to say I have GD with zero testing to a hospital, as a "natural" midwife, is just beyond anything imaginable. I've gone on to have a successful home birth with wonderful midwives who actually cared about me and my wellbeing. They never assumed anything about my weight, they gave me tons of options for testing to make sure we have a full picture of my health. They never made me feel like I would get risked out. If anything was every wrong, we talked about it extensively, including what to do to help the situation (iron). If you look at Erin's website, you will find zero photos of anyone who is at a higher weight. She did not have to agree to work with me. I chose her because she claimed to be inclusive. This was a lie that cost me emotionally, financially and ruined my first birth being a home birth. I'm happy to provide proof of working together through email correspondence and receipts.

Choosing Erin as our midwife was by far the best decision we could've made for the birth of our…read morelast baby. After two hospital births and my second being traumatic I finally got the birth I wanted and deserved. The entire experience with Erin from start to finish was amazing. She is extremely knowledgeable, caring and I learned so much from her. The care you receive is WAY beyond the care you would ever receive at an OB office (at least from my experience). Erin truly takes the time during your appointments and you're not rushed out. During my labor I was able to do my own thing but she was readily available when needed. After baby was born she was able to diagnose his lip and tongue and recommended a place to get him revised and did all the standard checks. We had an issue with jaundice on day 2 and Erin acted swiftly to ensure we had a bili blanket delivered right to our door so we never had to step foot in a hospital. During the days we used the blanket she was text and check up on us. I truly cannot say enough good things about our experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat.