Informed Birth Choices

Hiring Christy Hines as our doula was by far the best decision I made about my birth. I had planned on having our son at the birth center but when I went into labor at 36 weeks I had to birth at the hospital. Christy came straight to the hospital when we told her my contractions had started. She was a voice of calm, steady reassurance and was able to advocate for me and what I wanted in the hospital. She made it possible for me to have the birth experience I had wanted.
The comfort measures and reassuring presence that Christy had at the birth allowed for me to stay calm and feel relief during contractions. Without her counter pressure, position recommendations, and coaching I’m not sure I could have had the gentle epidural-​free birth I had wanted. Even when our son had to be taken to the NICU, Christy stayed with me while my husband went with our son. She was able to help ask the nurses informative questions and offer reassuring support that I needed in that moment. She even came to check in on us at the NICU a few days later, outside of our postpartum meeting that we had once we were all home a week later.
Christy let me know that I could contact her at anytime with questions, and I felt reassured having her expert support if needed post-​partum. I highly recommend Christy to any prengnant momma and know that I will hire her again if we have a second child.
I’m so glad that IBC is available as a resource for doulas and classes to women in the Baltimore area.

My husband and I interviewed several doulas as we journeyed through our second pregnancy. I delivered naturally with my first child. Though I could not control the length of my active labor (25 hours), I had terrible back labor because he was coming out sunny side up. While I shared this with all doulas we interviewed, Alison Knotek was the only doula who instilled great confidence for us in her knowledge and technique, not only for comfort measures but also offering tidbits of her knowledge on ways to help turn/​keep baby in a good position for labor and delivery.
Not only is Alison knowledgeable and confident, her demeanor and personability develop a great sense of trust for the parents-​to-​be. This is crucial for the labor and delivery to be as calm, relaxed and smooth-​flowing as possible, no matter how you choose to birth. Alison is completely respectful and supportive of the parents’ desires for their birth experience. Alison proved to be an amazing advocate for us with medical staff and unbiased in offering options to consider. While in labor, I felt my baby’s feet/​legs pressing out directly on my belly button, so I knew she was not in the right position! Alison suggested several things to do to help turn her for birth — she turned and I had no back labor! Just one of the many ways Alison had tremendous positive impacts on our birth experience. We are so grateful for her!
We highly recommend requesting Alison as your doula. She is fantastic!

I knew that when my husband and I got pregnant with our first child in March that I was going to want a lot of education to back us up, so when I researched childbirth classes and saw how many IBC offered I signed up immediately. Then we talked about possible complications in my delivery becUse I wanted a birth center water birth without mess, and decided that we should get a doula as well. Danielle matched my husband and I with Luki and she was amazing. Not only was she there for me with my questions before I wet into labor, but she was our saving grace when I needed a medical transfer after already labo ring with us for three days prior! She has also been an amazing support source postpartum as well, and I could not have asked for a better match. I have already recommended IBC (and getting a doula in general, especially if it’s your first child) to all my friends, and I could not be more confident in their services at IBC. We also took two childbirth courses, one with Annie and another with Ashley, and both had great information for us in a casual and relaxed home setting. So much love for IBC and their amazing doulas!

Hiring Christina as our doula was the best decision we made about our birthing experience. I would hire her again in a heartbeat! She put my husband at ease and helped him support me in practical ways. At times during my labor, I didn’t know what I needed until Christina instinctively responded to what she saw going on. When I first met Christina she shared with me about her birth experiences of having a vaginal birth and then a cesarean with her second child. Little did I know, she was the perfect doula for me. My son was diagnosed with a fetal arrythmia (his heart was skipping beats) at 35 weeks and I was warned that my labor may end up a c-​section if things didn’t go perfectly because they would be extra cautious. I was devastated at that prospect. Christina contacted other doulas that had experience with arrythmias during labor to find out information. Long story short, I felt more informed because of Christina and supported in whatever scenario was necessary. She respected my wishes of doing everything I could to have a natural, med-​free birth, but helped me not feel like a failure when (after I labored to 10cm) I did end up needing a c-​section because of uncertaintly with fetal well-​being because the heart tracings were too difficult to read during pushing. She stayed at the hospital until I was out of surgery and even met with me when we were home from the hospital to take pictures of my baby. Pregnancy and labor can be such a time of uncertainty, anxiety and second-​guessing yourself; Christina was a good listener, researcher, and not judgemental about any choice I made, as long as it was MY choice. I wish things had gone differently with many aspects of my labor. The one thing I have NO regrets about is hiring Christina.

Luki was such a great doula, we couldn’t have done it without her. I had planned on a birthing center birth, but when I found out that my daughter had a heart condition that would require surgery within a few days of birth, we had to drastically shift our mindset to accept the reality of a hospital birth. Luki was so supportive and encouraging throughout the pregnancy and researched our daughter’s condition so that she could be more prepared during labor/​delivery. I still wanted to have a natural birth, and she was 100% on board, providing suggestions for making the hospital birthing process as home-​like as possible. In the days leading up to labor, we texted often and she was always extremely responsive and helpful. My labor ended up being extremely quick, so fast that by the time we decided to go to the hospital, I was already 8 cm dilated and Luki barely had time to make it into the delivery room before our baby girl was born! Regardless of the minimal amount of time she ended up spending with us during the actual labor and delivery, I wouldn’t have changed anything about having hired her. Following delivery, Luki stayed for several hours helping me learn how to pump (since our daughter was taken to the NICU immediately) and get settled. She visited us twice while our daughter was still in the hospital, and again last weekend. We are so happy to have Luki in our lives and can’t imagine having had our baby without her involved!

I hired a Luki from IBC. She was absolutely amazing. My birth experience was incredible and it was really thanks to the knowledge and comfort that Luki brought. She was incredibly responsive and very calming. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking to have a great experience. I gave birth at a local hospital but Luki made me feel like we were right at home. Her voice was my guide. I am so thankful for her.

Before I was even pregnant I knew that I wanted to hire a doula to support me during childbirth. I was impressed with IBC for their philosophy, affordable range of rates (I believe it was $ 750 – 1,000 based on experience, and even less if a doula in training), and classes offered. After submitting the request online, I received a phone call from the owner Danielle. She spent time on the phone with me getting to know me, what I wanted from my birth experience, and what I was looking for in a doula. It wasn’t long before she put me in contact with one of their doula’s, Christina, and we set up an in person consultation; again I was impressed with the amount of time dedicated to this, all before a contract was signed and payment was due. About a month before my due date we had our prenatal appointment to discuss my birth plan and go over all of our questions.
Christina was a wealth of information and shared a ton of resources. My labor and delivery went better than I could have asked for and I successfully had an unmedicated birth. Christina’s attentive support during labor made a huge impact. Afterwards she spent time with us assisting me with getting myself together and providing breastfeeding support. She also kept on the nurses to get me a stockpile of supplies, including those heavenly ice pads. A week after delivery she stopped by for a postnatal appointment to check in with us and baby, and sent along more breastfeeding resources and support.
I don’t know why everyone doesn’t hire a doula, but it is worth every penny. IBC is definitely a supportive community.