Mindful Ways

I delivered my second baby with Jennifer and I can’t be more happy! My first delivery was with epidural and pitocin and it took 36 hours in total. This time was completely different and as I planned. Jennifer helped me a lot with keeping me calm and relaxed. I realized that hospital atmosphere wasn’t good enough for delivering naturally. So many disturbing factors which don’t allow you to concentrate or even handle the pain. This time Jennifer did her best to remove those disturbances and helped me to go through the pain like nobody else :) She was my shield with medical stuff and it gave me so much confidence. I highly recommend Jennifer!

I am not even sure where to begin my review because I could literally write pages singing praises of Jennifer. Let me begin by saying this, we simply could not have had an unmedicated natural birth without Jennifer. Its that simple. When I look back on my amazing birth, Jennifer is a huge part of it .
Initially we were not sure if hiring a doula was a good idea just because I knew my pain tolerance and thought an unmedicated birth was impossible for me. Once I met Jennifer for the first time her warm and caring personality really resonated with me. At that point I had not decided to have a doula at my birth, but she was always in my mind.
I am so glad she decided to take us as clients even though she is usually really busy.
We had 2 pre-​natal appointments with her, where she educated us on a lot of factors with regards to natural childbirth and all of what she tells you is based on sound research. I love the fact that she has a lot of alternative methods to medication.
I had a long labor, about 15 hours and this is hard to believe, but there is a particular massage that she did during the start of a surge which really helped me, and imagine this, she massaged me during EVERY surge !!!
I really don’t know how she physically did this, because it is hard to sit in the same position and apply pressure every minute or 5 minutes, but she was there for me and my husband, motivating me, guiding me and telling me that I was making wonderful progress during the entire birth.
She helped me with different positions during labor, had her wonderful homeopathic oils, hot water packs and TENS machine. She made sure my husband was OK too.
After 15 hours of labor, I had my healthy baby boy and was just so overjoyed that I was able to achieve a natural birth, something that I had thought was impossible.
Jennifer is just a wonderful person, she really cares about the family and only wants the best for everyone. we feel like she is a part of our family now !
If you are planning an unmedicated birth and need physical and emotional support, Jennifer is the best choice for a doula.

We LOVE Jen! She is an amazing human being. She is kind, warm, gentle, and extremely knowledgeable about pregnancy, delivery, babies, and natural health. Jen helped support us in pregnancy and birthing and she gave us a plethora of information regarding health and alternative methods to medicine and other medical things as we’re very cautious due to health issues. Jen is still our go-​to person and always responds quickly.
During delivery, Jen was a warrior! She was up with me through the night working really hard (mentally and physically) to support me through my labor. When I had doubts and felt anxious, I had her support and comforting voice and touch. Having Jen there allowed my husband, mother, grandmother, and cousin focus on me without stress.
She really cares about people and is in this for the love and care of mamas, babies, and their families. She puts her heart and soul into her work — which I would call her life calling. She offers an incredible amount of support and information, leaving her doula package insanely reasonable. We plan to continue to see her for our family health needs.
She’s the best! You will definitely be getting everything and more with her.

Jennifer assisted us with the birth of our first child. With her help I was able to have the unmedicated natural birth that I had imagined. I called her when my contractions were painful but still quite bearable. She arrived to our home shortly after and advised me to lie down. This was super important because it saved me a lot of energy for later when I absolutely needed it. She gave me back massages throughout labor and assisted my husband to do the same. She also advised some labor positions that helped reposition the baby and helped labor progress. Most importantly she gave me and my husband privacy when we needed it but was there for us when we needed help. Jennifer advised us to stay home until I was well into active labor, something we wouldn’t have done if we didn’t’ have her advice and I am very glad we did. During the most painful transition stage Jennifer gave me some homeopathy drops which helped me relax and help labor progress. We ended up spending only a few hours at the hospital before our baby was born. I feel Jennifer made all the key decisions in our labor that altogether resulted in a an uncomplicated and relatively fast labor.
Jennifer has a calm demeanor and is fully present when she is with you. During our pre-​labor visit and hypnotherapy sessions she helped me have more confidence in my body and my baby which made the whole thing possible. She also advised some documentaries for us about natural birth and breastfeeding which were very educational. In her post-​partum visit to our house she encouraged me to talk about my labor and encouraged practices that helped with my bonding with my baby. Overall both my husband and I are grateful for her presence in our birthing experience and in our lives.

Jennifer was my doula for my first birth. I can’t imagine what my experience would have been w/​out her. My intention was to have a «natural» birth in a hospital setting and she helped me achieve my desire. I had never been in a hospital before and as I expected it was an anxiety producing experience in some ways but Jennifer was steadfast and supported me with a variety of tools to include: massage, aromatherapy, homeopathy, meditation, etc. My husband did not make it to the birth, and when the labor got very intense, and the hospital staff seemed frazzled and tense, Jennifer was the unwavering rock I needed.
Jennifer is very generous with her time and energy. Although Jennifer has a robust clientele, I never felt rushed, and always felt like her #1 priority. She is 110% committed to her profession as evidenced by her tremendous knowledge of the prenatal, and postpartum stages. She is an expert in her field and provided the education I needed to write my birth plan for delivering at a hospital, and self care for when I left. I recommend Jennifer whole heartedly if you are looking for a birth coach who will encourage, support, and hold the space for your desired experience.

Jennifer (Mindful Ways) is a wonderful doula and helped deliver our first baby. Her doula package consisted of two prenatal and postpartum visits and the delivery. During our visits she helped us emotionally and physically prepare for labor. I strongly believe that these visits contributed to a successful unmedicated delivery. Jennifer was very respectful of my personal choices and provided unbiased information when we had questions.
During labor she was rockstar and gave me just what I needed to move on, cope with contractions and keep me in the moment. She provided a lot of physical support (massages) and emotional support to not only to me, but my husband– he worked too!
The postpartum visits were very informative and her guidance helped us navigate becoming new parents. If you are considering a doula, I highly recommend Jennifer!

It is hard to put in words the great and amazing job Jennifer is doing before during and after birth.
Jennifer met me and my family several times before birth to learn more about me and about us as a family, she heard with great love every little piece of the puzzle i gave about my past birth the way i cope with pain, how i we as a family see her part in birth. she gave me few session of guided affective imaginary that helped me let go off the failure feeling from last birth and empowering me to the next one.
She was my doula in 2 Homebirth, and if I will give birth again, I know she will be my first choice.

It has been 1 year since my baby was born, so this review is long overdue. My first baby was born in 2011 after 36 hours of labor (without a doula) followed by a cesarean. For my second child, I debated about getting a doula and whether it would be useful or not as I attempted a vbac. I now tell all expecting moms, without question, to get a doula.
Labor is hard, and labor is unique for each mom, each time. I had wonderful support (my mom and my husband), but having Jen there provided a world of reassurance and comfort that can only come from experience. I had a very long labor (nothing unique or troublesome, it just progressed very slowly), and Jen offered comfort positions and helped me try different things to help labor progress. When we all felt like this was taking too long, she reassured us that this was all very normal. I can give many concrete examples of how she helped me, but since labor is different for everyone, I think it’s more helpful here to say, if you’re thinking about a doula, I recommend one (and I’ve done labor both with one and without one). And if you’ve decided to get a doula, I can’t recommend Jen enough. She was present for my labor in a helpful, non-​intrusive way. I can’t thank her enough for all the wisdom and comfort she brought to a long, painful, but beautiful process.
For those who are worried that having a doula means you are not allowed any medical intervention, here is a summary of my labor…
I labored for 3 days. After 3 days straight of no sleep, I asked for an epidural. I physically couldn’t stand anymore which was the only position that kept the contractions coming regularly. Because I was then lying down, labor stopped progressing, and I was slowly given Pitocin. I finally dilated to 10 cm a day later, but after pushing for an hour, baby’s heart rate kept dipping. I had no reservations at that point. Once the doctors recommend a cesarean, I whole-​heartedly agreed. I did not receive any pressure from Jen as I decided on having more medical intervention throughout the process, and I do not feel any regrets on how things unfolded. Jen helped me make informed decisions, and every step of the way, I made decisions that I was comfortable with.

A big thank you to Jen for being part of my birth! As a first time mama hoping for an unmedicated birth, I knew that a doula was going to be a very important part of the journey. Jen was awesome. Our pre-​birth meetings were so helpful. Jen is very warm and encouraging and was instrumental in setting me at ease and helping my partner and I feel prepared and confident! We were also toying with the idea of signing up for classes, but after our first meeting, I knew that wouldn’t be necessary. Jen was great with sharing all the technical details of labor, birth and newborn basics PLUS it was personalized… something you cannot get in a class. As for labor itself, I had a pretty quick and uncomplicated labor. As things started to intensify at home, it was so great to know that Jen was just a call away… this really helped relieve some of the anxiety regarding how my labor was progressing .One of my concerns was knowing when to go to the hospital — I did not want to go to early, but I certainly didn’t want to cut it too close. It was so amazing to have someone there who could really «read» the situation and help us figure out the next steps. She was so calm and supportive throughout the whole process and I honestly cannot imagine my daughter’s birth story with the support of such a wonderful doula. I am so happy that she was there to welcome our little bundle. Doulas rock!!!

I rarely do reviews on anything or anyone. I always intend to but never quite make the time… Well this one was worth the time and long over do. Jennifer is an amazing doula and worked with us in the birth of our daughter in April. I moved to the Bay Area from San Diego shortly after finding out we were pregnant with our 2^nd child in the fall of 2013. Being new to the area I was really anxious to find the right person. ~ We used a doula and gave birth at the birthing center within UCSD hospital for my first child and had a great experience. I didn’t think that I could top my first experience but Jennifer really helped to make the birth of my daughter amazing.
Jennifer used the awakening birth method with me and I did hypnotherapy recordings in the lead up to my birth. In addition she had me do EFT (emotional freedom tapping) for the actual birth. I will be honest, I was more than a little bit of a skeptic of most of this in the beginning but I was open to it and felt as though it didn’t hurt to give it a try. I’m glad I was because the in the end I can honestly say that it made my birth much smoother. I don’t fully understand the EFT but it worked to really help me calm myself and focus.
Additionally Jennifer was really flexible and always got back to me whenever I needed her. I can’t say enough good things about her.
I read the review from the woman who felt jennifer came off «fairly radical» when she decided to have an epidural. I can’t speak for anyone but myself but I’ve never gotten that impression of judgement from Jennifer what so ever. She certainly seemed open to me regarding whatever my decisions were on a birthing plan. In my opinion she only tried to share all points of view of the good bad and ugly~ whether you decided to it natural, epidural or had to have a csection. She just wanted you to know all sides. Honestly, the birth classes my husband and I took at UCSD were more biased against an epidural than I ever heard from Jennifer.
Overall, we had a great experience with using Jennifer. She has a kind and calming presence about her. I think she is phenomenal at what she does and offers clients a LOT of tools to use in the birthing experience if you are open to it or want that. I am happy to speak with anyone personally who would like more info on my personal experience with using her.
Please feel free to contact me on here and I am happy to speak to you.

Both my husband and I wanted a natural unmedicated birth. Since it was our first child, the whole labor and delivery process was unknown to us and I wasn’t sure if I could push myself to have a natural birth. So, I asked my husband if we could hire a doula. He was hesitant at first and he felt even more hesitant when we couldn’t find the right one even after we interviewed a couple. However the first time we met Jennifer, we both knew she was the best choice for us. Jennifer was wonderful, calming, caring and attentive throughout the entire process. She was also very prompt and supportive through her text and phone calls. She came over to our home around 3AM when my contraction got very intense. Her calming and reassuring demeanor helped me get through the intense phases and when I got to the hospital, I was already fully dilated! I felt very at ease going through active labor at home knowing that I had Jennifer’s expertise. I was fortunate to have a smooth natural unmedicated birth and I thank Jennifer for her help and support. My husband was also very thankful that we decided to work with Jennifer. Hiring a doula was one of the best decisions of my pregnancy, and Jennifer showed herself to be a wonderful doula.

I wanted an unmedicated birth… And was able to do it, but only thanks to Jen. I could not have done it otherwise.
Jen was recommended by a friend. She definitely loves what she does and it shows. That job is tough– I started having contractions at 6am on a Friday and gave birth 24 hours later. Jen was there the whole time. She somehow figured out how I liked to labor, which was in total silence, and coached us through a very atypical labor pattern. My water didn’t break. My contractions didn’t get closer. I would not have known when to go to the hospital without her. We would’ve gone way too early.
Through transition and other tough labor times Jen used massage techniques, kept me moving, and involved my husband so I felt he was there for me. She used homeopathic drops which made me go from «I can’t do this» to «oh yeah I can» (and I was skeptical but I was in labor and willing to try anything! It worked!).
Labor is tough, it’s different for everyone. It’s messy. It’s sometimes scary. Jen made my wish of an unmedicated birth possible and I’m very grateful for that.
Ps. I didn’t opt for hypnobirthing. You don’t have to. Just tell jen what you want and don’t want to try. I would say make sure you communicate your beliefs and your wishes and you’ll be fine.
Also I really don’t believe she was overpriced. Her rates were standard compared to other doulas we had considered. It’s an investment but when you see how much work is involved you understand. I wouldn’t want that job but thankful jen does!

Jennifer is over priced and sells herself well because she’s in midwifery school. I paid extra money for her mindful ways birthing class that was really unorganized and silly. She was fairly radical when it came to going against my initial all natural plan once I opted towards the epidural (which she kept telling me was a «narcotic»).
I felt having a doula really interfered with the bonding experiences my husband and I could have shared… also taking direction from the midwives once labor began. My entire family was irritated with Jennifer and my husband didn’t allow us to have her around for any post partum visits. wish I had interviewed more people and or just aborted the whole doula thing all together.
Jennifer is a great choice if you: have more than one kid and need help at home, do not have any support, 100% wanna have a natural birth or really into doing some mental cleansing, she was. rather pushy about facing any traumatic events that may have occurred in ones life, I personally never had any personal issues but she was fairly persistent that I did lol.
Hypnobirthing was a little silly in my opinion, I have friends who say it works I personally didn’t feel any different from my sessions looking back.
Conclusion: Wish I had more help when it came to caring for a newborn instead of having the baby… baby is coming out one way or another! It’s a very short part of your life. I was one of those crazy first time moms who wanted everything perfect, natural, read everything I could. My baby is the healthiest and happiness little boy in the world and I did have the epidural. I do recommend dr john hicks who is a homeopathic md once you do have the baby. He and his wife are very helpful and informative with nourishing you and your young one.
good luck!

Jennifer provided support and guidance as our doula throughout the preparation for my first labor and delivery. She met with my husband and I several times before our due date. Throughout those meetings she really got to know us and helped us to talk about the childbirth process. My L & D was super smooth, a lot of which I attribute to the work we did with Jennifer. She also provided total support during L & D.
Jennifer is so kind and caring and is perfect for the role of doula. I would recommend her to anyone of my friends expecting a baby, and I would not want to have gone through my first L & D without her!

The quick: Don’t have a baby with out a doula, and Jennifer is fantastic,
The longer: Jennifer was referred to us by our original doula– since we were one week late, our original doula (who was also excellent) had a scheduling conflict. We knew this in advance, but didn’t think we’d be all that late. Ha!
Going into it, we knew in theory what a doula was all about, but in practice Jennifer outdid anything we had in mind. We called on a Friday night at 9 pm (when the contractions started getting painful) and she came right over– this was the first time we met. She worked with my wife through many exercises to help with labor for the next eight hours– I took a nap, she didn’t. At 6 am the next morning she felt it was time to go to the hospital.
The upshot is that Jennifer was with us for 21 hours– straight. The whole time she was awake and by my wife’s side whenever she was needed. She had a great communication with the doctors and nurses (Kaiser Santa Clara was fantastic as well) and followed our desires while understanding any medical necessities.
After the delivery she was always there for questions and followed up to make sure we were fine.
We’re so happy with the work of Jennifer and Viji (our first doula) that we can’t imagine having our next babies without one.
I could keep going, but you probably get the idea.

I don’t know what we would have done without Jennifer! She was absolutely instrumental in making the birth of our daughter as stress-​free as possible. She met with us several times while I was pregnant, and really helped us think through all aspects of labor and birth. One of the best things she did was to help my husband and me think about how we would each react to the stresses of labor. Because of her I was able to articulate to him what I was going to need, and (maybe even more important!) what was going to drive me crazy when I was scared and in pain and feeling vulnerable.
I am a rather nervous person in general, and about medical stuff in particular, and she had the miraculous ability to make me feel absolutely prepared for every possibility of labor while keeping a positive expectation that things would turn out great. And they did! While lots about the hospital where I delivered seemed to be conspiring to prevent me from being in control of my birth experience, Jennifer was able to help me through it, and everything turned out perfect. I am absolutely convinced that if it weren’t for Jen my birth story would have been much different, and traumatizing. We met her at a «Meet the Doulas» night at Harmony Birth, and from the moment we heard her introduce herself, both my husband and I knew she was the doula for us. She is so warm and loving– I felt absolutely comfortable with her right away. She was absolutely committed to treating my labor and delivery as MINE, without any judgement whatsoever about my preferences for medication, or anything else for that matter.
The first half of my labor was actually FUN, if you can believe that! As soon as Jen came over, it felt like a slumber party. We talked and watched movies and listened to music. She gave me the most incredible massage! And once the contractions really set in, she was basically the only reason I wasn’t afraid I was dying. :) Once we got to the hospital she made sure that my requests were honored– something I’m sure would not have been prioritized by the staff if she hadn’t been there to advocate for me. I will be forever grateful for the role Jennifer played in helping me have my perfect birth. She is truly gifted, and I’m so, so lucky I met her!

I wasn’t actually sure if I wanted to work with a doula for the birth of our first child. When I met Jennifer, I knew that she had to be a part of our birth story. She is incredibly patient and nurturing, and has the calmest energy.
We met several times before labor started to talk through our goals and create a birth plan. I felt assured that Jennifer would always have my husband and my wishes informing her actions and interactions with us. When labor started, Jennifer guided us the entire journey.
My daughter decided to come into this world on her own terms and defy all of her mama’s hopes/​intentions. (Hopefully not a glimpse of what’s to come!) Jennifer helped my husband and me through a long labor, and some difficult decisions at the hospital.
I really don’t know what we would have done without her. Jennifer is a gifted doula, and we were blessed to work with her. I know we’ll be calling her up again in 2 – 4 years! ;)

We hired Jennifer of Mindful Ways as our doula prior to the birth of our son. She met with us three times before the birth and once after for a postpartum visit. She is not only an amazingly positive and warm woman but also an incredibly knowledgable and indispensable resource in and out of the delivery room. My labor was particularly drawn out, and Jennifer was there for the duration (nearly 2 days!) helping through contractions and calming me down when I began to panic. I would have had a C-​section without Jennifer’s assistance. No question about it. Instead, our baby boy was born naturally on his own schedule.
Jennifer is also amazingly open-​minded. She will not project any of her opinions or preferences onto what you want for your labor and delivery. She will certainly answer questions and provide information, but she will support you in whatever you decide is best for bringing your little person into the world.
I could really say so many positive things here, but please take my word for it: Jennifer is AMAZING! If you’re looking to hire a doula (and I think everyone could benefit from having a doula when in labor), hire this one! We’re so glad we did.