Rachel Jenkins

(mother of three)

~The nature of a Doula is complex and I am so impressed with Rebecca and her services.  As a mother I needed someone sensitive to my needs and desires but also strong enough to be my advocate in times when I wasn’t able to express my wishes.  Her maternal nature seamlessly synchronizes these two and so gracefully. I can’t express my thanks enough to know her and have her help with both of my beautiful daughters!

J. Morgan

~Hiring a doula was a service I knew my husband and I wanted and we interviewed several. We hit it off with Rebecca immediately. We weren’t disappointed with our choice! Rebecca went above and beyond and exceeded all our expectations! I honestly believe I wouldn’t have been able to have the natural birth I so wanted without Rebecca’s help! Her ability to empower me and create such a sense of calm were instrumental in the birth of my daughter! I will never be able to thank Rebecca enough!

Kimberly

~I had the great fortune of having Rebecca as my doula for a complicated and challenging delivery and she was absolutely wonderful! From the moment we first spoke, I sensed her sincere warmth and compassion and it quickly became clear that she is a very experienced professional in her field, not only from her experience as a doula but also as a mother herself. Rebecca was my advocate throughout the process, she helped me to feel empowered and strong, and her presence added lightness and calm to my birthing environment. She is easy to talk to and a pleasure to be around. Looking back now, I am so glad I made the choice to have a doula, and I am SO thankful that it was Rebecca!

Tiffany H.

~Rebecca, Professional Birth Doula and owner of Love in Labor, is an amazing doula! Her care was exceptional in every possible way. It was a very difficult labor, but Rebecca was able to ease the pain of contractions and help guide my wife and I through such an emotional and draining experience with much greater ease than if we had not had her help. I feel my doctor and medical staff appreciated her being there as well. I highly recommend her services!!

Matt O.

~I am an RN that worked with Rebecca from Love In Labor. She was wonderful with our patient. She is calm, informative & brings a nice energy. I look forward to working with her again!

Neva H. Sutter Hospital, Santa Rosa, CA

~Rebecca from Love in Labor is our “birth angel”!  She brought a calm, relaxing and confident energy to our birth, guiding us (my husband and I) through the beautiful experience of labor.  Her experience and intuition allowed her to know exactly what would feel good during the labor (heating pads, massage, etc) without me even needing to say a word.  She followed and respected our birth plan perfectly and understood what was important to us.  She was our advocate during the birth and her presence was priceless.  Rebecca checked in with us frequently during the first week and even came by for an at home visit to provide support and answer any questions we had.  We are eternally grateful for her and recommend her services 110%.

Courtney R.

~Becca is truly a blessing in my life. My pregnancy, labor and deliver were all perfectly normal physically, but I was a wreck emotionally. When the time came, my very unsupportive and absent (ex)boyfriend was doing nothing to help but stress me out. Becca was there for me, going above and beyond what I expected of her. I attribute my very positive birth experience to her loving care. She knew all the right things to say and had helpful advice and positions, massage, and soothing hands to help me throughout my labor. Technically, she was very knowledgable and helpful with the hospital lingo, easily translating and reassuring me, as well as standing up for me against pushy nurses. She had snacks for me, a heating pad, etc. This woman is on top of it! If I ever have another child, I will without a doubt or hesitation be hiring Becca to be there for me and my family.

Leah D

~I was very impressed with Rebecca as a doula. She was cheery with a bright smile even when she came to help me around midnight. She came prepared with various supplies to make me more comfortable as well as my family members that were also there. She had things to make the room a more cozy and relaxing environment too, which was wonderful. Essential, really. What impressed me most was her ability to know what people were feeling in the room and how to help them without asking. She was so attentive and took initiative to help however she could and remained calm under pressure, which rubbed off on me and my husband. That kind of presence was so important! When I got stressed, she could immediately tell and offered gentle words of support and things I could do that might help. It was such a moment to moment experience for me that not having her there, so confident and thoughtful, I would not have known what to do. She stayed right by my side suggesting different positions I could try, saying reassuring words and encouragement in a calm voice, offering water and snacks to everyone. After 17 hours, Rebecca remained a bright presence, staying cheery despite everyone being so tired, which lifted the mood considerably, especially for me. She stayed right by my side the whole time, as well as several hours before and after the birth. The days following the birth, Rebecca showed up with food and herbs and massage for me. She took initiative to make me some food on the spot and clean up too. Always positive and smiling, Rebecca’s passion for being a doula shows. She is loving, capable, and confident and spreads that energy around.

Michelle P

~ Thanks to Rebecca from Love in Labor, I had a beautiful, joyous birth.  I went into pre-labor at home and she arrived at my house very quickly when it became clear that I was progressing.  She brought warm, calm energy and brought heating pads, essential oils, and other goodies to help me feel like a “birth queen.” 🙂 When my contractions started to slow down, she helped me discover what positions would help me progress (such as walking around my house).  She also noticed that I was having back pain and showed me how to do some lunges to encourage the baby from posterior position.  We labored at home with her for about an hour.  She timed my contractions and knew exactly when to go to the hospital.  She helped me progress just enough so that once we got to the hospital I was over the “hump” of pre-labor which can start and stop and completely shut down at times (like what happened during the birth of my first).  Once we got to the hospital, I was 4 cm, which was perfect timing in my opinion.  At the hospital, Rebecca continued to work her magic.  For example, during one point in time, my contractions started slowing down again so she helped me through some gentle walks around the hallways (as she noticed this seemed to keep things moving along for me).  This worked and my labor progressed beautifully.  I also remember at one point towards the end of the labor, a new, young nurse came in who I felt had weird energy and was a bit rough with me.  I literally looked into Rebecca’s eyes and was able to refocus – she had been so caring and warm and so had everyone else at the hospital that I was able to let go of this one strange, very brief negative encounter.  Rebecca also helped my husband get involved – he held my hand during every contraction and she helped him feel included in the process.  I wasn’t sure if I wanted or could afford a doula but now I know that it was worth every penny!

Nicole H.

~I was pregnant with my first child. I am part of a hippie group, and they told me about doulas. Never heard of them before. I didn’t think i needed one, because they said they were meant for emotional support. I felt fine emotionally, so i thought i didnt need one. But the other moms highly recommended me to see one, and gave me Beccas info. So i decided to give it a try. I am so glad i did. I had a med free labor, and my baby was faced up. So i was in a lot of pain. But she stood by me, helped me through the pain with breath coaching and exercise and dancing.  Super good energy and awesome support. Dont know how i could do the labor without her!:)

Caitlin F.

~Becca was our doula for the birth of our baby girl and was invaluable throughout the process.  Becca has a very easy going disposition that makes you feel at ease and comfortable.  She is flexible and goes with the flow, but is also direct, specific and assertive/clear in her communication.  I wanted to give birth without the use of pain medication and had taken a hypnobirthing class in preparation.  There were two different times where I had become overwhelmed and felt myself going to a place of tension; as soon as Becca arrived she assessed where we were at with a calming presence and brought me back to a relaxed state of mind.  She provided guidance to my husband on how to help and what his role was.  She made great suggestions and identified when we needed to shift gears.  She provided wonderful support to me but also to my husband throughout the process.  When we got to the hospital, she was invaluable – she knew our nurse, knew what to ask for and where to find things.  She thought of things to help that we would have never known or thought of asking for – ice chips, warmed blankets, peanut shaped birth ball, etc.  Overall, we would absolutely recommend her and would work with her again should we have another baby.

Natasha C.

~As an OB nurse, I have worked with many doulas over the past 15 years as also having been one before I started my career.  Hands down, I have never worked with a doula as caring, compassionate and understanding as Rebecca.  She has an innate understanding not only of the physical but emotional process of labor and is an absolute gift.

Anna V. Kaiser Santa Rosa

~My birth story is a little different than most. About a month and a half before my beautiful daughter was born her father, my husband, was killed in a tragic airplane accident. Obviously becoming a new first time parent is scary, hard, and challenging enough as it is, but with the added grief and mourning of the loss of my partner through all of it I really didn’t know what I was going to do or where to turn. I decided to look into finding myself a doula for some added support, help, and advice through the birthing process and helping me to stay inline with my husband and I’s birth plan and wishes. I had interviewed a couple doulas but the minute I met Becca I knew she would become my doula. Her energy brought a sense of calm over me in my overwhelming state of mind since my life had been completely turned upside down and was only about to get even more challenging with the arrival of our daughter only days away. Becca had offered a number of holistic and natural remedies to help ease and expedite the birthing process, she brought me tea and prunes and gave me lots of great advice and this was all before I had officially even “hired” her. She just wanted to help me and I could tell she was sympathetic and sincere in her approach. I say “hire” because Becca even offered her services to me pro bono because she felt it was much more important for me to have the added support I needed than it was for her to get paid for doing it. Becca met with me several times before my daughter was born, always bringing me something to help alleviate a pain or concern of mine. She stayed in constant contact with me and always checked in before she made plans to make sure she shouldn’t stray too far in fear that she would miss my call saying that I was going into labor. The morning I had gone into labor Becca was one of the first people I called. She asked me to start timing my contractions and said she would be over soon. Becca arrived at my house within minutes after learning my contractions were getting closer together and becoming more and more intense. Our plan was to labor at home for as long as possible but my contractions came on fast and strong and she thought we should probably get to the hospital ASAP. Once at the hospital my contractions continued to get more and more intense but I was not dilating as quickly as my contractions were coming. Becca stayed by my side the entire 22 hours of my hard and intense labor. Always offering a shoulder to cry on or some calming words or remedies to try and help alleviate the pain I was experiencing. My husband and I had talked about not wanting an epidural (he was more against it than I was, but I really wanted to try and honor his wishes and have the most natural birth as possible as that was both of our wishes-the less intervention with pain medicine/drugs the better we had both agreed), however I had no more to give, I was exhausted and had been in almost constant pain for the last 22 hours without much of a break at all in between my contraction and wasn’t dilating past 7 centimeters. I asked her if it was too late to get an epidural and she said it wasn’t and that the nurses had wanted to recommend it to me at this point but she had wanted me to ask for it and not be offered it as she knew I wanted to try and go without it. Once the epidural was administered I felt much better and was able to rest a little. At that point Becca had gone home to get some rest of her own and had asked to be called at the first sign or news of any changes. With no changes hours later Becca had come back to the hospital at this point, but after another 12 hours of no change in my contractions or dilation the doctors had recommended I get a c section as my water had been broken over 24 hours ago. This was my biggest fear. I really didn’t want to have a c section but I knew that things weren’t progressing as they should be and at this point I was just anxious to meet my daughter and give everyone who had been tending to me including myself a break from the laboring process which was taking a toll on all of us. Becca stayed by my side until the minute I went into the operating room. I was obviously nervous and disappointed but she kept praising me and telling me how strong I was and reminding me that she had never experienced such an intense laboring process with any of her other clients before. After my c section my placenta was promptly delivered to her so that she could capsulate it for me as to help regulate my hormones and aid in postpartum depression (another service she offered pro bono insisting that she thought I could really benefit from it considering everything I had gone through). Becca came to visit us in the hospital a couple days after her birth, and then made several home visits bringing us a home cooked meal and my placenta capsules. All in all I am so grateful she was there to help me.

Leah P.

~Dear Pregnant Mothers, if you are going over your birth plan, I HIGHLY recommend a Doula! Even if it’s not your first baby, having professional help was such a relief for us both. I wanted to share my experience in case you are on the fence. Becca was a dream come true! Joshua and I would not have been able to do my labor without her! When we first met her we loved how warm and calming her presence was. She did a few at home visits the weeks before my due date to go over all that she does. We knew from that point on we were going to be in good hands. She helped us write our birth plan and answered any questions we had for the delivery. I ended up laboring for three days, and Becca was by our side the whole time just a call or text away. She came to our house to labor with us in the late night and early hours of the morning. She was knowledgable on all the positions and techniques I needed to do to get relief. Every minute with her around she was by my side caring for me. Whether it was doing counter pressure, holding my hand, giving me food and water or just speaking life into me through the pain. She made our home and hospital visit a peaceful environment and relaxing for me in every way she could. When Joshua got exhausted, she would let him rest and even brought us food and coffee. She documented our birth with photos and video which we will always cherish. I don’t know what we would have done without Becca! Even though we had taken birthing classes, it seemed that all that knowledge went out the window when the time came. With me having severe back labor, she held my hand through the whole process even when I wanted to give up. She is so down to Earth, caring, loving and humble in all that she does. She was hands down the best decision we made in my whole pregnancy and in turn have gained a lifelong friend in the process!<3

Heather L.

~I cannot express my gratitude enough for the love and care that Becca provided to myself and my husband through the whole process. She helped me through my many anxieties and fears and was amazing, calm, positive, empathic, caring, genuine, loving and effective. I would recommend her doula services to anyone having a baby!!!!!!!

Jenn B.