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Haven Baby Doula, LLC. is based in Palo Alto, California. Proving service to families all over North bay, East bay, South Bay, and the Peninsula. Helping families during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. I happily work with pregnant people planning for birth in hospitals, birth centers, and home birth settings.
With over 6 years of experience, I hold space for all bodies, genders, and birth. My care is open and affirming to single parents, teen parents, LGBTQ-parents, incarcerated individuals, surrogacy, adoption, and all marginalized individuals/groups.
190+ Families Served
What is a Birth Doula?
A Birth Doula is someone who helps provide continuous support throughout the birth journey and afterwards. This shows in different forms such as verbal encouragement and reassurance, a constant physical presence, and full trust in your power and ability to birth. They are experienced and confident in providing comfort measures, emotional, and physical support for both the birthing person and partner.
Doula's help to gather valuable information before and during labor so the family can be completly informed about all their options to choose what feels best to them. During labor the doula can help advocate for their wishes and help them feel confident about their decisions. They significantly improve outcomes for both mother and infants by helping increase spontaneous vaginal birth and shorten the duration of labor naturally.
How will hiring a Doula affect my partners role during birth?
A doula does not replace the role of the partner during labor and birth, as they will always play the most important role in loving and caring for their partner throughout the labor and birth journey. It can be very hard for many partners to see their loved ones in pain and then try to remember how to apply the comfort techniques they have previously learned. I'm there to help partners when they may feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable by modeling specific comfort measures and massages, offering reassurance and being a teammate in the role of labor companion. Giving birth is a very intimate experience for a couple and a doula knows when to step back and give a laboring couple privacy.
What is the difference between a postpartum night doula and a night nanny?
A night nanny may have child development education but the main focus of what they do is to give parents a break at night for them to rest.
Postpartum night doula helps the mother with lactation, can identify postpartum depression, makes referrals for in the community, understands the stages of sleep training and creates schedules. They also help the family get impactful education on the fundamentals of caring for the newborn, as well as working themselves out of their job with education and training.
Why is it important to have evidence based information for birth?
Having an Evidence-Based birth is when both mother and partner are well informed with the facts of what is being presented. Why does this matter? This is important as birth is a very unique process and should not be viewed as cookie cut, what someone feels comfortable with can be traumatic for someone else. That is why being informed accurately about the benefits and risks of various options can lead to making the best informed consentual decision to your unique situation, as this is your body, birth and baby. As well as helping decrease negative feelings about the birth experience for both mother and partner.
What some of my past clients have said...
"Thank you so much for ALL your help! You were absolutely amazing and I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate you being there for our family!" -Calvin
"Ruth helped us as a night doula after our daughter was born. She was friendly, helpful, supportive and overall made our lives so much better!" -Rashmi
