Having Hanna as our Doula is/was the best decision. If you don’t read anything more, know that Hanna was critically important, and essential for our birth experience.

Hanna is the absolute best. Her ability to quickly build a connection with us, understand our goals and educate us on options before birth, set a solid foundation for our labor experience.

Labor is where we felt like Hanna was an essential and integral part of our team. She thought of everything. For example, we wanted a labor room with a bath tub. She coached us on how to advocate for a room with a tub and when there was only one available in the hospital she knew just how to lock us into that room. When we left triage and were admitted, Hanna had already arranged for the tub to be filled and ready for use. She had vomit bags, essential oils, and knew where everything was at the hospital. When we were in need of supplies for comfort or labor, they always seemed to appear at the right moment. No doubt because Hanna knew us, our desires and was always meeting our needs one step ahead.

Beyond the logistics, Hanna played a critical role in our experience with the medical teams. She would help us understand the medical information, destilled it down and also presented us with options or questions we could ask to get more information and ensure our birth experience remained in alignment with our wants and goals. Most importantly, UofM Hospital allows Doulas to go with the birthing person to the OR for C-section prep while the birth partner cannot. Hannah was an additional advocate in the OR that was familiar with our goals and perhaps more important, Hanna was amazing emotional support for the birthing person as the intensity of the C-section prep increased. Hanna was there supporting and guiding us through the C-section procedure. We were scared and it felt intense. In those moments Hanna offered words of affirmation and small nuggets of information that helped us understand how things were going and where we were in the process.

Note to the Birth Partners: Hanna took care of all the “background” things and allowed me to be very present and support my wife in all of the hard and important moments. As we reflect on our birth experience, the fact that I was bedside holding her hand and encouraging her is incredibly meaningful for us.

We strongly encourage you to work with Hanna. At least set-up a preliminary Zoom call. We’re sure you’ll see her energy and passion right away.

P.S. She takes amazing photos!”

-Allie