I would love to work with you and help nurture a positive birth experience!
Birth Doula Bundles
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BUNDLE OF JOY
Best for you if you are primarily interested in having support for your birth. Sliding Scale: $500-700
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BUNDLE OF BOUNTY
Best for you if you are striving to be as supported and informed as possible prenatally, and want to benefit from extended access to support postpartum. Sliding Scale: $800-1000
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"The Midwife" by Adrian Baker
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You don't live in the Comox Valley and you would like me to be your Doula?For my prospective "out-of-town" clients, I can support you at a distance using phone and internet to provide care. For more information, please visit my Travelling Doula page.
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Hourly Rates:Day-Time Postpartum Shifts:
Sliding Scale $20-$25 per hour *4 hours minimum per shift Night-time Postpartum Shifts: Sliding Scale $25 - $35 per hour *5 hours minimum per shift A Doula's services make a great baby shower or blessing way gift. I offer gift certificates, and can also give fun suggestions and ideas for fundraising if cost is prohibitive to you. Also, I accept payment plans or work for trade arrangements.
A Doula is a benefit that should be available to everyone, regardless of income or access to funding. I encourage anyone who cannot afford my going rate to contact me and I can help you find an alternative that best suits your needs. 
artist unknown
"Transition" by Adrian Baker
"The Fullness of Life" by Mara Berendt Friedman
Alice Halbara
Mother & Child by Mara Berendt Friedman
Sculpture by Lucy Pierce
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Service Details
Prenatal CareTogether, pregnancy and childbirth make up an incredible journey. I wish to be a part of a birthing culture in which mothers are making their own choices about how to bring their children into the world and to witness them surrounded by people who will bring the inspiration, affirming presence, encouragement and positive support they need to do it their way.
One direction that makes my Doula practice unique is my language around birth. The power of language was one of the most influential teachings that I learning from my Doula instructor Gloria Lemay. You will notice in my writing that I rarely use the word "labor" to describe the time that leads up to birth itself. Childbirth is an experience that is the most memorable, empowering, life changing "work" that you will ever do. I often refer to this time as the birthing process. With honor and respect I understand that this is an intense physiological process of opening and transformation that can take hours or days, leading up to the actual moment of birth. As a part of this understanding, I do not help prepare a “Birth Plan” with my clients. Language holds power and like all things in nature, we cannot plan childbirth. While getting to know each other better, our prenatal meetings give us an opportunity to discuss and explore ways to honor your wishes throughout the unfolding of birth. I believe that empowerment comes from the ability to make decisions in alignment with your needs, goals and values, and that is what I'm here to help you with. Post Pregnancy & BirthAfter the excitement and preparations for birth, comes the adventure of integrating your newborn into your life! There are many transitions that come in these first few days: your uterus shrinks at a rapid rate, your breasts become engorged as lactation begins, your vagina heals from the stretching of birth, your kidneys and liver are now processing a sudden and large influx of hormones, and it is a time to adjust to a new sleep pattern. By about six weeks, life seems to settle down again with the adjustments of having a newborn. All around the world, many people approach the reveled postpartum period as the "4th trimester" in the childbearing year. Learn more here.
Doula Postpartum Session/ Follow Up-Visits Offered during the special time I call the "baby moon" (your honeymoon with your baby). This is an important time to process your birth experience, to honor the arrival of your baby, your transformation into your non-pregnant self while simultaneously adjusting to life as a parent for the first time or becoming a parent to another child. As your Doula, I am present to help with this special time of transition, to assist with day to day tasks and to facilitate your post-natal recovery. This continuity of support includes:
Mara Berendt Friedman
Learn More!"I couldn't and wouldn't practice obstetrics today without Doulas. They give me the confidence of knowing the mother is not frightened or alone, and is always in the capable hands of a professional assistant. The quality and continuity of care should not be regarded as a "fringe benefit," "an extra," but as an essential and irreplaceable part of the birthing experience."
-Harlan Ellis, M.D. quoted in Special Women by Polly Perez |
