Full Circle Doula Group

I wish I could give the doulas of Full Circle Doula Group more than 5 stars! My husband and I had a wonderful experience with them from start to baby. Our one-​on-​one meetings with Rachel, Anne, and Jenny left us feeling like they really understood what we wanted from our labor and had no agenda of their own to pursue. The group classes contained lots of useful information. And Rachel was such a blessing through my labor. She was a reassuring presence through the early stages of labor, an effective guide and advocate during labor and delivery, and a cheerleader in the final stretch. She stayed into the evening to make sure breastfeeding got off to a good start, and then came to our home a few days later for a post-​natal visit. At the home visit, we talked about the labor, but she also had a lot of good advice for taking care of myself during maternity leave and beyond. After our baby was born, one of the attending doctors stopped by our recovery room to get Rachel’s information. The doc said she had seen Rachel at a few deliveries and thought she was a great doula. We agree!

After interviewing several different doulas and doula groups, my husband and I decided to go with Full Circle Doula. After attending one of their «meet the Doula» nights, we were impressed with their collective wealth of knowledge, the fact that they offer prenatal classes every Friday, and their different personalities which seemed to balance out quite nicely. Each made us feel comfortable in a different way.
We attended two of the prenatal classes which were both really helpful (even on top of the existing prenatal class we were already taking!). For 1:1 meeting times, they were really flexible and Rachel even came to our house for a visit since we weren’t able to make it during one of their windows. (Rachel was a great communicator throughout our pregnancy.)
When we went into labor Jenny was our doula. (She is the most recent member of the doula circle.) We were admitted unexpectedly, but Jenny was great about staying in communication with my husband. When she arrived, Jenny jumped right in. She has a really calming presence about her, so she was able to talk us through some tough contractions. When I decided to opt for some pain relief, Jenny was right there talking to us about options and making sure we understood what was going on at any given time. On top of all of that, Jenny was great with my mom who was there during the toughest part of the labor. She took her for food and talked her through some tough emotions.
Post-​partum, Jenny came to see us at our home and we were able to process our labor with her. She’s so thoughtful and peaceful, that it felt like we were just sitting around with an old friend. She even stopped by the next day to drop off a bag of tea to help with my recovery. My husband and I felt such great support from Jenny throughout our labor and after. She has a truly genuine soul and we appreciated the fact that she didn’t try to impose her beliefs or techniques on us, but rather collaborated with us to find what would work best.
Overall, we’re really happy with our choice to go with Full Circle Doula Group! Our birth experience would not have been the same without them.
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Biggest Pros:
+ They know a lot about the ins and outs of the local hospitals and walked us through exactly what to expect from our hospital, Alta Bates.
+ You get to know all three of them, so there is not chance that you’ll be delivering with a backup who you’ve never met before.
+ The prenatal classes are really helpful.
+ Very responsive.
+ So much collective knowledge and experience.

Amazing group of experienced women with hearts of gold. When I was looking for a doula I wanted someone that had plenty of experience, supportive of natural birthing and still down to earth. Full Circle Doula group is all that and more. As soon as I sat down in their classroom for a free «intro» course, I felt relief. I had interviewed a number of doulas beforehand and none of them made me feel as comfortable as these women did. They all have years of experience, very grounded and knowledgeable and are still excited about the work they do. I truly believe they treat every single birth experience to be unique and special. I think I would have had a very different experience if I didn’t participate in their classes and if Laila wasn’t my doula!

Choosing to hire Full Circle Doulas was the best decision we made during my pregnancy. I can’t imagine giving birth without the support. At first I was skeptical of hiring a doula circle, since I was giving birth at Kaiser and couldn’t control which OB or Midwife would be delivering the baby either. However, at the meet the doula night my husband and I agreed that we both liked and trusted all four doulas right away. We were most impressed by their experience. Each one of them has a decade of experience, and deep familiarity with the birthing centers and staff of the hospitals people were likely to deliver at. If found their classes informative, and really appreciated their support as we got close to the due date. In my last few doctor appointments, the doula on call would check in on my to find out how I’m doing.
On the day labor started Anne was on call. This was great because I knew she had helped a friend deliver a 10lb baby without any interventions. While my baby was much smaller, an unmedicated delivery was my goal. She was such a grounding energy to have around, and had great suggestions for ways to support me during labor. Overall, I labored for 18 hours at home, and 10 unmedicated hours at the hospital. I have no idea how we would have gotten through it without a doula! Since the birth of my daughter, Anne has been a good resource for me to call, and has assured me that she is my doula for life.

It’s difficult to write a review for something so personal, but I feel obligated to other new moms to share my experience. Working with Full Circle Doula Group was probably the most important decision I made during my pregnancy. I knew I wanted to try natural childbirth but more importantly, I wanted to do everything I could to try and make the birth of my son a positive and empowering experience. I could NOT have done that without the help of these women. The classes were informative, but not overhwelming and I appreciated being able to do them in three two hour blocks, versus spending an entire day in a class. I ended up working with Anne and she was amazing from beginning to end. She not only supported me and got me through my most painful contractions, but she also helped direct and support my husband. I ultimately was able to have a natural childbirth and I look back on the experience with only positive feelings. Anne and the other doulas are amazing, and I cannot thank them enough for making my experience what it was.

We were able to have the birthing experience we wanted because of The Full Circle Doulas.
I kept thinking throughout labor that I «couldn’t do it» without Laila (and the support of my husband), even though I had felt so well prepared having attended the series of classes with Anne, Rachel, Laila and Candace. Laila would say to me «You are doing it!», and this was incredibly reassuring.
But it still holds true for us, that we would not have had the positive and supported birth that we had without Laila and the team. Laila intuited my needs –when I couldn’t think or speak clearly with the pain of contractions. She remained so calm, competent, comforting throughout labor and birth –and after… I was incredibly grateful to have her guidance for this intense and miraculous happening. She supported me with wise words, comforting reminders, massage techniques, labor and birthing positioning, the use of oils, candles and warm water to help with comfort and contractions, and vast knowledge of labor, birthing, hospital systems, postpartum care, nursing, and more.
I feel as if I’ve known each of these amazing women for a long time. They are each the incredibly personable kind, who make one feel safe and comfortable. We want to thank them for helping us realize and follow through with our personal
birth-​plan.

Teaming up with the Full Circle Doula Group was by far one of the smartest things I did during my pregnancy. I actually became aware of them through a raving Unilocal review of Laila. I gave her a call and was sold by her warmth, humor, and knowledge. Not having met Anne or Stacia yet, I crossed my fingers that Laila would end up attending my birth. But within minutes of meeting all three women in person, I immediately felt excited and comforted by the prospect of going through labor with any of them at my side. All three are exceptionally down to earth and welcoming — the type of people who feel like old friends after the first time you meet them — and super savvy about pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. The array of services they offer to clients prior to labor is impressive and immensely helpful, from classes to one-​on-​one consultations, and they make great effort to fulfill clients’ scheduling, informational, and emotional needs. When my due date came and went and I faced the possibility of being induced, which I wasn’t keen on, the Doulas were right there to guide me through the process of negotiating my induction date with my doctor. I experienced pregnancy (my first) with very little anxiety about labor, knowing I’d have the expertise, skill, and support of one of the Doulas with me.
I was 100% right to feel comforted by the prospect of having one of them by my side. When Anne got to my apartment the morning I went into labor, my contractions instantly seemed to become much more manageable. She immediately was able to help me relax my muscles — a feat that had seemed impossible during the previous hours of labor — and find the right positions to get through each contraction, remind me that everything I was experiencing was normal, and even help me welcome the pain as an indication that labor was progressing well. When I was scared of the car ride to the hospital, she guided my mom who was accompanying me in the car on ways to help relieve my fear. When we arrived at the hospital, very much in active labor, she completely removed any need for me to navigate the system. With Anne’s help, I was able to get through triage without having to give much thought at all to anything other than my contractions. Behind the fog of labor pains, I noticed that Anne knew most of the nurses and quickly developed friendly and effective relationships with those she didn’t know. Once admitted, my contractions stayed consistently strong and fairly constant. Towards the end of active labor, I started regretting my decision to have an unmedicated delivery, realizing how much easier things might be with an epidural, but Anne calmly told me she didn’t think I needed it in a way that instantly put the thought to rest and reminded me of my own hopes for labor. I’m sure that if I’d gone into labor wanting an epidural, she’d likewise have done everything in her power to make sure I got one at the appropriate time. Her ability to know what I needed and wanted at each step in labor was remarkable, even when I didn’t know. Anne, my husband, the midwife, and the nurse worked like a team that had been practicing together for years, in large part due to Anne.
Ultimately, I had a difficult delivery for reasons out of everyone’s control, but once again, the Doula team was there in full force postpartum to offer support. They called and texted in the days following my son’s delivery to check in on us, offer breastfeeding advice, and talk us through our concerns, all of which made a challenging time feel a bit more normal.
I can’t recommend the Full Circle Doula Group more highly, and feel so fortunate to have had them participate in my pregnancy and birth.