We first met Carrie as our Hypnobabies instructor for our first son in 2020. After starting the course and meeting Carrie, we wanted her as our doula for our son’s birth. However, it being COVID, we were not allowed to have a doula at our hospital birth. Nonetheless, Carrie was helpful providing support over the phone during this birth. When I got pregnant with our second son in late 2022, we knew we wanted Carrie this time around. Carrie worked with me in my second trimester through her Conscious Recovery Program to overcome the trauma I had from the birth of my first son. This allowed me to go into birth preparation for my second son feeling mentally healthy and not held back by my prior birth experience. I did not realize I had so much to heal from until these sessions. Moving into the birth of my second son, Carrie provided support in my Hypnobabies home course and then doula services. She was very responsive to all my questions, needs, etc in the time leading up to my birthing time. During my hospital birth, Carrie kept me focused and in hypnosis, even while being poked and prodded by the nurses for various monitoring. We 100% credit Carrie for my fast birthing time! I arrived at the hospital at 1:30 AM and my baby was born at 5:47AM. Carrie helped me focus through each pressure wave. My water had not broke and the baby’s head was high. Carrie suggested a new position that I would have never come up with on my own and, sure enough, my water broke. Shortly after I was pushing and again Carrie kept me focused throughout this phase. She stayed with us after the birth of the baby and the placenta to make sure we were settled and that I got some much needed food. We are eternally grateful to Carrie for the amazing birth experience we had with our second son, as we know this experience would have been much different without her. She approached our birth preparation and birthing time with compassion, professionalism, and attentiveness. I would highly recommend Carrie to anyone looking for doula services, especially if planning a hypnobirth! Additionally, Carrie has helped me in my postpartum period with Conscious Coaching sessions. I always feel comfortable sharing with Carrie and our sessions are helping me in my postpartum/motherhood journey.      
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I signed up for Carrie’s Hypnobabies course because I knew I wanted an unmedicated birth, and as soon as I met her, I knew I needed to have her as my hypno-doula, as well. She gave our family the beautiful gift of a positive birthing experience, and I am forever grateful. This was my first birthing experience, and with that came a 35-hour labor which Carrie was there for every step of the way. She made herself available at all times, ready to answer any questions, offering suggestions on how I could support my body while laboring at home, and being ready to come over whenever we asked. She helped me labor at home for as long as possible (27 hours!), providing me with the support I needed by coaching me through my birthing waves and helping me to get in tune with my body. I was ready for Carrie’s in-person support after about 20 hours of early labor since I was struggling to get into a hypnotic state on my own. As soon as she arrived, I felt more relaxed and reassured, and I was able to deepen my hypnotic state. After 5 hours and little progress being made (birthing waves remained fairly consistent), I told Carrie to go home to rest and that I’d let her know of any changes. She had told me that more progress might be made if I “retreat into my cave” (our primal instinct), and she was exactly right. As soon as she left, I laid down in bed to get some rest myself and that’s when I entered transformation. My husband and I headed to the hospital around midnight and Carrie met us there shortly after. I was admitted at 7cm and baby girl was still in the OP position. I had created a birth plan which was signed off by my OB, but, unfortunately, my OB was not on-call that night. Pretty much right away I could see that I was going to have to advocate for myself in order to have the birthing experience that I had wanted. I could not have done this without Carrie by my side. She helped me feel confident and trust in my intuition. Carrie and I wanted to do Spinning Babies techniques in order to reposition baby, but I was getting push-back about needing to be continuously monitored (my OB had agreed to intermittent). With Carrie’s presence, I felt confident sticking with my plan and signing the informed refusal. I was checked again after several hours and was still at 7cm. We decided to have them break my water and 30 minutes later I was pushing. During this phase is when I felt most in tune with my body and really in the hypnotic state that I needed to be in. Although I was being told to push by laying on my back by the on-call OB, I trusted my body and pushed in the positions that I had practiced in our Hypnobabies class and those felt best in the moment. This, again, is something that I couldn’t have done without Carrie by my side. It was so incredibly reassuring knowing that I had her on my team. After some time of getting continuous push-back, I compromised by laying on my back in an inclined position. At 8:06 am, after a total of 2 hours of pushing, baby girl was here - healthy and happy! I should also note that I’m thankful for Carrie’s expertise in Spinning Babies since baby girl ended up being in the optimal position when birthed. Thanks to Carrie, I was able to have the beautiful birthing experience that I had hoped for (although I had to fight for it to some extent!). Going into the birth, I had some regret about choosing a hospital birth, but she helped create a soothing ambiance that not only helped me relax into my body but conveyed a message to the staff of the type of birthing experience that I wanted. Her positive energy, innate ability to know what I needed, and source of strength was everything and I’m eternally grateful. I know that I will be using Carrie’s hypno-doula services for our next birth!       |
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