TROOP (formerly Seattle Doulas) — Local services in North Bend

This review is long & gushing, but the tl;dr is: Charlie is incredible, I cannot imagine having made it through my birth experience without her. My husband & I are hugely grateful to her for her knowledge & her strength, & credit her with making the birth of our daughter an experience where we both felt incredibly supported & deeply, authentically cared for. Though we were initially uncertain about hiring a doula, we are in retrospect thrilled with our decision to work with Charlie & Morgan. I cannot recommend these women (& especially Charlie) highly enough.

We initially met with Morgan, & were impressed with her warmth, knowledge, & ability to put us at ease (no small task with a couple of awkward weirdos like my partner & I). The decision to hire her was an easy one as she made us feel immediately comfortable—exactly what you want in a person who will share one of the most intimate moments of your life! Morgan also conducted our prenatal visit. As first-time parents, & as people naturally inclined to over-think & over-analyze every decision, the prospect of preparing for something as monumental as a birth was incredibly daunting & anxiety provoking; Morgan’s patience, practicality, & warm reassurance made developing our birth plan a useful—rather than overwhelming—experience. With her help, we felt informed, supported, & confident in our choices. When my water broke prematurely, Morgan was quick to provide guidance on the immediate next steps but let me know that she was in the middle of another birth & would not be able to join me as labor progressed. She put us in touch with Charlie & assured us we would be in good hands. This news was, in the middle of an emotionally heightened & anxious day, a bit of an unsettling curveball, but Morgan handled it with grace & care.

From the first moment we began working with Charlie to navigate a very long & very not-according-to-plan labor, she made sure that we knew all our options & supported us in taking the time to ask & consider all our (many) questions & uncertainties. Though we had yet to meet in person, her obvious wealth of knowledge & experience immediately put us at ease & quelled any fears we had about her stepping in unexpectedly. She guided us confidently & gently through a prolonged early labor & helped us evaluate many decisions about various interventions & approaches that we never expected to have to make.

When it was time for things to get REAL, Charlie arrived at the hospital & started working her magic. Though much of what happened in the hours that followed is somewhat fuzzy, I know without a doubt that Charlie, in her extremely gentle, calm, & assured manner, made the chaos of that l&d room somehow feel private & relaxing (as private & relaxing as it is possible for labor in a hospital setting to be). Her presence was reassuring & supportive but never overbearing. She offered comfort & encouragement when needed, but also (& this I appreciate so much) gave space for my husband & I to work through the experience together in a way that felt intimate & unmediated. When things got rough for me (& when I was less than my best self), she guided me through the worst of it without ever making me feel judged or ashamed. She provided me with strength, grounding, & a constant feeling of being held in attentive care.

In the hours she spent with us after the birth, & in her postpartum visit to our home, Charlie continued to provide exactly what we needed from her, sharing with us not only her extensive knowledge & experience, but also her quiet confidence & attentive support. I sincerely cannot imagine having gone through this experience without Charlie, & I am wildly grateful to her for lending me her strength, her assurance, & her care during the most vulnerable, most intense, & most raw moments of my life. She is an absolute treasure, & we are so happy to have had her with us as we welcomed our...

“Highest recommendation! Words cannot express how grateful we are that Jen & Alise were our doulas. We have had three previous birth experiences and this, the fourth, was the best. From the first meeting to our last prenatal visit, Jen and Alise showered us with support, praise, and helpful advise.

Prenatal- My husband & I came to Jen and Alise through a professional recommendation because of a prior loss, and they were even better than we hoped. They had the perfect mix of salty and sweet and coupled with their fun and informative podcast, we felt there was no stone unturned in our preparation. We were lucky enough to have Jen conduct a prenatal birthing class for our children, ages 4 & 6, which was incredibly helpful and perfectly pitched for their ages. We all felt like she was part of the family after one meeting!

Birth experience- We had a particularly challenging birth experience because we had to transfer care from midwives to hospital care at the end of the pregnancy and we couldn’t have made this transition as successfully without the CONSTANT support & advice from Jen and Alise. Although we had carefully planned a home birth, we had to change plans last minute for medical reasons to a cesarean. With different doulas, this could have been a devastating experience for us. Fortunately, with Jen and Alise by our side to help navigate the complicated hospital systems, we were able to find a place to deliver our sweet baby that was still consistent with our family priorities. They never missed a beat from helping us prepare for our home birth to supporting a completely different birth plan. Alise was with us throughout this emotional procedure, no more than an arms length away.

Postnatal- Alise made sure we had we had everything we needed for our transition home. Our postnatal visit with Jen & Alise was validating, loving and affirmed our decision to work with Seattle Doulas. They will always hold a very special place in...

I just wanted to share how unbelievably incredible Morgan was at the birth of our first son. She came to us in the hospital at 4am without any hesitation even though we had no clue how long it’d be until I delivered, and as soon as she arrived, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off me and my husband, who were clueless and uncertain and, frankly, scared. She was so wonderful at explaining everything that was going on, giving us more context on all the options being presented to us by the nurses and doctor, and just generally reassuring us that everything was progressing well and we were going to get through it okay.

We ended up having a crash c-section because baby’s heart rate dropped before I started to push, and Morgan explained everything to us quickly and clearly so we knew what to expect and understood all our options. She also had more ideas than even the nurses and doctor as to how to help baby while he was in distress - and she did it in such a respectful, confident, calm, kind way. The nurses and doctors all sang her praises afterwards, saying that they’d welcome her in any delivery or operating room, anytime, because of how helpful and knowledgeable she is without ever being “in the way” or overbearing.

On a day that should have probably been pretty frightening - maybe even traumatic - Morgan honestly made everything feel calm and manageable. My husband and I are so, so grateful to her for being there for us at such a vulnerable time, and helping us through this insanely important moment in our lives. We honestly both feel like we couldn’t have done it without her. We are so very lucky she was there with us.

She’s also been so wonderful post partum, checking in regularly and sending lots of great advice and reassurance.

I really don’t have enough great things to say about her. She’s an incredible human being and we are so, so...