| Here is what workshop participants are saying ........ |
Registered
Nurses from Debbie's October 2007 "Art of Labor Support"
training had this to say:
|
| Hi Debbie, thank you for an unforgettable weekend. I attended my first birth Friday - a healthy baby and mother! It was the most amazing experience and I can't wait to do it again. Take care and thanks again. Blessings, Amelia |
| Hi Debbie,
I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful weekend. I learned a lot and also found that I really needed to do a lot of thinking about birth in general and being a doula. I am very excited to get started and have my first client. I have actually been looking for someone to be my own doula. Again, I just wanted to say thank you for the weekend and the way you presented the material. You told a lot of stories and that really helps me relate the info and actually remember it.
Take care, Diana p.s. and if you feel like making a spur of the moment 5 hour drive down here at 3 am to be MY doula, I would love it !!! |
| "Hi Debbie. I first wanted to thank you so deeply for such a wonderful training Beyond the fact that the subject and materials you were covering were so exciting and inspiring to me. Your facilitation was so impressive, I have been in many trainings and the comfort, grace, and structure of your facilitation was impeccable. Thank you for covering such a wide range of topics within birth and being a doula and your personal experience was so helpful in presenting a wide picture of what doulas may be presented with." |
| "Hey Debbie,
This is Anna. I attended your Los Angeles Doula Training workshop in April. Below is an e-mail from my second client who is also a coworker! Would you be able to suggest anything regarding her situation? Have you faced this before? I’m thinking in all your years of experience you have. I just would love some advice and wisdom about this from you. My first client delivered June 29th and it was such an amazing experience!!! The doctor even told my clients the next day how great I was!!! Client number 2(below) is overdue and client number 3 is due Nov. 1st. I’m really shocked but so excited that I’m getting all of my certification births so fast. Hope you are doing well
. Thanks again for everything. I really would not have been prepared for birth number 1 if I hadn’t been through your training! You’re amazing!"
- Anna Freelove
"Hi Anna. Thank you for contacting me about your client!! It is also very nice to hear from you. In Ashley's case (and her baby's) you have to trust the baby - there is a reason she is holding her head in that position. You can suggest to your client to do inversions - lay on the floor with 3 pillows under her hips to allow the baby to move up a little and possibly reposition herself. Also praying and holding positive thoughts is always helpful." - Debbie Lavin, ICCE, CD (DONA) "Hello Debbie, I just wanted to give you an update. My client was induced Monday at noon. She labored without drugs for 12 hours until it got too much to bare. She got an epidural which I fully supported seeing that she was exhausted and 4 cm dilated. To our surprise she was checked at 4 AM and was completely dilated! The nurse had her labor down because the baby was at +1 station. The doctor came around 5 AM and said baby was right there. After 40 minutes of pushing baby Neveah was born at 6:00AM weighing 9 lb 1 oz. This birth taught me so much. I was able to see what induced labor is like and also about all the different interventions that can be done. Her doctor didn’t even tell her she broke her water. She did it so fast and then put in an IUPC and didn’t even ask my client. But everything aside she was able to give birth vaginally and they didn’t even have to consider or have a C section mentioned! Baby’s shoulders got a little stuck so they called it a minor shoulder. She came out pretty limp and not breathing, but after a few seconds she pinked up and was breathing normally! I absolutely love being a doula! I feel so rewarded by the work that I’m doing and I actually feel that I’m needed when I’m there. This client is a dear friend and coworker of mine and she decided less than a week before to have me there. She told me over and over how much she appreciated it and couldn’t imagine it without me! Thanks again for teaching and equipping me so well. I really couldn’t have done this without you! Thanks." - Anna Freelove |
| "I want to thank you for a great course. It was both educational and enlightening -- I think I learned almost as much about myself as I did about doulas and birth. I really appreciate how you are both "airy fairy", as you say, and very grounded. You give mind, body, and soul each the attention they deserve, without losing the balance between them. Next weekend, I train at the birthing center in Davis, and presumably I begin my term as a volunteer doula... that soon. I'll keep in touch, and let you know when I feel ready to pursue the CBE apprenticeship. I hope to be preparing for my own baby soon, so no concrete plans, no rush, and no worries. Thanks again, and enjoy your little one!" Melissa Hardenbrook - Sept., 2005 |
| "I wanted to say thank you so much for your training. Much of what I learned will be very useful. This is a true path for me to follow and I am glad that you were there in my transition. When I returned home I was feeling so great...it was as if I went away on a retreat. So many like minded people tend to heal the soul. Being a teacher myself I can say without question that you are an incredible teacher yourself. You made a very intensive training seem to be not so intense. I thank-you for your time and energy. Looking forward to later communications with you as well. In Light and Love," Dawne Corti-Migre - May, 2003 |
| "I just wanted to take a moment to write and commend you on a job well done this past weekend at the Doula course here in Sacramento. I have been teaching childbirth classes, as well as dabbled in other areas of education over the years and was thoroughly impressed with your gained knowledge, and respect for the profession, in comparison to what I have witnessed in the past. It was a great privilege to share in the weekend and I am glad I decided to enroll in your course. It was just what I needed spiritually to give me the mental jump-start on my own career as a Doula.! Thanks again for your insight, and honesty." Diane Fownes, RN |
| "Thank you for a terrific weekend! I enjoyed myself thoroughly, and although I feel overwhelmed now, I surely learned a lot. You are an amazing woman and are very gifted at what you do. You have provided me with a toolbox which I know will help to foster my beginning as a doula." Katie Guidotti - September, 2002 |
| "I just wanted to thank you for the inspirational weekend. I enjoyed myself so much and also learned more than I would of ever dreamed. You are an incredible person. You really seem to be comfortable with yourself which make it very enjoyable to be around. I really am looking forward to becoming a doula. When I look at where my life was going 8 years ago - law school and how my children have changed my focus, it is amazing. It is nice to know there is a profession where I can use my intellect (if there is anything left after 4 kids) and my nurturing instinct. I am also very lucky to have very supportive family and backup system. I thank you again and look forward to seeing you in the future." Lisa Henderson - May, 2002 |
| "I wanted to compliment you and thank you for such a great weekend. It was a turning point in my life and I think I have finally found my calling. I thought I would be over my head but you calmed all my fears and educated me with all your knowledge and training. I was hitting the pavement on Monday, I got lucky to be connected by you to the Birthing Project. I was immediately asked to help, I have four new clients, two are teen moms. I was asked to come in and shadow the midwife. What an experience this was. I learned so much from the midwife. I was asked to do some educating of the new moms and even assisted the midwife with hearing the heartbeat and getting measurements. I was totally blessed to meet you, Debbie. All my thoughts and prayers to a very unique and special person." Lisa Sims - Sacramento, CA, April 2002 |
| "Thank you so much for a life changing weekend. I am so excited about this path, especially the journey. You're an incredible teacher. I'll keep you updated about my progress and I'll see you at future Doula Trainings. Again, thank you." Sheridan Thomas - Pacifica, CA, January, 2002 |
| "Thank you for a very special Doula Training weekend. You held us close, encouraging us to bring our own nurturing spirit forward. I feel so prepared for much of what might come while accompanying women birthing!" Kamala Asher - Berkeley, CA, January, 2002 |
| "I just wanted to send out some love and thanks to you again for your insight and support during my first gig as a Doula. I smile to think how many women you effect in your walk. Let me know if I can ever help you in any way. You have really shared so much with me and it would be an honor to be able to help you out in any way. Namaste." Jessica Thompson - Ashland, OR, November, 2001 |
| "I just wanted to say thank you for last weekend's wonderful Doula Training. Most people go through their whole life, never knowing what their true calling is. Fortunately for all of us, you figured out yours and that's such a wonderful benefit to us. As if being a Doula isn't exciting enough, you've made it even more wonderful. Thank you again for everything and I will stay in touch with you. You amaze me with how thorough you are in everything you do. You were absolutely right when you said, "you didn't choose this path, it chose you." I feel that way every time I attend a birth and any time I get a referral." Vicky Mundy - Novato, CA, July 2001 |
| "This weekend had a HUGE impact on me. I am still processing it! I just wanted to write to let you know what a great workshop that was. I learned a lot about myself and the power and magic of birth. Your ability to have us think for ourselves and stand for our own abilities to be Doulas was truly inspiring. While I have been so focused on becoming a midwife for so long, I forgot some essential things. Being with a laboring woman and her husband as they accomplish the work of bringing into being-a family, is really about them. It is their birth and I am not the star. I am embarrassed to admit that I even entertained that thought, but there it is. I guess there was a part of me that thought I could "rescue" moms from what I went through during my first birth by being a "star" midwife. Again, I am humbled by birth. And I am aware of a new possibility in my life- being a Doula AND studying to be a loving, authentic, creative, guardian -of- normal -birth midwife. Your respect and awe for the babies and how you said your ideal job would be the "Greeter of Babies" truly moved me. And so I am thanking you. For the workshop, for the awakening of a Doula in me, for creating a safe space in which to learn and grow, and for being courageous enough to do what you are called to do. And you do it so well!" - Beth Wyman |
| "Surpassed my expectations...This workshop was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life." D.M. - Martinez, CA |
| "I have been completely inspired by my training, and I have a greater sense of myself and respect for women." J.B. - Fresno, CA |
| "I hardly know where to begin! Thank you is simply not profound enough. Our Doula Training Course was so much more than how to do a job. It was enriching, educational and very challenging for me. I learned to look at birthing and babies from a perspective that I had never seen before. THANK YOU! I have been working closely with Felicia who has agreed to mentor me - how blessed am I! I'll write more soon and keep you updated on my progress in life and as a Doula." Jane - Marin, CA |
| "Thank you again. The workshop was wonderful and I came away feeling so renewed! I got so much out of it. I really enjoyed the guest speakers as well, each had so much to offer." Valeri - Benicia, CA |