Welcome to the Shape of Water
by Helena the Doula

Helena was our birthing and postpartum doula. As first-time parents we experienced a range of emotions, but Helena was there to give us information, teach us how to advocate for our wants and needs while in the hospital, and helped in calming our anxieties in the delivery room.

 

She got us food and even took photos to help us document our intimate moments which we greatly appreciated. After our daughter was born, we leaned on Helena to help us in navigating our newborn. We booked her for night shifts which allowed us to sleep and get over our initial fatigue while asking her all of the questions from basic to the complex in caring for our child. Helena went out of her way to ask probing questions of us and tailored her care to our needs while making everyone feel comfortable and at ease. My only regret is that we didn't have her in our lives more often and we are sorry to see her go. I could not recommend her highly enough. 

By Z.S.

She seemed to have an intuition about when to step in and when to give space, which made her presence very natural and helpful.

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Helena was a valuable presence during the birth of our daughter. She provided very helpful information prior to the birth to help us prepare and was there for us during the entire birthing time. She counted contractions and helped with whatever needed to be tended to so that my partner could focus on supporting me. She also took beautiful photographs during the birth that we will cherish forever! We are very grateful that she was part of our birth experience. 

By J.B.

Helena took wonderful care not just of my son, but of me as well. She always noticed when I was feeling off and would figure out how to best support me - whether that was to provide a listening ear, a hug, or to take the baby and help me get some rest.  I would highly recommend Helena for both day time and night time support.

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My experience with Helena as a postpartum doula was wonderful and I would highly recommend her. She supported us on our first night home from the hospital and 2-3 nights a week for several weeks thereafter. She has a very calming demeanor that made both baby and parents feel at ease right away. Helena is a very compassionate and caring person, always letting our son know before picking him up and then doing so slowly and gently. As a result, our son was very comfortable in her arms from day one. Our whole family felt supported by Helena. She taught my mom how to bottle feed, recognize hungry cues, and soothe my son so that my mom could better support me on days & nights when Helena wasn't there.

By E.

I highly recommend Helena! She is awesome and takes very good care of her clients.

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We are first-time parents and are glad we choose Helena as our doula. She is well experienced and enjoys helping her clients. She helped us with the exercises and massages to cope well with the pain. She is always available and constantly checks on her clients. She guided us very well throughout the labor, making proper use of things available at the hospital. She not only took care of my wife but me as well by suggesting me to rest and keeping me well educated and not letting me panic in the labor room.

By S.N.

Helena is amazing! I honestly didn't think that we would find a doula that would be a good fit but then we found Helena.

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She is caring, knowledgeable, flexible, attentive, and fully engaged in supporting our family throughout the birthing experience. She was a huge help in preparing us as first-time parents for all aspects of our labor and birth. We feel lucky to have been able to work with her and really appreciate how supportive she was as we began our new journey as parents. If you are looking for a doula, Helena is the right one for you. :)

By K.T.

We are truly thankful for all the amazing work Helena did and would recommend her to anyone. Her care, support, and genuine heart were fundamental in order to always remember this stage of our lives as beautiful, special, and meaningful. We can’t wait to have her with us on the birth of our second baby!

 

My husband and I had our first son in July/2019, and because we were so inexperienced, we were debating if having a support person during the birth would be necessary.

Getting closer to my due date, anxiety started kicking in then we were sure we needed an extra pair of hands helping us in the delivery room. So that’s how we decided to ask Helena if she would be interested in helping us on such a special and intensive day, given her previous experiences in Brazil and the fact that she is the most loving and caring person we know.

She met with us in our home and helped me write my birth plan. She gave us so much guidance in preparing for birth and motherhood while helping us stay calm and feel confident thru the last stages of my pregnancy.

Once in the hospital, she was always advocating for ourselves and making sure I got access to each and every resource available, assuring we were going thru labor the most efficient and comfortable way possible.

She was 100% present, giving us support every step of the way. Helena was fundamental during the hours I was in labor helping us in every aspect, from our wellbeing, making sure we were eating and drinking, to communicating with our relatives keeping them informed of what was happening in the delivery room.

She even took amazing pictures of us and made sure I looked my best in every click.

After the birth, she was constantly checking in to see how we were doing and giving us tremendous support on my postpartum months.

By G.P.

In a time period where family is often not able to be present, having Helena with us was the best possible second. She brought with her knowledge and kindness. She made us feel like family, and we couldn’t have been happier to have her be the first person (other than our doctors) our baby met in the world.

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We had interviewed 5 or 6 other doulas, all of whom seemed like nice, qualified people, but Helena stood out to us immediately. I am at times awkward meeting new people, but both my husband and I felt immediately at ease with Helena.
Through the whole rest of the pregnancy and delivery, she proved huge support for us. Although we got thrown a curveball at week 37- we moved from talking about labor to the reality that we would have to have a scheduled c-section because of a footling breech presentation- Helena was with us the whole way. She had lots of informational and personal support to offer us, attended multiple external cephalic versions with us, was very flexible with her schedule, and heavily researched anything new to her. Her warmth and calm helped me move through a change in the situation I initially felt would be disappointing and her presence helped to ease the pressure for both my husband and I. Her positivity, attentiveness, and interest in providing parents with the best support possible helped us to focus on the process of bringing our daughter into the world and let go of all our worries. On top of all that, she took some really wonderful photos of our daughter being delivered. Thank you, Helena!

By N.F.

She’s a truly wonderful person, through and through. I’ve never met someone I’ve instantly liked so much and felt so comfortable with, and I would recommend her to anyone. She’s warm, reliable, smart, loving, gentle, organized, energetic, engaging, and a true gift to any family that hires her. I'll forever be grateful to her.

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Helena was an amazing postpartum doula. She came into our lives at a difficult time — my husband and I were transitioning back to work right as our baby went through a sleep regression and right as my mom ended up in the hospital. The sleepless nights, the pressure to perform at work, and the stress over my mom’s health took a toll, and we decided we needed support. That’s when Helena arrived. From the moment she took our baby into her arms, I knew he’d be in the kindest, gentlest hands. Helena played with him, sang to him, walked with him, held him, hugged him, fed him, changed him, laughed with him — and even got him to nap, something we had been struggling with for weeks. Our little boy was in love with her, and so were we! She made us traditional Brazilian food, she helped with laundry, she organized his clothing, she gave us so many amazing baby care tips (from how to calm him to sleep to how to trim his nails), and she even let me cry on her shoulder when sleep-deprivation got the best of me.   

By A.