My wife and I collaborated with In Bloom Birth Work for the birth of our first child. During the early birthing classes, I began to see the importance and value that hiring a doula brought to this incredibly significant event in our lives. Having met with a few different doulas early in the process, we were introduced to Rachel at In Bloom Birth Work and we were blown away. Rachel provided incredible support weeks before our delivery date; she met with us to review my wife's birth plan and help answer any questions we had at the time.

Our doula was everything we had hoped for when the day arrived, and we transitioned to the hospital. Knowing every choice and decision my wife had made ahead of time, Rachel was eager and willing to talk through every decision (as needed) when we were in the thick of everything.

I cannot say enough how helpful it was to have someone present in the moment to help advocate for us and my wife's decisions. Hospitals are wonderful places, and the doctors/nurses working there are heroes - but, they also have ways of doing things that don't always align with what you or your partner might prefer. Rachel was fantastic when it came to evaluating what was happening, what it meant for everyone's health, and the options we had that weren't being communicated to us.

When we returned home with our son, Rachel visited us in our home to check on my wife and the baby. She helped answer any questions we had and guide us on things we weren't sure of yet. Before leaving, she told us we could always reach out if anything came up or we had urgent questions. She really went above and beyond anything I could have expected. We cannot recommend In Bloom Birth Work more!

— John N.

I was introduced to Rachel by my friend/doula of my first baby when she moved away and I was feeling scared that I wouldn't find someone who would be able to match up with me as perfectly as my friend. Well, I needn't have worried, because Rachel was so accommodating and kind, as well as anticipatory of my needs that I felt wholly supported through every step of the process- from the initial interview, through the birthing plan, through the complete breakdown of just about every step of my hoped-for birthing plan when the event finally arrived, Rachel was there as a steady, calm, and reassuring presence for both myself and my partner. I couldn't have asked for a better person to help guide my second baby into this world, and I know who I'm calling first if I ever have need of a doula again.

— Cathy S.

I cannot say enough good things about Rachel. This was our first baby and Rachel was there every step of the way. She helped prepare us and gave us suggestions throughout pregnancy of where to go and classes to do / etc. When it came time to the day of, we had an emergency C section which we didn’t exactly get to plan for (we had planned to talk about it in a few days but we ended up having our babe early). By that point though Rachel knew us well and knew what we wanted. I did a ton of preparation for birth and knew what I wanted to ask for, but when it came to it, in order to not stress me out, I was letting the doctors deter me from some of those wishes. Rachel was SO good and patient with me and reiterated what I wanted multiple times throughout the day to different doctors and nurses and made sure our hospital staff knew what I wanted when I could not find the words myself. I will be forever grateful for that because it made me have a completely different experience and one that I can say was a good one and a very happy day for us, even though I was unbelievably scared of a c section. Because of her, she was able to come in the room and hold my hand during the epidural since partners are not allowed in at that point. When I asked for Fleetwood Mac to be played and the doctors weren’t feeling it (and I don’t even know what was on), she put her phone next to my ear and played them for me. She talked me through surgery. When the baby didn’t cry right away, she comforted me when the nurses and doctor weren’t saying anything. When they made my partner and the baby leave the room while I was getting stitched, she stayed with me and held my hand the entire time. She stayed and made sure I could breastfeed and felt good about it before leaving after birth. When they wanted us to supplement or when I had low blood pressure (and a whole bunch of other things that I can’t even remember now) during our stay in the hospital, she responded to my frantic texts within minutes. She visited after the hospital and even offered to do postpartum care which we ended up not needing. I even texted her about my sister and good friend’s births which both happened within weeks of ours and she helped coach us through some things that came up. In the end Rachel truly is the reason I can say we ended up having an absolute perfect day and look back on our baby’s birthday with lots of joy. Thank you so much for that❤️ We are forever grateful.

— Dominique K.

Rachel was our birth and postpartum doula. She split birth doula responsibilities with another doula we contracted with - this was our preference so we definitely would know our backup doula if that became necessary based on scheduling or length of our birth. She assisted with our birth at Virtua Voorhees which had been originally slated to go through Virtua Midwifery Voorhees. Rachel provided excellent prenatal education. She arrived promptly once we asked her to come to the hospital. Our birth plan had to change significantly from what we had hoped for due to preeclampsia. Despite all the issues we had to adapt to Rachel worked cooperatively with the midwifery and hospital staff to try to help us have a birth that was close to what we had hoped for. When our birth ran long, she was able to seamlessly and professionally loop in the other doula for support.

We decided to work with Rachel because we liked her evidence based birth background and thought she had a great attitude and philosophy around birth that aligned with ours. What I didn’t know when we decided to work with Rachel was that we were also deciding who would hold one of my hands in the delivery room and support us during some of our most difficult moments. We’re so happy Rachel was able to be present for the birth and thankful for her.

In post partum Rachel primarily helped us by handling laundry and dishes. She also helped me rearrange my nursing stations to be more efficient, helped troubleshoot minor breastfeeding issues, reminded me to stay hydrated, cooked meals, and minded the baby so we could get some crucial sleep in the early days. It’s not always easy to let someone into your home but Rachel always figured out a way to help even when we were too tired to figure out a list. She was also a great sounding board in the early days as we sorted through all of the intense feelings of early post partum and the huge adjustment coming home.

Overall - super happy we worked with Rachel, and so thankful for her!

— Fiona S.