The Association for Wholistic Maternal and Newborn Health

I am so thankful to have found this organization. Their knowledge and support throughout my pregnancy jitters were exactly what I needed. They took care of my needs before and after my birth. Katie was my doula and she present and supportive every step of the way. She empowered me during my birth and I had the vbac birth I had planned for. THANK YOU !! I am forever thankful

Words can not express the depth of my positive experience with this organization but I will do my best. First, Cordelia and her staff are compassionate, knowledgable, intuitive and led by a pure purpose to serve mother’s, children and families in need. I almost died giving birth and was dealing with a newborn, unexpected c-​section recovery and severe anemia from a hemorrhage when I was finally released from the hospital. A far cry from the natural birth experience we had hoped for. Cordelia replied to our request for help immediately and kept in touch with me thru empathetic email communication. Soon after my return home my father passed away. Again, Cordelia continued to provide us extra care and support. The women that came over were all completely engaged with wanting to genuinely know how to best assist us in our time of need. There was no agenda other than relieving us of further stress. They fielded all of our questions free of ego and judgement (we are first time parents so asked a lot!) and what touched me most was everyone’s interest in my familie’s emotional health, not just physical. Our daughter Carmella loved each women and my husband and I feel completely overwhelmed with gratitude this organization even exist! Thank you Cordelia and all your Earth Angels!

I had an amazing birth experience from pregnancy to postpartum with Cordelia!!! I was initially afraid of labor and birth, especially after having a super easy pregnancy. I thought labor would be painful like we see in the movies and at the same time, wanted to have a natural birth. A conundrum indeed. BUT Cordelia through her private child birth education classes calmed my and my husband’s anxiety and helped me feel empowered to have the birth that I truly wanted. My birth was beyond amazing — and even better than what my greatest hopes had been. Not only did she support me through educating me prior and supported me throughout labor, but she came to nurture me at home when I needed it the most and forced me to take it easy. Which I was quite annoyed with at the time, but am grateful for now. I am 5 weeks post partum and feel like new! I have not only found the doula who will support me through my births to come but I’ve also found a friend. I’m so happy Cordelia was there to support me as I birthed my beautiful baby girl.

Cordelia was AMAZING during my labor. This was my first child, and I had gestational diabetes. We did our childbirth education classes with Cordelia and we had a birth plan written up. I was not 100% opposed to a medicated birth, but I wanted to really try for a natural birth. I was with the midwives at UCLA for my prenatal care and delivery, and although our birth plan was for a natural birth because of the diabetes the midwives and physicians wanted me to deliver on time or early (for fear of the baby being huge). So I had the midwives sweep my cervical membranes a few times and I think that is what caused my water to break. I did not go into labor after my water broke, so after about a day (and trying other natural methods) we decided that I should be induced to try to avoid an infection.
I did 10 hours of VERY intense labor on pitocin with no pain medication only because Cordelia was with me. I had my contractions actually measured by the doctors with an internal monitor, which is unusual and most people won’t ever need to do — I had very very strong contractions with virtually no break in between each contraction (also unusual — most people have 30 seconds or so to regroup between contractions, I didn’t). Regardless of how your labor and birth plays out, it will be hard. If you decide you want to try an unmedicated birth, you can plan that it will be harder to do in a hospital. Not only are there rules in most hospitals that will make you less physically and emotionally comfortable than if you were at home, you will also know that — unlike if you were at home — an epidural is just one decision away from you. To resist this you will need help. And a doula like Cordelia is the very best thing you can do to help yourself. In addition, Cordelia facilitated the participation of my husband — she knows how to help the birth partner be as central to the process as they can be and as you, the birth mother, want them to be.
I can’t say enough good things about Cordelia. Before Cordelia arrived, I was crying tears of pain. The pain got MUCH MUCH worse after she arrived, but I did not shed another tear. It was a truly amazing experience.
(And in the end, I did have an epidural. After laboring 10 more hours and never fully dilating, I got an infection and the baby was in distress. We had an unplanned c-​section and our baby was born healthy and I recovered fully. Cordelia was with us throughout the process and stayed a few hours after the birth — she took photos of the baby behind the surgery curtain when my husband was too squeamish to look! Although I didn’t have a vaginal birth, I still value my labor experience and know I would NEVER have gotten as far as I did without Cordelia’s incredible support!)

Cordelia is by far the most qualified being on the planet to instruct pregnant women to give birth as they were meant, with dignity, trust, knowledge and joy !! Her years of training as a midwife, doula, and advocate for women’s right to have choices in pregnancy and childbirth make her one of the best resources in this area. With love and compassion, she nurtures and inspires expectant mothers and empowers them to create the birth experience they want. She is a promoter of maternal/​child health globally, reaching out to all communities and cultures to create safe and healthy birth.