Juliana Birnbaum

I first met Juliana as the back-​up for my birth doula. We didn’t end up needing her at my daughter’s birth, but I hired her three weeks post-​partum for help overnight while my husband was spontaneously out of town for business. She’s like the baby whisperer! Not only did she give me several very useful tips for better nighttime sleep with my newborn, but she also validated what I was already doing. I was able to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep at a time for the first time in weeks! She has a very calm, gentle and grounding way about her. I highly recommend working with her!

It was such a blessing to have Juliana as my doula for the birth of my daughter! When my husband and I first met her, we were immediately drawn to her wonderfully peaceful and calm presence. We knew from then on that she would be the perfect person to support us during birth.
It was important for my husband to be a part of the entire process, and Juliana made sure he felt comfortable and involved while I was in labor. She was there when we needed her offering her assistance and advice, and she would instinctively know when to step back and allow my husband and I do our thing to get through contractions. She was there with the birthing tub, water, food, cold cloths for my face, neck massages, sacral pressure applications, and even songs! She gave me suggestions for different labor positions (we practiced them during her home visits), made sure I had warm compresses and oil applications during crowning, and she was the one who at the very end determined I had to empty my bladder so I could push my baby out (otherwise I probably would have been pushing for who knows how long!).
I knew I wanted to have a doula at my birth to guide me through the process, but having Juliana by my side was so much more than that. She helped me feel confident and comfortable, and I knew that I could count on her to be my advocate when it came to the hospital staff and family visitors.
Another thing that I found extremely invaluable was prenatal yoga classes with Juliana. I felt they made a big difference in my overall comfort during the last months of pregnancy as well as for the position of the baby.
I am extremely grateful to have found Juliana. She was the perfect person to be there next to my husband and I when we welcomed our baby girl. She brings a wonderful bed side manner, extensive experience, and most importantly, sincere love for mommas and babies.

Juliana helped make our birth incredible.
My husband and I knew Juliana was the right doula for us when we first met with her. She was such a calming presence from the first minute.
Juliana was there for me in the last trimester as I had high blood pressure and was puffy all over. She suggested herbs and diet changes to get me through the last days of pregnancy.
When my doctor wanted to induce, Juliana was available by phone whenever I needed her. She helped us talk through the difficult decision to induce and to request a more mild induction drug from the doctor.
My labor was so easy, really! Juliana and my husband laughed because between every contraction at the end, I was cheering them on and saying they were doing a great job. My whole birthing experience was so wonderful that I would have done it again the next day. My doctor told me that I shouldn’t spread the word about this because my birth was so much easier than the average woman’s.
I highly recommend Juliana to guide you through your pregnancy and birth process.

I met Juliana when she substitute taught for one of my prenatal yoga classes when I was already 7.5 months along. By the end of class, I had made up my mind to ask her to be our doula. I was really impressed with the way she led the class — the sequence of poses, the visualizations, her gentle and calm nature — which made me think she would be able to help me overcome my increasingly growing anxiety about labor in general and my decision to have a hospital birth. We also met a few times before my actual labor so she could meet and get to know my husband and sister (the rest of my birthing «team») and show us some helpful yoga poses and birthing postures.
We were extremely grateful that Juliana was there to help us navigate what ended up being a less than straight forward and intervention-​filled process. Her knowledge and composure really helped me personally keep it together as we strayed further and further from my ideal birth experience. We felt very lucky to have someone we could turn to for sound advice about interventions we never ended up reading about because we were so convinced everything would be so natural.
Juliana helped us welcome our beautiful, healthy son into the world (goal #1) without a c-​section (goal #3), and my husband got to experience the birth on his own terms (goal #2)…helping when he could, taking pictures when inspired, resting when he needed to but always knowing I was always being taken care of by comforting hands.
This is getting long so I will end by saying Juliana also did a follow up visit about 4 weeks later to see how we were doing and showed me how to do infant massage… which our son LOVES and we now do before every bath time. So her thoughtful, caring touch is still with us and we STRONGLY recommend her if you are considering having a doula.