Doula/birth Coaches in Gainesville, FL

I highly recommend Megan M. Otero! Check out her Facebook page "Own Your Birth" and the client testimonials on doulamatch.net. She attended my drug-free birth at North Florida in July and was an incredible support. Let me know if you have any questions! Congrats!

I recommend Alexandra with Womb Service (they have a page but it won't let me tag)....she is a great choice!!!

Thanks Callie Williams! Here's my fb page: www.facebook.com/OwnYourBirth and here is my Doula Match profile where you can read some testimonials/reviews of my services: http://doulamatch.net/profile/3263/megan-otero

Megan M. Otero. Guaranteed the best. Love her!!!

Amanda Wyszkowski information is at http://www.austindoula.com/

Julie Garcia is amazing!

Kristi Haynes!!

Congrats Mary Ellen!!!!!!!!!

This site does have one listed in Lake City: http://www.thebirthcompany.com/doulas/

I am in the process of obtaining my DONA labor doula certification and prior to that I will be offering free doula services in North Central Florida. Feel free to contact me here or at Chelsa.Knowles@yahoo.com.

Fetal Flix FetalFlix.com

TIL doula. Thanks google! and congratulations on yer baby!

You could try calling the Birth Center: http://www.birthcenterofgainesville.org/ Their website sucks :/

If you PM me, I can set you up with my old boss. She left work to focus on being a doula.

My close friend and former co-teacher Cathy is a doula. I have known her for almost 5 years and would highly reccomend her.

Dr. Carroccio at North Florida is AMAZING! She was my job AND was able to delivery my baby along with doing 2 c-sections that same morning. I cannot say enough good things about her, she is the whole reason I didn't do a home birth! I couldn't imagine not having her be a part of my journey and delivery!

North Florida! I delivered there and went natural and they were fantastic!! My OB was Dr Million but Dr Delker delivered. Both of those ladies are awesome!!!

Dr. Agros at North Flordia.

Dr. Werner at North Florida's Women Center.

Cristi Roubik Hladish\

I'm a high risk pregnancy am going to north Florida. I'm a nurse who has a few years in prenatal experience at north Florida and now work maternity there. North Florida is an option for you with history of miscarriages. All of the doctors and midwives previously mentioned are great. Dr.Brazzel and Carraccio are my personal favs.

Dr. Jill Delker at NFRMC... AMAZING practice and all the doctors are amazing. They even have meet and greets. (And midwives too)

I loved the doctors, nurses and staff at All About Women at North Florida Regional Medical Center!!! I delivered my baby girl there too. Amazing care!

I'm with Caraline S!! Sharon Adams is a great high risk nurse practitioner that works for the high risk OBGYN's at Shands. I had dr Anthony Gregg who is amazin and in charge of the high risk clinics at Shands hospital. I had twins and with being high risk there is NO WAY I ever would have delivered at NFRMC. I know too many stories of kids born there and then have to be transferred to Shands bc they don't have the care they need at NFRMC. don't take that chance. Go see Dr. Gregg and Sharon Adams as a team. I guarantee you will love them!!!! I still communicate with them both. AMAZING!!!

Stephanie, NFRMC has a NICU again so Shands isn't the only option.

I delivered at North Florida-with Ronnie Jo Stringer. It was a fantastic experience. One of the best parts is that they have great post-partum support. Every week from 2-12 after you deliver, they have a free Tuesday luncheon where you can bring your baby and get advice and consult with the lactation experts, and they have speakers. It was a life-saver for us. Some afternoons we stayed from 11:30-3 just talking with the other moms and babies about our experiences. That's actually how a lot of the facebook groups started- like our 2013 Marvelous Mommies group is the group of moms that attended those luncheons together so we've known each other's babies practically from birth and have watched them grow along with our own.

I had a awful experience with Dr. Vista, as did a friend. I went with Sharon Adams at Shands Women's Health and delivered at Shands. I went all natural no interventions and everyone was amazing! I have nothing but good things to say about Shands. My water broke at just 37 weeks and no one even talked to me about interventions. Like I said they were great about me wanting to be 100% natural. Even when I had to sign the release for an epidural (in case of emergency csection) the dr. was supportive and told me to just forget about him and I wouldn't have to see him again (and I didn't). I'd go to Shands again for a natural birth in a heartbeat and Dr. Adams (didn't do my delivery but did my prenatal care) is an amazing midwife.

Dr. Werner at north Florida women's center

Dr Erin Werner at North Florida! I had pre-eclampsia with both my pregnancies and she was wonderful. Actually all the docs I met in that group were fantastic!

Huge fan of Dr. Carrocio at North Florida! (Dr. Werner ended up delivering my daughter - I liked her as well.) Come to think of it, you can't really go wrong with any of the North Florida doctors. If you do decide to go with North Florida, I would recommend you go to the 'Meet the Doctors' function.

I highly recommend Ronnie Jo Stringer...she is a certified midwife at North Florida in Dr. Cotter's office and I love her and wouldn't go to anyone else. North Florida does do high risk but you could go see a midwife and they can refer you to further testing at Shands (like I had done) and based on that, they will let you know if you are better off delivering at Shands vs. NFRMC based on how high risk you are. NFRMC is a 5 star maternity ward and I loved the big room I was in, but they do have a lot of rules which I didn't like. They also have a really great NICU staff and they are all highly trained/skilled and very nice.

Any of the North Florida docs are great. Dr. Brazzel was my OB for my son. While I was in labor, Dr. Carrocio was on call (LOVED HER!) and Dr. Marichal delivered Jackson. They were all fantastic. Side note: Dr. Marichal is hilarious and actually had me laughing just minutes before Jackson was born

NF Women's Physicians midwifery group is amazing.

Cyndi Vista at Cotter and Associates. She is a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM), is 100% supportive of natural childbirth, & is fine with doulas. High risk pregnancies used to be referred to Shands but since North Florida Regional has a NICU again then high risk are accepted there now. North Florida Regional's maternity ward just received a complete makeover & the rooms are wonderful! Plus, you're allowed to have as many people (or none at all) as you want in your room during labor (Shands limits the number to 2).

I like the All About Women group at North Florida. They have 3 doctors and 2 midwives and you get to know and see everyone.

Sandy Lager so far all I've been told is because of that, but I didn't get the testing so we're unsure what we're expecting, and I really don't want to get the testing for down syndrome or the likes because I'll love this little angel no matter what. Katie Gettler Hill That sounds AWESOME! I will definitely look into that

Dr. Mullvihill at UF Health, Springhill off 39 th Ave. She supports natural birth and if you are familiar with the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and Best Fed you will blessed by their care.

Had my first appointment at Dr. Brazzel's today, he was recommended by the hospital for a high risk pregnancy that I would like to do unmedicated. I asked specifically about the new doula program, which is so new even the doctors don't have much on it. My next appointment is next Thursday and he is going to get the official hospital statement and regulations on doulas. I will be sure to let you all know what they say!!

When NFRMC complete did the upgrades to their Labor & Delivery and post-partum rooms, they also upgraded their NICU so it is now a level II facility. They are equipped to handle births after 32 weeks. If the baby comes before that, they will send you to Shands. I had a completely normal pregnancy until my blood pressure spiked at 31 weeks and 5 days. By 32 weeks & 4 days, I had been admitted, released to bed rest and then readmitted for an emergency c section as my pregnancy induced hypertension progressed to severe pre-eclampsia. My doctor was Dr. Million who is also with NF Women's Physicians. Because she had the nigh shift the week things got really bad, she had me meet with Dr. Brazzel that last day. I liked Dr. Brazzel, but really trust Dr. Million and when things got bad, Dr. Brazzel called her and she agreed to come in early to do my c section just to be there for me. I had pretty severe health issues after delivery (for most women, they get better soon after delivery, I was in the rare group who got better, then got worse and I had to be readmitted). Dr. Million has seen me through everything, calling things the way she sees them, but also trying to work with me to meet my own needs and desires when possible while still keeping everyone healthy. -- Because my son was born so early, he was placed in the NICU at NFRMC where he spent 15 days. He just came home this past Tuesday and I cannot say enough about the NICU staff there. They were incredible, trying to look out for me in addition to my son. They have a lactation consultant assigned to the NICU who worked with me at length, the nurses were absolutely amazing and were holding back tears when we went home because they'd gotten so attached to my son. With all of my health issues, it was 29 hours after my delivery before I was permitted to visit my son (I was on a magnesium sulfate drip and honestly, was in no shape to visit, but it was killing me!). The NICU took pictures and printed them out to deliver them to me. They took videos on an ipad and gave the ipad to my husband to bring to my room. When I was permitted to visit, the L&D nurses moved me to a motorized bed and wheeled me to the NICU any time I asked. Please don't underestimate the quality and ability of the staff and facilities at NFRMC!