Birth Doula Package
Open Detailed Package Here — for support on navigating sliding scale pricing, click here.
Prenatal Care
- 2 – 3 prenatal sessions; in person or virtual.
- Text and phone support, as needed.
- Includes Brood’s Family Membership, with access to our 5 online courses, virtual private clubhouse, and the member’s area.
- Colostrum collection kit with written and video instructions.
Birth Attendance
- Continuous in-person support throughout labor and until 1-2 hours after birth.
- Support with comfort techniques and pain relief including TENS machine, massage, and movement.
- First feed and newborn care support.
- Birth photos and video.
Postpartum Support
- 1 – 2 postpartum sessions.
- Text and phone support, throughout the fourth trimester.
- Personalized referrals to postpartum resources.
About
What languages do you speak?
English, rusty French, and minimal Italian.
What is your personal definition of “doula”?
To me is a warm companion through any major life transition. Whether we are going through birth, death, loss, pregnancy, postpartum, surgery, or any other life-altering experience, we all need a loving hand to hold, someone we trust who will witness us, listen to us, guide us, hold up a mirror to show us our own strength, or give us a boost when we need it.
What brought you to birth and postpartum work?
My passion for birth began at age 8 when I was by my mother’s side for the home birth of my younger sister. Witnessing my mom’s courage, strength, and trust in her own body instilled in me an awe and reverence for the birth process which I feel to this day. Several decades later, when I became pregnant with my own daughter, I yearned for information that married my intuition and trust in my body with my desire for up-to-date science and data. As I navigated the many rabbit holes of the internet, I was blown away by the amount of misinformation and fear-based advice. It became a mission to help others (initially friends and family, eventually clients) spend less time in the rabbit holes and more time becoming informed, confident, and empowered to prepare for the birth they desire.
In a climate of caregiver burnout, how are you caring for yourself?
Hiking in trees, playing music, playing with my children, getting away from my children, and sleep!
What is a standout book, movie/tv, etc about the childbearing/parenting journey that you return to?
BOOK
Three authors I love, from whom I will read everything they write about pregnancy/birth/parenting:
- Angela Garbes (Like A Mother, Essential Labor)
- Britta Bushnell (Transformed By Birth)
- Emily Oster (Expecting Better, Cribsheet, The Family Firm)
Note: these books vary in the amount to which they use heteronormative/gendered language, though I think each of them has some awareness of diverse family structures etc.
Trainings
BIRTH
- Certified Childbirth Educator, Cornerstone Doula Trainings.
- Certified Full Spectrum Doula, Cornerstone Doula Trainings.
- Evidence Based Birth® Instructor, Evidence Based Birth.
- Full Spectrum Doula, Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings.
- Labor and Birth Doula, Cornerstone Doula Trainings.
- Birth Doula Training, Carriage House Birth.
- Open Door Provider, LGBTQ+, Family Equality Council.
- Trans Birth Advocate, Cornerstone Doula Trainings.
- Homebirth for Doulas, Cornerstone Doula Trainings.
- Rights Informed Birth Advocate, Cornerstone Doula Trainings/Birth Monopoly.
- Supporting Survivors Who Birth, Cornerstone Doula Trainings.
- Spinning Babies® Workshop
- Doulas at a Distance, Penny Simkin.
- Supporting Loss as a Doula, Carriage House Birth.
- Comforting Touch for Labor, Yiska Obadia.
- Strengthening Cultural Humility – Dismantling Implicit Bias for Birth Professionals 101, Diversity Uplifts.
- Trauma-Informed Fundamentals, Resilient Birth.
- The Prevention of Birth Trauma, Birth and Trauma Support Center.
Addressing Trauma in the LGBTQIA+ Community, Birth and Trauma Support Center. - Supporting Survivors Who Give Birth, Cornerstone Doula Trainings.
Pregnancy and Infant Loss, Quietly United In Loss Together.
POSTPARTUM
- Postpartum Doula, Natural Resources.
- After A Difficult Birth: Debriefing Skills for Birth Professionals, Birth and Trauma Support Center.
FOR YOUR PERSONAL LEARNING, WHAT IS THE WORKSHOP/TRAINING ON YOUR RADAR?
- Spinning Babies Aware Practitioner Training.
Testimonials
We had the privilege of having Hannah and Nechama as our birth doula for our first pregnancy. They were amazing throughout our pregnancy journey. They provided us with tremendous emotional support especially during early contractions and every step of the way until our baby boy was born. As this was our first pregnancy there were a lot of uncertainties and questions but Hannah and Nechama’s support made us calmer. As a registered nurse myself I know how having a doula not only during first pregnancies but with every pregnancy can be beneficial for future parents. We would highly recommend Hannah, Nechama, and Brood. — Irah
We had a great experience with Brood. I decided to have a home birth last minute in my 36th week, and they were helpful to find me doulas fast. Having a doula assist with our home birth was one of the best decisions we ever made. It is impossible to overstate the support and guidance Hannah provided during the process. It was beyond professional — it felt as if we had been taken care of by an experienced family member. Grateful for the positive experiences of Emma, Hannah, and Nechama. Thank you and all the best! — Lex, Olga, and Leo
My partner and I started working with Hannah for the birth of our first child about 20 weeks into our pregnancy. We knew from the beginning that we wanted to work with a doula and get additional support throughout the pregnancy, especially during COVID. She is an incredibly compassionate person and really listened to our worries and desires and always gave us her honest opinion and helpful resources along the way. If there was ever a question that she didn’t know the answer to, she would do her own research and follow up with a helpful email. Due to COVID, we did our prenatal visits both virtually on zoom as well as masked and outdoors. Hannah made us feel completely supported throughout our pregnancy and offered words of encouragement and frequent check-ins as we neared our due date. For my partner, she provided book recommendations, comfort measures, and advice on how to offer support and what to expect in the hospital. Fortunately we were able to have Hannah with us during our delivery and while labor didn’t go quite as expected (does it ever?), Hannah was ready to spring into action with position changes, comfort measures, etc. She did a great job with my partner and I to support us differently during labor. She helped us step aside and discuss the pros and cons of suggestions that the doctors were making even when the doctors weren’t really encouraging our feedback and decision making in the process. When my labor slowed down, she leapt into action and negotiated with the staff to get me into different labor positions despite having an epidural. After our delivery, she continued to check in with us via text message and was both encouraging and sympathetic. She came over to our home for her postpartum visit and we chatted through our birth experience and she helped us fill in some gaps that we had forgotten or were unsure of. My partner and I have often commented that without Hannah, we definitely would have had a different birth outcome. I would absolutely recommend working with a doula and we’re so glad that we found Hannah! She is incredibly warm, knowledgeable, and is a wonderful listener and resource. — Erika K
Our experience with Hannah as our doula for our first child has been absolutely excellent. If you value knowledge over dogma, intentional decision-making, and extremely high-quality communication, a calm and collected demeanor, and an utmost commitment to clients, you can’t go wrong with Hannah. The rest of this review details what we most appreciated but if you’re reading this review debating whether or not to work with Hannah, you should for sure go ahead.
We researched and interviewed several doulas and birth workers and discovered a disheartening trend that many seemed to hold overly strong opinions that they’d energetically and almost evangelically thrust upon their clients. Hannah is the total opposite. She listens intently, is always calm and collected, and her top priority is ensuring that your birth experience will be exactly as you want it. No matter what decisions or thoughts we had ahead of time, Hannah was informative and supportive, bringing to bear her knowledge of biology and medicine, her knowledge of pre and post-birth care, her first-hand experience with births, and drawing on her network of birth workers. What matters to Hannah is that you as her clients are informed and that you can have the birth experience that YOU want.
She communicates with incredible compassion paired with precision and intentionality — whether via email, text or in person. This is so important as a doula as even a slight nuance of language can change the atmosphere and impact how you feel about your pregnancy, labor, or delivery. She was extra thoughtful and diligent to indicate how and when we should reach her during the most sensitive times (when she’d have reception, when she’d be driving, when to text vs. call, how far away she was, etc), which again was much appreciated.
During our pre-birth home visits, Hannah was thorough, educational, and supportive, and we were especially impressed at the speed and thoroughness of her follow-through via email and text. She never lets a hanging question or task slip through the cracks and kindly let us borrow some of her resources as part of our pre-birth education. She drew upon a wide variety of resources (books, online videos and audio tracks, pamphlets, articles, her network, and even Instagram accounts) to help us get educated and confident. And she thoroughly walked through every single step of the process with us at just the right times during the pregnancy, helped us create our birth preferences doc with love and care, and set up thoughtful contingency plans that we wouldn’t have even known to consider.
As we approached labor Hannah was especially thoughtful to check in with us on a regular-but-not-too-regular basis, which felt extremely supportive. And when it came time for us to labor, Hannah was available in person at a moment’s notice whether it was 2 pm, 10 pm, or 2 am.
During labor itself, Hannah was especially compassionate, comforting, and confident during the most intense moments. She advocated when that’s what we needed, and thoughtfully helped us consider the pros, cons, and downstream implications of various one-way medical interventions, empowering us to confidently make informed decisions when we had to.
During delivery, Hannah captured the most important moments in videos and photos — memories that will be with us for a lifetime. Post-delivery Hannah has been kind and supportive as ever — quick to respond to questions and thoughtful during her post-delivery in-person visit.
Last, she has an epic career as a world-class cellist which you should totally ask her about at some point! — Gaurav V
I had the pleasure of having Hannah as my doula from the Summer of 2020 until the birth of my baby in March 2021. We interviewed several doulas before deciding to go with Hannah. What drew us to work with Hannah was her vast knowledge of birthing (that she could present in a very accessible way) and her very grounded, compassionate, and trauma-informed approach to birthing, which was apparent from the start. Hannah has a very natural ability to meet you exactly where you are at, and to offer resources, information, and nuanced discussion in a very nonjudgemental way. Throughout our work together, I was continually impressed with the breadth and depth of Hannah’s knowledge, and the way that her commitment to justice, equity, and honoring diverse experiences could be felt through our interactions. I went into my hospital birth feeling very thoroughly prepared from our in-depth discussions. Up until my hospital stay, Hannah was in touch and offering perspective and evidence-based information for me to share with and collaborate with my medical providers. I felt so empowered with the knowledge of what the interventions were being offered and why from our work beforehand AND had the luck to have Hannah present virtually (the hospital I birthed at was not allowing doulas at the time due to COVID) to be a sounding board, and offer perspectives and information that was aligned with what I had expressed was most important to me. Hannah truly made my partner and I feel at ease, cared for, and valid. She can hold a variety of experiences and perspectives and her approach is thoughtful and her knowledge of birth, in the many different forms it can take, is truly incredible. After we welcomed our darling baby, Hannah continued to check in and be in touch with resources and information on postpartum healing, as well as made herself available to process our birth story. Thank you Hannah for all the care and for helping us bring our marvelous little daughter earthside! — Kristel P
I feel so lucky to have found Hannah to help us through this experience as first-time parents! I personally did not find pregnancy to be a magical experience that many claim it to be. Early on I suffered from a pretty intense bout of prenatal anxiety and depression. And while my partner is incredibly supportive he also suffers from anxiety and Anything blood or bodily function related is just not his jam. Since we are also in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, I knew that I would need some extra support to help me through the rest of my pregnancy and birth process and Hannah exceeded my expectations! From our very first intro session she was incredible, well informed and curious about how to make my birth the best it could be. The pre-birth sessions were incredibly informational and helped to ease both of our anxieties. In fact I think after the first meeting my anxiety all but went away. She was there to answer all my questions, even the ones that may have been silly or I would worry I might be judge for if I were to talk to a doctor. She made me feel heard, understood, and supported. During the birth of my son Hannah was critical in creating the calm and supportive environment I wanted. She helped not only me but my poor anxious partner throughout the entire experience And I was able to deliver my son exactly the way I wanted to. Her postpartum support was also amazing. She helped us with some hands on first-time parent trainings such as bathing our baby, swaddling him, and using some of our gear that had stumped us. She even helped with just day-to-day things like making sure I got to rest, eat and that our house didn’t go completely by the wayside. If you’re looking for a Doula to help you through your birth and/or postpartum I could not recommend Hannah enough. I am so incredibly thankful for her, she was truly a critical part of my pregnancy and birth. I really feel like she helped set me, a first time mom, up for success so that I can enjoy this next chapter with my son. — Laura G
We are so thankful to have met Hannah and have her by our side during our first pregnancy. We moved 8mos pregnant which allowed for very little time to go through birthing classes, etc. I really wanted to have an unmedicated birth, but wasn’t exactly prepared when we had moved to the Bay Area but Hannah made it happen! She squeezed us in for 2 prenatal visits, helped develop our birth plan, taught us a variety of birthing positions and techniques to work through the discomfort. Most importantly she was there guiding us hour by hour through a long labor (making sure my husband stayed hydrated and fed) advocating for what we wanted and when the baby was stuck she knew exactly what position to get me in to get things moving again- that moment itself is why we would highly recommend hiring Hannah! Bonus, she captured every moment of it for us (which was 100% not her role but with limited persons allowed in the room she understood our desire and for photos and delivered!) — Kate B
We are so thankful for finding Hannah to help us through the birth of our first child. In the months leading up to our due date, we met with Hannah for prenatal sessions. She went above and beyond to answer our questions and provide us with evidence based learnings for everything that came up during our pregnancy. We can’t imagine making it through our birth experience without Hannah being there to support us. Hannah helped us navigate dealing with doctors and nurses, and making sure we got the care we needed. Beyond that, she made the birth environment and experience as peaceful as possible; she even brought tea-lights to the delivery room! We really appreciated our final postpartum session with Hannah. After a tumultuous journey, Hannah made sure we had the tools for a successful fourth trimester. We can’t recommend Hannah strongly enough, and she will be at the top of our list when it is time for baby #2. — Dana R
I am someone never writes reviews for anything, even when I absolutely love something. Last May I learned that my partner and I were having baby, we decided to give birth at a birthing center in San Mateo, CA. After his birth and having worked with Hannah Addario-Berry to prepare for my son’s arrival I wanted to share my experience with my Doula. My name is Norman and I am 42 years old, Matias is I my 3rd child. My two older children are much older at 24 and 16 years old so it had been a long time since I had gone through the birthing process. My first two children were born in a hospital through C – Section, I knew very little about “natural births”. My current partner introduced the idea of a “natural birth” when she told me she wanted to have our baby out of the hospital and in a birthing center. I never knew there was such an option, much less heard of a doula or a midwife. I was apprehensive about going through such an unknown path, but after a lot of research and talking with my partner I said ok. Once we found our work began with Hannah I felt more at ease and appreciated the extra support. Hannah was very knowledgeable, her explanations of techniques, and exercises during pregnancy were very thorough. Her expertise made me feel more confident in our decision to give birth outside of a hospital setting. She was always very respectful, and easy to talk to. Right before we went into labor we got the news that Hannah was not feeling well, and with being in the middle of a Pandemic, we decided it would be safer to instead offer us support virtually. The thought of her not being there in person made me nervous, because I did not know how I would do without her there in person. Her virtual support was crucial, I called her many times, and she was also present on live screen. Hannah’s calm demeanor offered me guidance when I needed it, she also gave me friendly reminders of how I could support my partner while she was under a lot of distress. I cannot express how helpful she was when I was at a loss and simply did not know what to do to help. Looking back at our experience throughout the pregnancy, and birth, I have nothing but absolute gratitude and respect for Hannah’s services. She contributed greatly to make this a beautiful, and memorable, moment for my family, and I. — Norman M
It did not take long for me to know that Hannah was the doula that I wanted to work with. In our first conversation Hannah was able to provide useful information, tangible resources, and it became obvious that she was culturally conscious. Her professional manner made everything easy and most importantly, it provided me with the feeling of comfort. During my pregnancy journey Hannah’s expertise provided guidance, her confidence allowed for peace of mind and her calm demeanor set the tone. For a very busy second time mom with a full-time job, I appreciated Hannah’s responsiveness, her punctuality, communication and organization. She was very thorough and always took notes when we spoke, her follow up after the appointments was very precise. During prenatal appointments she had a way of presenting the health choices that I would have to consider in a way that was manageable instead of overwhelming. When it came to deciding about things like testing during pregnancy, my birth plan, emergency scenarios, or afterbirth care for my baby I was informed and ready thanks to Hannah. Hannah was not only indispensable to me, but also to the rest of my birth team as well. She repeatedly put my partner’s anxious mind at ease, since it was his first experience with a birth outside of a hospital setting. She reassured him and served not only as my support but his as well. Hannah also provided support for my 11-year-old daughter whom was present during some prenatal appointments and my birth. Hannah was welcoming and included her by teaching her ways to best support me during active labor. Hannah was essential in getting us all prepared for my birth experience, she provided us the tools for us to be ready. When the time came, Hannah provided our family with virtual support. She gave suggestions, provided support during labor and filmed my baby’s arrival into the world. Following his birth, she followed up with us to check in on multiple occasions for a period of two weeks. She again provided information about postpartum and resources that we needed. Hannah flattered us by writing a story about her work with my family, nothing was published or used without my granted formal consent. Hannah’s passion for Doula work was evident throughout our work with her. I cannot put into words how much support she provided to our family, I will forever be thankful. She was a blessing for us and for any mama and family that chooses to work with her. — Cynthia C
