LGBTQ+ Affirming Doulas in Houston, TX

DeNae provided postpartum doula services for me and she was nothing short of amazing. She was always on time, very loving and caring and even brought juices and gave a dietary plan to help me with postpartum recovery! I truly loved having her around & I always recommend her to others.

- Rashika C.

Jessi was the best doula I could ever ask for. If I had to go through the pregnancy, labor and birth all over again, I would choose her again in a heart beat. Not only did she take the time to answer all my questions, she was a great support when my home birth plans changed to the hospital due to pre eclampsia. She walked me through the risks and benefits of all the interventions that were presented to me. She was a calm and caring presence at the labor and birth that I do desperately needed when my plans changed. I will never be able to explain to her what a great comfort she was to me at the labor and birth. You need her as your doula. You will not be disappointed.

- Francesca T.

Jaelyn is an angel straight from heaven. I live across the country from my family, and she showed up as my best friend and my family during my delivery and postpartum. She was a tremendous advocate for me during my birth. I was committed to having a natural birth at a birth center, but after 18 hours of labor we had to take it to the hospital because of unavoidable complications. She did absolutely everything to protect and support me at the hospital, while I was pretty much delirious and struggling to make decisions, she was bold and brave standing up from my rights and needs the whole time. For example, the doctors wanted me to go straight to Pitocin to strengthen my ability to push, but Jaelyn knew I wanted to avoid medical interventions, so like a genius she instructed the doctors to give me a breast pump instead because pumping can have the same strengthening effect in an all-natural way. I didn’t even know that, but she did. All through the day and night at the birth center she kept me fed and hydrated, tirelessly held the detachable shower head for me for literally 3 hours straight as I was attempting a water birth, and gave me massages and helped me through all kinds of creative birthing positions. During my extremely challenging birth experience, feeling her hand holding mine was the most comforting and reassuring thing. Her energy was calm always. And then, low and behold postpartum at the hospital, she was my first visitor bringing me a gift bag full of beautiful high quality baby items, a huge bouquet of flowers, and a deluxe fruit tray which I devoured. She’s one of those friends who knows what you need without you having to say anything. She was born to be a doula, and she even remembered my dog’s name and asked about her which cheered me up so much! Plus, with my pregnancy Medicaid all of her services were free! She has a great sense of humor and made me laugh so hard during her hospital visits that they could definitely hear us in the next room! Anyway, God bless you Jaelyn and thank you for treating me with such kindness, love, and respect. And any of you looking for the best doula ever who will seriously have your back, Jaelyn is your girl.

- Hannah V.

This is honestly a difficult review to write… not because there is any shortage of reasons to praise Cherish, but because no amount of it can truly do justice to explaining just how meaningful her presence was in my journey from pregnancy through childbirth. As a headstrong person intent on going about a “natural” birth within the healthcare system, I knew I wanted to have a doula to help campaign for me, to provide me support and tools through one of the most vulnerable and raw processes a woman can go through. I interviewed many doulas, and while many seemed qualified on paper, I just knew something was missing. Then as fate would have it, I came across Cherish. We had an initial call to discuss the variety of services she offered. Already then, speaking with her felt natural, like meeting someone who you knew could be a friend. It was easy to sense that she genuinely cared, and exuded passion (and compassion). We had meetings and check-ins throughout my pregnancy, to discuss logistics such as my birth plan, generalities like how I was feeling and how certain tests went, as well as address more spiritual matters like my feelings around becoming a mom or subconscious fears that were surfacing for me. Every time I was filled with awe and gratitude for the perfect alignment of her complete holistic support that I knew I had been seeking all along. To make matters more complicated, I went over my due date and with each passing day, my doctor (and the healthcare system) started to tout medical fear mongering to push me into an induction that I knew I did not want/need to do. After every check-up, Cherish and I would connect to logically discuss from a place of knowledge and trust. It was not simply “We are not inducing”, but rather “We are trusting all positive signs of the monitoring and taking an educated stance on it not being medically necessary at this time.” To make a long story short, at 41 weeks and 6 days I finally gave birth to the most perfect, healthy and beautiful baby girl. There was no epidural, no cascade of interventions, no “emergency c section”. If it were not for Cherish’s support, I have no doubt my story could have gone very differently. Instead, when I think about my labor, even with all the variables I could not control for (and that is childbirth at the end of the day), I feel like I had as perfect of an experience as I could have wished for. Not because it was without its share of complexity, but because I truly felt I was in the best hands. Cherish’s presence carried me through every minute of labor’s pain and challenges. I wanted my labor to be intimate with just my partner and myself, and having Cherish did not distract from that in any way. (She had also met my partner in advance of my labor to provide him with tools to help support me in the process.) I ultimately felt more comfortable with her presence in my delivery room than I would have been with my own family. She truly has a place in my heart for life, and there is no question that if I were to go through this process again, I would hope (and be so lucky!) for Cherish to again be by my side.

- Dana D.