Mayra Elisa was my Doula about 2 years ago to assist me with the delivery of my first baby. She was amazing! I have been a Labor & Delivery Nurse for 8 years and while I have a wealth of knowledge and debated getting a doula in the first place, I'm SO glad I did. I was able to have someone on my side that validated and supported me. She helped me labor prior to getting an epidural so that my husband could take a nap. This 2-3 hour nap recharged my husband so he could be present for the birth and him being well rested contributed to him gently reminding the the team my accurate pushing time as they thought I had been pushing longer than I had been, preventing me from getting a C-section. Also at the very end prior to giving birth it was likely that I was going to need a C-section as her head was slightly sideways so she wasn't coming down the pelvic outlet enough for a safe vacuum assisted delivery after almost 4 hours of pushing. Thankfully my baby was doing well and not in distress and I had no fever but I understood if we needed to have a c-section it made sense. Mayra had then suggested one last pushing position we hadn't tried yet (We had tried EVERYTHING) and directed my nurse and husband into that pushing position (closed-knee! its a great position!) 4 pushes later my baby's head turned and got past the pelvic bone and I was able to have a vaginal delivery!! Even with all of my clinical experience having a doula by my side helped me so much. As a disclaimer- You are not guaranteed a vaginal birth just because you have a doula, a C-section may be the safest way for you to give birth. However, an experienced doula will definitely improve your chances of a vaginal delivery and regardless of how you choose or how your labor/baby chooses your delivery for you, Mayra is amazing. She respects your wishes and validates you and helps you come up with questions for your midwife and doctor and helps inform your partner and yourself on what to expect next and helps answer your questions. She has experience guiding people through C-sections, Complicated labors, hospital and home births. She offers you her thoughts on the different options for giving birth, but never imposes one agenda and helps you based on what you are looking for. She also can answer your questions on breastfeeding, pumping and formula feeding and doesn't make you feel like you need to pick one way or another and just supports you all the way with your choices. Also, her being bilingual (Spanish speaking) and bicultural was such a plus. Having her in the labor room with me was important to me, while I was born and raised in the U.S. my first language is Spanish and my family is from Peru, so having her by my side felt like having a sister or aunt with me and she was familiar with a lot of the cultural remedies and ideas.