Carolina Birth and Wellness - Durham, North Carolina

Caroline B.

I can’t recommend Carolina Birth and Wellness enough for their incredible placenta encapsulation service! From start to finish, they were professional, supportive, and so knowledgeable, making the whole process seamless. Their compassion and expertise made me feel completely cared for during this special time. If you’re considering placenta encapsulation, this team is the absolute best choice!

Molly G.

We had a wonderful experience with the doula services! The sessions during pregnancy helped my spouse and I feel prepared and they answered the million and one questions we asked. The support during labor and delivery was fantastic, I'm so thankful we had our doula there!

Anna B.

I have two reviews for two different services they offer: 5 stars for childbirth education, 3 stars for lactation services.

We went with Carolina Birth and Wellness for our childbirth preparation and I’m so glad! Maris came to our house and it was so lovely to have an option to do it in-home; she was informative, respectful, friendly and we found the class so helpful. She has tons of great insight and shared lots of tips and tools that helped me in labor.

I have also seen a lactation consultant through them and that was not a good experience. While the LC I saw was kind, she seemed unsure of herself… made lots of comments about which bottles etc. I should or should not use and that was about all I gained from our two sessions. The second session she had no record of what my son’s weight had been at our previous session; apparently she forgot to write it down which was stressful for me and she wanted me to stop using a shield (the only way we had been able to make nursing work) but didn’t really have any insight as to why, and also didn’t give me any tips for helping us latch well without it… looking back I think she must have been very inexperienced, which is fine, but I expect more professionalism and knowledge from an “expert” I am seeking for help.

Overall I would give CB&W 4 stars, would use them for childbirth education again and may look into other services they offer, but did not have a good experience with lactation help.

Kim C.

Carolina Birth and Wellness are incredible. We took the Childbirth 101 class with them which was super helpful and gave us more confidence about how to make well-informed decisions as we prepared for birth.

We had a planned homebirth that did not work out because I went over 42 weeks. We had to pivot to a hospital induction which was a bummer, but ultimately the right decision. Before we went to the hospital, Maris talked me through how to navigate hospital birth induction and the various interventions. I felt really nervous about maintaining my goals for a low-intervention birth and together we basically revised my entire birth plan to accommodate the pivot and I went to the hospital feeling so much better about everything. I had a plan and even though I hate hospitals, I felt ready for anything.

Ashton was on call during our birth, and we cannot sing her praises enough! I ended up having a pretty traumatic labor experience for the first 7-8 hours, very abnormal 15/10 pain level contractions that were stacking together with no time for breaks in between. The entire time, Ashton was right there doing all the counter pressure techniques, massaging, affirming, just basically being the calming and grounding presence both my husband and I needed to make it through and offering so much pain relief.

We had to pivot so many times because nothing was working to bring the baby out, so I ended up with almost every intervention and had to give up my dream of an unmedicated birth. Ashton was there the whole time helping and guiding me when I needed to brainstorm, process, scream, cry, you name it. I’m not sure I could have done it without her.

Ashton also encapsulated my placenta and I learned so much about placentas during that process. She did it all in our home and is clearly a pro.

From start to finish CBW and Ashton/Maris in our specific experience were professional and personable throughout pregnancy, birth, and in the first few days postpartum. We would highly recommend them as doulas and the services we received beyond doula care (childbirth class and placenta encapsulation)

Thank you Ashton and Maris for being amazing people and doulas!!

Debra M.

Repeat customer. My doula was texting and on her phone during the hour and change she was with us for the birth of my son. When she came for the postpartum visit she was a bit condescending in tone, over explaining aspects of the birth situation that I already fully understood and saying that I would have time to experience postpartum depression, if not now. I did not feel listened to, supported or nurtured. She did run to get the doctor during an important situation, review the images-based birth plan that I made a few minutes before baby was born with the nurse and reinforce to the doctor/midwife my decision that I was not going to have the babe laying on my back with legs up as she suggested. It was nice to have postpartum photos she took. Would I use Carolina birth and wellness again? Probably not. I would probably use hypnobabies again and consider one of their certified doulas and review my evidence based birth class materials again.
The postpartum doulas: two were pretty good overnight but two other fill-ins I would not recommend. One called us from the side of 540 to ask us to bring her gas (my husband did, how could he leave her on the side of 540?! No significant apology and certainly no reimbursement came) waking me up from precious sleep that I paid significantly for - that same woman was late a day earlier. One doula I casually asked if she does this full time and she reported that she has a full time job and works both which is dangerous. One doula, Stephanie, during the day only, was an absolute dream. She is from France, cooked for me, cleaned and held by baby while I slept. She was by far my favorite as she never needed an ounce of direction. Other times they told me no one was available however a friend referred me to another doula (name withheld) who had availability but when she arrived she panicked when I said I was using this service. Doula’s are required to provide their services exclusively but she was a bit heartsick when I told her that they did not provide her as a doula when I specifically requested one for the daytime and was told no one was available. We did take a big sibling preparation class, which was nice. In summary: It was good sometimes and disappointing others. I would recommend Stephanie but would be extremely wary for night doulas.

Kay Q.

I just gave birth to my first child. I used doulas Iriana and Eboni for labor and delivery, and am so glad that I did! They were fantastic with getting me through the labor process, helping me to adhere to as much of my birth plan as possible while keeping me and the baby safe and calm. Thank you so much!

Cayt R.

Got my first ever prenatal massage from Erin and it was the most relaxing experience I’ve ever had! I cannot recommend her and Carolina Birth and Wellness enough!

Meghan G.

We cannot recommend Carolina Birth and Wellness enough! From early pregnancy, through labor, and support afterwards- they were amazing every step of the way. We took their online course on giving birth in the triangle, had Maris & Ashton as our amazing doula team, and they connected us to a lactation consultant in our first week home.

Maris & Ashton were incredible. In our two prenatal visits they helped walk us through all our labor/birth options and gave us confidence going into our first childbirth experience. Maris was on call when we were in labor and we truly could not have done it without her! She helped talk us through decisions, pain management, and was our biggest advocate through a long labor.

We are so grateful to have found Carolina Birth and Wellness and plan to continue using them for our postpartum needs and then again future pregnancies. Thank You!