Gen 2008

Katherine 2008

Kaitlin 2007

Rachel 2008

Kate 2008

The first meeting with Paula was wonderful, she was professional and sensitive, and in our conversations she touched on exactly the right points. We decided to meet for a number of private sessions, as often as possible before the birth. We were happy to discover that she could also be our birth doula.
We learned with her, that in order to make our birth experience flowing and powerful, and in order to manage pain in a better way, we must face our fears and inhibitions. That fact may seem trivial just to read it, but Paula succeeded to bring up from within us hidden fears and inhibitions, and she armed us with tools to cope with them.
And truly, the pain of birth is completely different and manageable when separated from fear. …I'll even say that I would like to experience it again.
…Paula surprised us each time anew with her amazing abilities to understand our inner world, almost reading our thoughts. And not just thoughts, sometimes she even read feelings that we were not yet aware of. Paula had taken a course in "Intuitive Healing"…, yet this is not enough to turn someone into an intuitive. She was simply good at it; and this, without a doubt, is one of her better qualities. Because when we succeeded to take care of the hidden issues that had come up in our sessions, we then felt really more ready for our birth.
Another thing that impressed us was the huge "tool box" that Paula brought with her. She knew dozens of ways of releasing and healing, and always knew to pull out the appropriate tool for every situation. She was flexible enough to toss away tools that did not suit us as a couple or as individuals. In addition, she never stopped learning, reading, and enriching herself with new tools that she offered to us whenever she thought they were fitting.

Hanita 2007

Paula was amazing the whole length of the way. She knew how to guide me and accompanied me step by step. She was always ready and anticipated me. I never had to ask her for anything, she knew what I needed, simply without words.

Shira 2008

It all started when I decided on a homebirth. My partner Danny was not opposed to it, but I felt there were fears concerning the decision. That's how we found Paula…
She prepared us for a natural birth in the most calm and pleasant way we could imagine. We left each session with a relaxed and safe feeling, and especially a feeling that we deeply understood the process. Paula helped Danny understand his place and his role at birth, and the importance of motionless activity at birth. She taught me an endless number of relaxation techniques, breathing, meditation, guided imagery, and even vocals to help with pushing. In every part of the birth I remembered some 'trick' Paula had offered us. When I was 'out of it', Danny reminded me. I remember the lesson in which Paula told us about the history of birth in the world, and where in the process enters the issue of fear and consequently the pain.

Suddenly, I understood when there's no fear, the surges are manageable. And when there are no emotional inhibitions, there is no physical inhibition and the birth flows.

And actually at birth I found myself using movements we had practiced, vocals, breathing; and in the end when I was tired and just wanted to lay down or sit and rest, but couldn't find a comfortable position, then Danny reminded me of the exercises we did with Paula. To go inside and to feel the surge and be with it, simply to be with the surge and breathe into it. This helped me so much. I had a few moments to concentrate (Danny tells me it was more like an hour), to focus all my strength anew, and to continue straight to the birthing phase that soon followed. The birth was as I imagined to myself in the guided imagery lessons: 5 hours of surges, and another 10 minutes of breathing down. And after that… the biggest thing that has ever happened to Danny and me in our lives, Dor our charming son, turned us into a family.

Alex 2008

When I met Paula I was unsure if I even ‘needed’ a doula. I had a standard hospital birth before, and wasn’t sure if I wanted a natural birth this time. What I did know was that my first experience giving birth was something I did not want to repeat. I had been so consumed with being pregnant and reading everything about my developing baby, that I did not think too much about what I wanted from the birth itself. Because of this, I ended up having a lot of non-emergency medical interventions, that were probably avoidable had I been better informed and able to advocate for myself. I personally did not respond well to being induced with pitocin, the epidural or other medical procedures. From this place, I was ready to explore how my second time giving birth could be different.

When I met Paula the first time I felt very comfortable with her. She was warm and inviting and it was fun to ‘get into’ what birth could be like. My husband and I met with Paula a number of times, and each time it was relaxing, informative and inviting to all that a positive birth experience offers. In many ways I feel that Paula helped me heal an initial traumatic experience, and with her support, professionalism and comforting spirit gave me the gradual confidence to explore natural birth. I learned a lot about the connection between fear, or the anticipation of something unpleasant, and pain. Paula taught me a lot about how to keep my mind, and my body relaxed, open and expansive so that the contractions can be experienced differently.

All I can say is that my second birth, in which Paula was right there, was one of the most powerful, total, energetic, incredible, magical, empowering, and just rocking best experiences of my life. It is implanted in my memories and I can still see what I looked like, what my husband Alon looked like, Paula reminding me to soften my face and the midwife encouraging me as my baby moved down and out into the world. I was present for every aspect of this birth and greeted my son with energy and enthusiasm. In contrast to my first birth, where it took me days to muster the energy to shower, move about, breast feed with ease…this time I was drug free, I felt the total flood of natural endorphins that helped me get through those first couple of days of sleepless nights and transition to a new baby. I wish everyone a fear free birth and with Paula I know this can be possible.

Gen 2008

We had Paula come to give us and another couple a course in HypnoBirthing, from about 34 weeks. The course itself was great, and Paula is an incredibly good and relaxed teacher. The relaxation exercises were very helpful in keeping me calm and anxiety free in the last few months of pregnancy, as I am normally fairly anxious, especially about a first time pregnancy. They also helped me to go to sleep - often I would just start to listen (to guided imagery) and fall asleep within minutes, which was great as I was rather large and uncomfortable! The affirmations and other exercises were really good at helping me to be confident that I could manage to give birth naturally, without painkillers, and at home. They also helped me to deal with all the stupid horror stories people felt they had to share with me. My midwife was incredibly impressed - she came over when I was 7 or 8 cms dilated, and said that she had not seen a first birth like that before, as I was quite calm and just vocalising and breathing through the contractions. HypnoBirthing gave me a huge amount of confidence in myself and my body. My only regret is that we didn't practise more and get my husband involved more in the actual self hypnosis exercises. Next time! That is the only thing I would change about our birth - everything else was exactly as we planned it, up to and including the visualisation I had of the birth itself (how long it would take, when my water would break etc). Next time I would also like to have Paula there as from what I have heard, and seen, she is a very calming presence, and knows exactly what to do during labour.

Katherine 2008

"You can't anticipate how your birth is going to go, no matter how well you've planned and prepared, but taking Paula's class and her calming presence at my birth, helped me to make important decisions when they needed to be made, without fear or anxiety. I was able to listen to my baby, my husband, and hold on to my faith in what otherwise might have been a scary situation. Paula is truly gifted to be a doula and I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for loving, calm, unobtrusive support during their birth."

Kaitlin 2007

When I told my husband Adam that I wanted to do HypnoBirthing classes, he was a bit skeptical, but after our first meeting with Paula we both had complete confidence that she was what we wanted in a childbirth teacher.
The classes were practical and spiritual simultaneously, giving us the necessary balance to have a truly natural birth. I felt confident that I could use the physical relaxation techniques and the visualisations during my labour. When it actually began, I was able to relax my body very easily. I felt that I needed to move around a lot, so I didn't manage to sit still for long enough to visualise, but the skill of being able to loosen my body at any time was invaluable. Things seemed to just flow so much that I'm not certain when active labour started exactly. At the point that I thought we should tell our doula to come, I had managed on my own for 2 hours while Adam got some shut-eye. When the doula arrived, she took one look at me and could see the end was near! We got to the hospital, they checked me and told me I could start bearing down... and before I knew it I had given birth to a beautiful, calm, alert baby boy without any intervention. It was completely beyond my expectations.

I really believe that if I hadn't had these classes then my birth would have been very different. Thank G-d for sending us Paula!

Rachel 2008

Paula was both our childbirth educator and doula. This was our first birth, and although we knew that we wanted a natural birth, we weren't confident in our ability to birth naturally before our childbirth classes with Paula. She challenged some of our previous assumptions and helped us approach our labor with a positive mindset.

Our midwife was Ilana Shemesh, and we chose to give birth in one of her birthing cabins. My husband and I are so grateful that we had Paula as our doula throughout our nine hour labor. While I relied primarily on my husband both physically and emotionally, Paula was always there, supporting us with words of encouragement and position suggestions. She also took some photographs, and even videotaped my son's arrival into this world. My husband said afterwards that he would have felt lost without Paula. I looked to Adi for strength and reassurance, and he consistently turned to Paula for the reassurance that all was progressing normally.

I hope that any of our future babies can also enter the world in one of Ilana's birthing cabins, but no matter where we birth, we want Paula at our side.

Israel is lucky to have Paula!

Kate, Adi & Edan Cohen 2008