Beautiful Beginnings

I’m taking a Doula training class with Stacey Scarborough and I absolutely love her! She’s awesome at what she does and makes me want to become a Doula even more than I did before I started this class. I’m learning more and more and it’s so awesome! I cannot wait to be a certified Doula!

I recommend AH-​LING THAYER without reservation to all parents of newborns, whether their first or fifth child! We used Ah-​Ling for 5 nights/​week for the first 6 weeks and then 4 nights/​week for the next 6 weeks. She was punctual, cheerful, patient and accommodating. I felt like she was a baby whisperer with our baby because the baby was so comfortable with her and Ah-​Ling was able to settle her down so easily and naturally. Just a few of the many ways she helped us:
1. Ah-​Ling helped us get so much more sleep than we had with our first two. I co-​slept with my first two for easier nursing, but it made transitioning to their own beds a nightmare. With Eva, Ah-​Ling kept her through the night and fed her pumped breastmilk from bottles. At first, I woke up to pump to keep from becoming engorged, but after the first month, I was able to get 6 solid hours of sleep a night!
2. Ah-​Ling helped me understand and cope with my postpartum anxiety which I had shrugged off with my first two as «mere baby blues» but which admittedly did make me an irritable, tightly-​wound mother and wife for months. It was such a relief to put a name to my feelings (I never felt «depressed» as in postpartum depression — just dreaded the nights and felt the need to micromanage everything and everyone in my family.)
3. Ah-​Ling also helped when our daughter started to prefer first the bottle (at about 3 weeks) and then later started to shun the bottle and try to wait to breastfeed (at about 10 weeks). Ah-​Ling gave us tips on how to help the baby maintain a balance of breast and bottle for maximum flexibility for all of us.
4. Ah-​Ling taught us how to get Eva to go down easily into the crib for bedtime and after nighttime feedings with minimum fuss and crying. We would not hesitate to hire Ah-​Ling again in the future to help with sleep training when Eva is ready.
Ah-​Ling also gave me great tips on how to maximize my milk supply — practical tips I had not seen on baby websites or in baby books.
5. With Ah-Ling’s help, my husband did not have to help with the baby at night so he could get a good night’s sleep and be ready to get our older kids off to school in the morning (and pick them up, play with them, make dinner and put them to bed!).
In sum, forego that vacation, hold off on home renovations or do whatever is necessary to have Ah-​Ling help with your baby. The benefit to your own sanity as well as your marital and family harmony cannot be overstated! She goes such a long way toward making you the happy, rested mommy you want to be!

After the birth of my first child, I was very anxious about my child’s health coming home from the hospital, as he had trouble breathing when he was born and had to be in the NICU for two days. We wanted someone to watch our baby at night and make sure his every need was attended to so I could get some much needed rest. Admittedly, I am not easily pleased, but after meeting Janet Gonzales, I knew this was the perfect match for my little one. We tried some other doulas prior to meeting Janet, but the level of attentiveness and care that Janet provided was unmatched. lt is obvious that being a doula isn’t just a job for her, but a real passion. My baby is now a happy (almost) 1 year old, and Janet is still a part of our family and continues to help me with her expertise. She is extremely knowledgeable in her field, and has always been able to give me the most up to date education on sleep, feeding, and overall caring for my baby at every stage. Janet still watches my child now during the day sometimes, and I can honestly say I NEVER have to worry when my child is with Janet. I believe Janet cares for my child as if he is her own, which is why even though he hates to see me walk out the door to go the grocery store, he is smiling and laughing with Janet, and I can leave knowing he is in the best care possible.

I can’t say enough about how wonderful and professional the doulas at Beautiful Beginnings are. I was fortunate enough to have had Teresa Weinstein, Michell Adelson and Ah-​Ling Thayer work with our twin boys. Their wealth of knowledge and true compassion for what they do showed every time they came into our home. My husband and I felt so comfortable with our boys in their care. I am so thankful for all they did, not only for the boys but for our family. The support, care and knowledge that they bring is invaluable. I wish I could keep them on indefinitely. 5 star rating is not enough! I recommend anyone looking for a doula to use Beautiful Beginnings. Your baby or babies will be in excellent hands.

Our «sleep angel» that is what we call our Doula Audrey — we met her through a friend that used Audrey right after she brought her twins home and she helped us sleep train our 7 month old (since we were too ‘soft’ to do it ourselves=)
She not only had him sleeping 10 – 12 hours through the night by her 3^rd night with us, but she helped me establish a day time AND night time routine which helped him eat better and NAP better during the day. Audrey TRULY changed our lives — she allowed us to start really enjoying being new parents because we were finally starting to get some sleep. But fast forward to now, my son is 18 months old and Audrey is still a part of our lives — she takes my calls and answers my texts ²⁴⁄₇ — she is a wealth of knowledge and is a caring shoulder to cry on when those times come too.
Any family would be blessed and better off for knowing and working with Audrey — so I am sure any organization she is a part of must hold the same work ethic and values as she does.

Beautiful Beginnings is a wonderful group of women committed to serving women during their birth process as well as postpartum. All of them are trained through reputable organizations such as DONA International, and maintain their skills with continuing education.

I have referred all the doulas at Beautiful Beginnings. They are a professional doula group to help support you during birth or postpartum. It’s always nice to get some additional information about your up-​coming birth or now that you have a baby or babies at home. If you want a short consultation once you are home, call them and they will really boost your confidence.

As third time parents, we thought we knew what we were getting in to with a new baby in the family. Boy, were we wrong. Ah-​Ling and Linda were our salvation with the new baby and a total game changer for us in the fourth trimester.
Ah-​Ling was there for us when we came home from the hospital and immediately noticed that our new son was tongue tied. She helped walk me through those first weeks in getting him fixed and keeping my milk production up. Both she and Linda were great at keeping him swaddled and happy through the night and sleeping regularly. They were very nurturing and from the first meeting I knew I could trust them with my new little baby.
Ah-​Ling and Linda were our saviors through those first three months as the sleep deprivation can be so difficult. They helped us not only keep our energy up during the day times with our two older children, but coaching us through things as «seasoned» parents we took for granted that we already knew.
I would highly recommend them to anyone having a child whether they thought they needed help or not. Having them, even a few nights a week, was a total game changer and made having a new baby so much easier. We loved every minute of the nights they were with us and will always think fondly of their time with us!

I am writing to express my gratitude for Stacey and her wonderful Birth Doula Training Workshop I attended in Costa Mesa In July. She was such an inspiring teacher, full of knowledge, energy and passion for what it means to be a doula! She kept things fun and interesting the entire weekend, answered our many questions with patience and grace, and has continued to be available as a resource. I can’t imagine a better instructor and I am so grateful her class was recommended to me! Sincerely, Tina S

I have had the pleasure of working with Audrey for the past 2 years. I called her when my second son was 8 weeks old and simply a terrible sleeper. She came out to my house and immediately figured out my son and had him sleeping better in a matter of days. She is so knowledgable and straight forward, I never once doubted her expertise. I have spent countless hours with her over the phone and through text messages. Audrey is ALWAYS available to talk and never makes you feel like a bother! Each time I speak with her I feel more confident as a parent and have a better plan of action with my children.
She is truly passionate about babies and I honestly could not survive the early baby stages without her. My husband and I had her come a few nights when my third was born. Again, she was so easy to work with and just made our lives easier. Not only is Audrey wonderful with babies but she is a pro with toddlers. She knows how they tick and what discipline techniques work. If it were possible I would have Audrey live with us ²⁴⁄₇!
I highly recommend Audrey. for those who are fortunate enough to work with her you, will feel truly blessed!

Marjorie is INCREDIBLE!!! I wish I could give her ten stars. From the moment she walked in our house my husband and I knew she was the perfect choice to help with our newborn. She is so loving and caring and you can tell that she loves working with families. We were having a difficult time transitioning to life with a baby and none of the classes we took prepared us for the sleep deprivation or what to do if your baby would not stop crying even after you do all of the swaddling and shushing. Marjorie showed us several techniques to help soothe our baby so she was sleeping and eating better. Everyone in the house is less stressed because of her. She helped me with my breastfeeding techniques and never made me feel silly or stupid for the endless amount of questions that I asked. The best gift she gave me was helping me to feel confident that I was doing the best thing for my baby and that nothing I was doing was «wrong». The doctor said my baby had colic and I would just have to get through these crying fits. Marjorie had her calm within minutes. She comforts our baby and allows both my husband and I to get some sleep. Even my mom was excited to learn everything that Marjorie was teaching us and she has already raised three kids. Marjorie is like a baby whisperer.
We are having to move for our jobs soon and I wish we could pack Marjorie up with us. She is by far the best decision we made for our baby and everyone in our house is happier and better prepared because of her.

My husband and I were blessed with a surprise pregnancy (she was born 04-​17-​2011). My mom had passed away 5 years prior and therefore we had no one to help prepare us for what was to come. Sure we had other soon to be grandparents, but none of which were capable of helping us or teaching us the ins and outs of parenthood. So… we were pointed in the direction of hiring a doula. Through all my research, I narrowed my choice down to Beautiful Beginnings. The level of expertise combined with the true passion for helping others sold me. What I really loved seeing is that the goal of the doulas were to TEACH us new parents unless the new parents wanted someone to more fully care for their child. As new parents, we were eager to learn. We chose to go with the beautiful and loving Teresa Weinstein. She was amazing! She was so flexible with our schedule, especially have a child who was 9 days late after a 42 hour. My labor came with many complications as well as everything to follow. Teresa was an angel. Not only did she teach us how to bottle feed, clip nails, give baths… she was there as emotional support as I struggled through so much. There were times I went in my room just to cry, feeling like a failure, and Teresa was my biggest cheerleader (next to my husband of course). Teresa’s guidance truly set us on the right path to parenthood. We are so thankful for Beautiful Beginnings and especially Teresa, who still to this day stays connected to us.

Fantastic collective of doulas who really care and ready to support San Diego parents. Beautiful website, resources and classes for the growing family :) thank you for having me apart of such an amazing group!
Megan Ameral

I am new mother of twins and we hired Karolyn Malmin as a postpartum doula for the nights after her claim to be a trained doula and a lactation consultant. We found her lack of experience and inability to do things no less than shocking. Another doula from homecare is working out great for us.
# Karolyn could not do anything to help us — my husband had to do EVERYTHING for the first feed in the night, e.g.: time the babies on breast, prepare the bottles etc.
# She also could not answer any of our questions that the other doula answers expertly and have great insights for. Karolyn’s classic answer is «you just have to see…» and say nothing.
# The most egregious of all, however, is her blatant disobeying of our wishes and shirking her most basic responsibilities. We have been on a feeding schedule per pediatrician’s recommendations, and she happily broke our rules even after strict guidance. We have been told to feed our newborn twins (6.9 and 6.10 lbs — so identical in size) at the same time, every 3 hours. I asked Karolyn to feed the babies using my expressed milk at 2:30 together. And then wake me up for the 5:30am feed. Instead, I wake up at 5:30am and find Karolyn fast asleep! Then, she tells me, «Oh, I didn’t feed the babies together, I fed one at 2:00 and one at 4:00». I asked why, and she said «I didn’t want to wake them up». I reminded her this was strictly against our pediatrician’s recommendation as they are still trying to regain their birth weight. And she told me, «you cannot be too strict about this, you just have to see…». I then asked, «ok, now how do I get them in-​sync again, can you work on a plan with me», and she just kept justifying why she fed them at different times, and some irrelevant stories about some other twins who were very different in size and fed at different times. I felt she was just rambling, and *I* am the tired sleep-​deprived mom!
I feel so strongly about protecting future parents of this heart-​burn that I decided to post this review. My whole of next day was awful because of her… AND I had to pay her for this! Please be careful in hiring a doula and ask for proof of her credentials.
Hope you get some good help!

We love BBBS. The birth and post-​partum doulas are wonderful and there are so many to choose from to suit your personality and needs. Diana Kay was our birth doula and was simple amazing. She has great experience and was able to see us through 23 hours of labor. We also hired Leilani Wilde as our lactation consultant post-​partum. She was very encouraging and knowledgable. We highly recommend both of them.

As first time parents we didn’t know what the heck we were doing so hiring a postpartum doula gave us the peace of mind and help we so desperately needed. We met a lot of great doulas through this organization but ultimately decided that having overnight help was the most beneficial for our family.
During those early months of total sleep deprivation, having someone we completely trusted to care for our precious daughter was priceless. We had Ah-​Ling Thayer come for a couple nights a week and it made all the difference. She was always on time and would just take over so my husband and I could get as much sleep as possible. She truly cared about the well-​being of our baby and of our family as a whole. She offered helpful suggestions and advice on everything from feeding issues and acid reflux to sleep habits. And when our daughter was finally ready, Ah-​Ling helped us get her to sleep through the night. Life changing! Always calm and kind, Ah-​Ling was a comforting presence that we welcomed into our home with open arms. She always made herself available to us whether it was coming on short notice, or promptly returning our calls and emails (we had a lot of questions). She would also initiate ways to make my life easier by doing the baby’s laundry and washing bottles. I would absolutely recommend her to any family looking for postpartum help.
We worked with Rosemary Mason a few times and she is also wonderful. She has a relaxed, easy going personality that is a great balance for the neurosis of new parents. Her experience speaks for itself. She’s terrific.
Ann de la Torre is another doula I would recommend. We only ended up using her one time because I had my baby early while she was out of town so the scheduling didn’t work out. Once the baby was born, we also realized that the overnight doula was what we really needed. However, if anyone is looking for daytime help, Ann is extremely professional and very knowledgable.

Having a Doula help out with your newborn is a very important decision and one that takes a lot of consideration, especially when finding the right Doula you want to trust in your home and with your baby.
I have worked with Beautiful Beginnings twice. Based on my extensive research, they have some of the most professional, highly trained Doulas. My experience with them was great. After several interviews with different doulas and companies, I chose to work with Ah-​Ling and we hired he to help as a night post-​pardum doula.
As first-​time parents, he need a lot of guidance on newborn care. She gave us great suggestions what we needed prior to delivery, helped us organize the nursery etc. When the baby arrived, she came every night for about a week from 10 pm — 6 am. She helped guide me on nursing positions, burping, feeding schedule, sleeping schedule, and other general newborn questons.
When we went to sleep, Ah-​ling would sit with the baby to ensure he was ok. She would quietly come wake me up when it was time to nurse. I would nurse, then she would take the baby, burp, change diaper, and put back to sleep. She made me light snacks in the middle of the night, did our dishes, and helped organize and fold the baby’s clothes.
My husband and I are both high energy/​intense people, so we loved having Ah-​ling help as she has a very calming touch and gentle soul.
I referred her to one of my best friends who also worked with Ah-​Ling and Mary Beth.
I highly recommend their company and services.

This is a great organization with San Diego’s best doulas. They have profiles of all of their doulas online and some of them have specialties in other areas such as lactation, photography, placenta encapsulation and massage.

We could not have survived the first few months with a newborn without Ah-​Ling Thayer. Our son was born 5.5 weeks premature and Ah-​Ling was our saving grace. We were not prepared and Ah-​Ling kindly helped us gradually become more and more comfortable with the transition into parenthood as well as giving us tips on child proofing our house. She helped us in organizing the nursery, recommended various supplies we needed, books to read, and taught us the tools on how to comfort our baby. We were fortunate to have Ah-​Ling come at night so mom and dad could catch up on sleep. We have never slept better knowing that our son was in such great hands with Ah-​Ling!
Our son was having difficulty nursing and referred me to an Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor. Since this is my first baby, I did not know what my son’s mouth should feel like. Ah-​Ling watched me nurse and recognized that my baby might be tongue-​tied. Her diagnosis was correct. Our baby had his tongue clipped and now I’m able to successfully nurse him. I am so grateful for Ah-​Ling as she helped me through an extremely difficult and emotional time. It was very stressful for me and Ah-​Ling kindly got me through it. She is a plethora of knowledge when it comes to babies and a tremendous resource! I highly recommend Ah-​Ling and will definitely use her when we have a second child.

My experience with Ashleigh Jackson was similar to Angela’s (a previous review). I hired Ashleigh before the birth of my first son in September of 2010. She made a lot of promises that she never followed through on: we met just one time before my going into labor, and at the time she said that she would come to my house during early labor and even accompany me to the hospital. This didn’t happen, but I’m not even holding that against her. Like Angela, Ashleigh made me feel guilty that I had called her as soon as I went into labor, which was my understanding according to our contract. She said I wasn’t that far along. She arrived at the hospital from 6 am that morning and stayed all day, but she took frequent breaks– she left for food, for phone calls, and even took a couple of naps in the waiting room, NOT staying in the room with me as she was supposed to. I remember being massaged a couple of times, but as soon as she was gone, the labor pains were quite unbearable. I asked for an epidural during one of her «breaks» because I couldn’t take the pain without her massaging me through them. At the end of the night, I ended up with a C-​section although it was not planned that way. My baby had pooped and we needed to get him out. I do not feel guilty about that; I just feel that Ashleigh was not there for me and my family as promised. After the baby was delivered, she took a few pictures and later emailed them to us– but they were VERY SMALL resolution pictures. She promised me larger photos if I wanted them, and I said yes, I would like larger photos, please. She never sent them. She also did not come back after the birth to take more photos of me and my newborn as she had originally promised before the birth. A year and a half later, I contacted her again, asking for the photos. She responded that she would get them to me and she never did.
I’m glad I read Angela’s review because that tells me there is no point in trying to contact the head of the website to discuss my negative experience with Ashleigh. I will just tell every mom I know to stay away from them and save your 600 dollars.
I am currently pregnant with my second baby, and will be giving birth in six weeks. I’m getting a C-​section with this second baby because the doctor said it would be dangerous not to after having one with the first baby. There is no way that I would recommend Ashleigh Jackson. I wish I had asked around for recommendations of a good doula with my first baby because I think my experience would have been quite different. I rarely write such negative reviews of any business on Unilocal,particularly a person, but I feel that this review must be written. There are a lot of soon-​to-​be-​mothers out there who will have high hopes for their birthing experience with a doula, and I do not want them to be disappointed as I was. If you’re new to the doula experience, please ask around– ask friends, family, check reviews, etc. before hiring someone from some website.
I hope with all of my heart that your birthing experience will be a beautiful one.