"In January my partner and I received test results that forced us to make the heart wrenching decision to terminate our pregnancy at 4 months. I had asked Sara to be our doula early on, but hadn't needed much support until the date for the labor induction was set without much notice. In order to accommodate the hospitals schedule and my partners schedule with his other children and work the check in time for labor and delivery was set for the next morning at 8 AM. My partner couldn't join me until later in the day and when I finally decided I needed someone there until he arrived and called Sara to ask for help, it was 8 PM.  She was 100% on board and ready to go at 6 AM. 

 

The induction process took much longer than anyone had imagined, and became extremely difficult and painful after a day and a half. Sara rearranged her life and schedule several times over the two and a half day total process to be there for me and my partner.  Her presence and support were invaluable to both of us.  She held a calm, clear space that gave us both the strength and confidence we needed to make it through an experience that would have been grooling even if it had resulted in the birth of a living baby.  Sara knew how to respond appropriately to every circumstance. Her interaction with the Dr's and nurses was seamless and they integrated her into our conversations and decisions. In spite of her own lack of sleep and spending hours in an uncomfortable setting, Sara was tuned in to my partners need for rest and to have times away from the room.  Sara supported me in all my desires around the experience and helped implement them. She knew when my resistance to pain relief had gone beyond the point of reason and helped me stay conscious enough to make the decision for an epidural, which may have been what allowed me to stay out of the operating room and give birth vaginally, as I had wanted.  Sara knew how to hold the space as my partner and I grieved over our dead daughter. She knew when it was appropriate timing for her to finally take her leave. At every step along the way I felt reassured by Sara's presence and felt that she was not only able to be in empathy to the intensities of the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the experience, but to stay clear headed and ready to respond from a calm center. "

                 - B. I. Eugene, OR