After our first son’s birth (long, exhausting induction with unwanted interventions at 43 weeks) we decided to hire LeAnn as our doula when we found out we were expecting our second baby. From the very beginning LeAnn listened to our concerns with compassion and supported my desire for a home birth (and to go into labor on my own). She met with us several times before our birth and helped us draft birth plans for all scenarios, including another hospital transfer and a cesarean. I ended up going into labor at 42 + 1 and LeAnn was at our house in no time (in the middle of the night, naturally) to support us. My first baby was OP and she came over with a plan to help us get baby brother into an optimal position. She even brought a peanut ball, which I was so incredibly thankful for. She is such a calm, reassuring presence, and never did my husband feel like he was less of a support (this was an initial fear) because we had a doula. She quietly made suggestions for position changes and reminded me to eat and drink, something I needed but was too distracted to do. When my water broke (I had an insane amount of amniotic fluid) she positioned me in the safest position to avoid a potential cord prolapse and called our midwife immediately. After spending a few hours “still at 9.5cm” one of the things I still remember LeAnn looking at me and saying, with a smile, was “you are going to have this baby at home.” It was just the encouragement I needed to hang tight through that last bit and push my eleven pound baby boy out. I can’t thank her enough for being so calm, peaceful, knowledgeable, and reassuring. She helped me to shower, made sure we were breastfeeding succesfully, and even brought freshly baked bread when she visited later that week. As my husband has said on multiple occasions “I would pay her any amount to be at our next birth, I will pay her to come out of retirement if she isn’t still attending births.” We couldn’t have done it without her!