Words can not begin to express how grateful I am for Rachel and her team at Family Ways. I was 37 weeks pregnant and researching different businesses for placenta encapsulation. Family Ways was recommended by my OBGYN as well as another doula service. I hadnt quite settled on a group I wanted to use yet but when I unexpectedly delivered my baby 3 weeks early I jumped on finding someone who could take my placenta immediately. After leaving several messages for different groups Family Ways responded rapidly and started the process for my encapsulation. Rachel provides me with so much helpful information & when I was unsure about something, she would give me my options, provide pros and cons, and tell me to think about it. I never felt pressured to do anything and always felt reassured. I also loved that they offered more than just encapsulation for the placenta. Who knew that there were so many more options with your placenta. Rachel was prompt with picking up my placenta on again such short notice and delivering it in time before my discharge. Family Ways has made my post pregnancy dreams a reality that I didnt think would happen, given my last minute delivery. Her team is professional, very trustworthy, and went above and beyond my expectations. I cant wait to have my second child to use their services again!

Family Ways is an amazing part of the birth community in the Rockville area. I used Jessica Steiger (Huey) as my doula and worked with Rachel in her Bradley Class. I feel so lucky that I got to have both of these amazing women in my life at such an important time. Rachels classes were fun and engaging! We really got to know our classmates and feel like we had a community of parents at the same stage as us. Rachel is a wealth of knowledge and really, truly cares about supporting each family in the way that meets them where theyre at.As for Jessica, I dont even know where to begin on how strongly I recommend her as a doula. Jessicas name is holy one in our household. She transformed our prenatal and postpartum experiences as well as our birth. Jessica impressed us right away with expertise, strength of character, and gracious attitude. She was exactly as strong or as gentle as we needed her to be in each moment. Im so grateful we didnt hesitate in hiring her as a doula because she was able to provide so much knowledgeable support right away even earlier on in my pregnancy. Jessica is also an IBCLC and I strongly attribute a lot of our success breastfeeding to her support in the early postpartum time period. I feel like no review I write could possibly express my gratitude for this amazing human. She not only supported me through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum but in recognizing my own strengths and transforming into a mother.

Wonderfull

My partner and I were preparing for our first child and didn’t know what to expect. Everyone has another anecdote or conflicting advice and we were overwhelmed. We reached out to Rachel at Family Ways and immediately knew that having her support would make us feel better about our decision to have a Hypnobabies birth with an epidural. We were able to consult with her via text, email, phone call, and in person throughout my pregnancy starting from the moment we hired Family Ways (at 5 months pregnant) and even until after our son was born (Rachel made a home visit and it was such a relief to have her support in that first week of parenting). We asked about everything from how to get better sleep when I was experiencing back pain to making our birth plan to practical advice about nursing a newborn. Once the time came to have our baby, she helped keep us calm and firm with our birth plan. She was on-call in the middle of the night throughout the labor, arrived at the hospital really quickly, provided useful feedback to the medical staff after consulting with us, and helped my partner and I both de-stress as much as possible during labor. We would highly recommend hiring Rachel at Family Ways if you are looking for a reliable, knowledgeable, and supportive guide for first-time parents.