“Hiring Marina as my doula was the best decision I made during my pregnancy. She offered insightful, supportive, and affirming guidance throughout my prenatal, birth, and postpartum experiences. She was especially helpful as we suddenly navigated last-minute changes to our birth plan (provider and location!) I am so grateful for her presence and encouragement on one of the most important days of my life!” – Carolyn, South Slope
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“Hiring Marina and Chatequa as my doulas was the best decision I made during my pregnancy. The guidance during birth alone is worth the cost (I cannot imagine giving birth without Marina by my side) but they also provide support via phone/ text/ in-person visits which makes the experience truly invaluable. Being able to reach out to two experts (who I knew would not judge my questions or concerns) was incredibly helpful as my partner and I navigated the first few weeks of life with a newborn. Not only could we reach out at any point, Chatequa and Marina would proactively check in on us regularly. The expertise, guidance, and reassurance they provided was incredibly helpful and necessary.” – Claire, Prospect Heights
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“I highly, highly recommend Marina as a birth doula. We hired her for a February 2024 birth, and she was incredibly supportive, helpful, and wonderful throughout my pregnancy, labor, and postpartum experience. The birth had some unexpected medical hitches, and Marina was amazing at helping us through them and making sure our birth preferences were honored and that I felt in control of what was happening the whole time. She was also invaluable in the postpartum period: I was readmitted the hospital due to some postpartum complications and Marina was so helpful and supportive with figuring out how to pump and make sure my baby was able to eat even while we were separated. I don’t know how we would have gotten through the birth and first few days without her. I enthusiastically recommend her!” -1st time parent, Park Slope
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“Marina was essential in ensuring a safe and healthy delivery for my partner. After a complicated pregnancy, my partner had a long, complicated delivery that included an induction and the use of magnesium. Marina consistently helped us understand what was being communicated to us, and helped us talk/think through best options. She was a great advocate and ensured my partner’s wishes were followed. She also stuck with us during a really hard and long labor, spending a ton of time in the hospital with us (over 24 hours)! Marina is also a great presence and has a really nice vibe. She was supportive and knew when to interject and advocate and when to let my partner lead. I really can’t recommend her enough! I am so thankful she was there with us, helping us navigate a really difficult situation. We would have been lost without her!” – Anne DiFabio, Bed-Stuy
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“I can’t recommend Marina enough! She made our birthing experience immensely more comfortable and supportive in a way that hospital staff alone (as great as the nurses were) would never have been able to provide. She was with us every step of the way, answering every little question we had in the weeks leading up to birth and as well as the days and weeks after. The day of the birth she was with us every moment, long before she needed to join us at the hospital. My husband and I felt incredibly supported by her in different ways. When I ended up having to be induced and took an epidural, not a part of my birth plan, I feared there wouldn’t be a role for her. Oh how I was wrong. For me, Marina provided constant physical comfort during painful contractions that I had despite being on the epidural. She knew how to keep moving my body in different positions to help alleviate pain and just keep the body moving when I couldn’t be mobile. She also immediately created a soothing atmosphere in the room upon arrival, something we didn’t think about, and was greatly appreciated. For my husband she provided the questions to ask to help him feel confident as my advocate, and navigating the hospital system, as well as gave him windows of time to take care of himself so he would have the energy to focus on me. For both of us in general she gave us answers that kept us feeling informed and ahead of the game. She helped me with breastfeeding in the first hour after birth, thankfully, as I would have had no idea otherwise since the hospital lactation consultants were understaffed and no one visited me for another 12 hours after birth. Marina continued to help me with lactation concerns in the days and weeks following the birth. She is a really warm comforting person that we immediately felt at home with and you would be lucky to have by your side.” – Isabelle and Sam, Park Slope
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“My partner and I could not have imagined going through pregnancy and birth without the support of Chatequa and Marina. They were always available to us for support and advice, at all hours! Having Chatequa there during the labor was incredibly supportive, both as a voice and advocate for us with the hospital staff and as a comforting presence for the two of us as we navigated the day! This was my first pregnancy and birth, and I will be recommending Chatequa and Marina to any pregnant friends!! I think that every birthing person should get to have a doula and I feel incredibly lucky to have had Chatequa and Marina supporting me through the journey. ” – Clare and Neil, Crown Heights
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“Marina was a huge asset to myself and my husband who chose to birth at Brooklyn Birth Center. We are so grateful that we found her, pretty last minute, but she agreed to attend the birth and we squeezed in one prenatal meeting before my baby arrived at 38 weeks gestation. Her sliding scale option and acceptance of FSA was extremely helpful for us. Marina shared some great resources to support our preferences and made a birth plan based on what we discussed. She arrived at the birth center with snacks and electrolyte rich water, and even brought my favorite essential oil scents as a surprise gift for me. During labor she was extremely attentive and communicated my preferences to the staff, making sure I was as comfortable as possible with positions, temperature, and counter pressure that she provided. I felt a calming yet fiercely protective energy from her, and her presence and encouragement greatly helped me through each contraction. She made sure we had everything we needed after the birth, and came for a postpartum visit to check in. Overall Marina was a huge advocate for our choices and we highly recommend her for anyone considering a doula!” – Marina, South Brooklyn
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“Marina was an incredible support to us during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and our first weeks postpartum. She has a wealth of knowledge, and makes everything very accessible and digestible. She’s always available for questions, and strikes a balance between reaching out enough to know that she is available for support, but also giving space during an intimate period and experience. As the birthing person, I especially appreciated her physical support during labor. She had a lot of great intuition about what tools to use, i.e. massage, cooling fans, warm compresses, cooling cloths. For my partner, it was helpful to have another set of hands there to offer physical support and to help him be a support and comfort to me. She reminded us of our rights, our autonomy, and was able to explain things to us when we needed more information. She was an incredible comfort and we can’t imagine having gone through this process without her!” -Sara & Reuben, Windsor Terrace
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“Marina is the absolute best! While our labor experience did not go according to our original birth plan, she made us feel confident and positive the entire way! She is a wealth of knowledge in terms of understanding what to expect in the third trimester and during labor/delivery, often offering a more in-depth walkthrough than my medical team. She is also extremely flexible and responsive to all of our questions and concerns throughout our entire journey, so we always knew there was someone to turn to! This really put us at ease and gave us confidence preparing for the day of labor. She will also always be a strong advocate for you! Sometimes in the hospital, you aren’t sure when it is possible to ask more questions or to push back on certain suggestions, and Marina is there to make sure you understand all your options! She also prepared extra goodies in her tool kit that we did not pack in our hospital bag that turned out to be life-saving during our labor experience. She also offers amazing emotional support and words of encouragement as we adjust to our new life as parents! It can be extremely overwhelming at the beginning, and she made sure to check in with us both during the first few tough days at the hospital and at home. We had an absolutely wonderful experience working with Marina, we could not have asked for anyone better! We highly recommend working with her if you are looking for a doula!” – Helen, UES
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“Marina was really generous and supportive during the whole process. We couldn’t have done it without her. We strongly recommend Marina as a birth doula to every parents to be!” – Caroline & Ludo, Upper West Side
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“Marina was a godsend! She was very personable and attentive during our prenatal visits. She gathered and shared with us helpful info, tailored to our particular interests and questions. In the lead up to labor she was available by phone and text and she helped us figure out the symptoms and what to do. During labor, her pain mitigation techniques were very effective. My epidural didn’t go as planned so Marina basically provided all the pain relief during labor, and it really helped. She also was a calm, focused presence in the room, able to interpret and intuit what I needed and address those needs. She is fantastic at her job, and we were lucky to have her on this journey with us.” – Meg, Bay Ridge
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“We really connected with Marina’s warm, down-to-Earth personality, and she was absolutely the right choice for us! I had an intense birth experience, and she was there with us every step of the way. I have no idea how we would have made it through without her calm, supportive presence. She was responsive throughout, and her periodic check-ins made me feel comfortable asking her any questions that I had (or to just vent!). She really went above and beyond, and we are forever grateful!” – Isabella, Kensington
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“Working with Marina provided us both with an amazing experience for the birth of our first child. We were unsure about working with a doula at first, but now I will always recommend it to anyone that asks. Marina was supportive and open from our first meeting to post partum. She is a wealth of knowledge and resources. Prior to delivery, we enjoyed a thorough discussion of our birth preferences as there were items we had not thought through previously. It was also very helpful to go through different comfort measures and gentle movement that would help leading up to delivery and through labor. We were comfortable knowing we could always ask Marina any questions at any time. The day that our son was born, Marina was super supportive in so many ways: her calming presence, preparedness with tools, comfort techniques, advocating with the staff on our behalf, positioning, and especially helping during pushing – the list goes on and on! I’m also grateful that she took photos that we may have missed, like father son skin to skin time. Having a doula like Marina on your birth team is an absolute must in my opinion!” – Meg & Eric, Upper West Side
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“My partner and I could not have imagined going through pregnancy and birth without the support of Chatequa and Marina. They were always available to us for support and advice, at all hours! Having Chatequa there during the labor was incredibly supportive, both as a voice and advocate for us with the hospital staff and as a comforting presence for the two of us as we navigated the day! This was my first pregnancy and birth, and I will be recommending Chatequa and Marina to any pregnant friends!! I think that every birthing person should get to have a doula and I feel incredibly lucky to have had Chatequa and Marina supporting me through the journey.” – Clare, Crown Heights
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“After meeting a few wonderful doulas who I thought would all be great to work with — I met Marina. At the end of our conversation, I had a gut feeling that she was the right person to support me and that put a quick end to my doula search. As a generally indecisive person, I am so grateful that my gut kicked in at that moment! Marina was meant to be my doula, and she is truly meant to do the essential work of helping women through labor. So much of my birth experience is a blur but what’s clear is Marina’s presence alongside me and my birthing partner. She has a wealth of knowledge; she is kind and gentle yet self-assured; she is funny (and yes, there was laughter during labor!); and most importantly she is present and focused. The extent of my gratitude for her presence during my labor is difficult for me to put into words. I’ll have to go with something simple but that I truly mean…I could not have done it without her!” -Katie Pallatto, Bed-Stuy
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