Birth Doula Services
What is a Doula?
A birth doula is a companion who supports a birthing person during labor and birth. Birth doulas are trained to provide continuous, one-on-one care, as well as information, physical support, and emotional support to birthing persons and their partners.
Having continuous, dedicated labor support is a highly effecting thing that you can do to improve your labor experience.
So many things about pregnancy and birth are unpredictable. You don’t know when you’ll go into labor, or how you’ll cope with the sensations. Everyone tells you different things. There’s so much information that it becomes really overwhelming for tons of people.
Doulas only attend about 6% of deliveries in the US, and we think that’s a shame. There is strong evidence that shows having a birth doula may decrease your need for pain medication, lower your risk for Cesarean, and increase your satisfaction. Support from a birth doula may also reduce the length of labor by up to 40 minutes, which is a really long time when contractions are two minutes apart!
What makes Boundless Birth stand out?
We’re a highly experienced birth doula team and we make sure that you are ready to have that baby.
Boundless Birth is a partnership between Emily Christian-Michaels and Anna Sylvester, who have worked as partners in the Pittsburgh birth community since 2018. Aimee Bungard joined our little team in 2021, and together the three of us provide exemplary support to all families in Western Pennsylvania.
We are dedicated to helping you grow your family, and are happy to provide full-spectrum doula services as well as breastfeeding support, postpartum help, and childbirth education.
Every client has different needs, and lots of people realize once they’re in labor that they need something different than they thought. At Boundless Birth, we try to bring flexibility into your birth experience. That is, we try to teach our clients how to go with the flow.
Flexibility is what allows us to guide you down the winding path of childbirth (and truthfully, parenting). The knowledge that we bring with us from years of experience and training is what you can depend on to know that you’re being given all of your options. Once you know what all of your options are, you can make a truly informed decision about your care.
We give you the option of working with either one OR two Boundless Birth doulas for the entirety of your time with us. While one doula is amazing, two doulas is so much better! Just like every family is unique, so is every doula. Working in pairs with families gives us the ability to complement each other’s skills. As partner doulas we can really dive into the things that you’re thinking and feeling prenatally. We bring double the knowledge with us, double the skills, and double the sparkling personality.
Keep reading below for more information about our service packages. We look forward to meeting you soon!
Anna Sylvester
she/her/hers
Emily Christian-Michaels
she/her/hers
Aimee Bungard
she/her/hers
Birth Doula Packages
All of our clients receive:
- A free Zoom consultation (lasting approximately 1 hour) to help you determine whether we’re a good fit for your birth team.
- Either one or two professionally trained, insured, and experienced birth Doulas, according to your package selection, as well as a tertiary backup Doula.
- Assistance writing your birth plan and communicating with your care provider.
- Unlimited phone, text, and email contact throughout your pregnancy, labor, and postpartum, for yourself and your partner or other birth support people.
- In-person, hands on support for your labor and birth, in your home or at your chosen birthing location, for as long as you need us.
- 1-2 hours of immediate postpartum support to help with breastfeeding or chestfeeding and ease your transition into parenthood.
- Referrals to other professional services, as needed.
Level 1: Emerald - $975
Level 2: Ruby - $1,550
Level 3: Sapphire - $1,850
Level 4: Diamond - $2,450
À la Carte Menu
Level 1: Emerald - $975
This package is a great option for second- and third-time parents. You’ll work with one birth doula, and they will provide:
- One prenatal meeting to discuss your birth plans and support needs.
- Assistance writing your birth plan and communicating with your care provider.
- 24/7 phone support leading up to your labor.
- In-person, hands-on support from your doula for your labor and delivery for as long as you need them.
- 1-2 hours of immediate postpartum support to help with feeding your new baby and transitioning into parenthood.
- One follow-up visit in your home to make sure that you’re doing ok and have everything that you need.
- Availability of emergency backup doula, if needed.
- 5% discount on our Postpartum Doula services – read more about that here!
- Education: add-on private, in-home Childbirth and Breastfeeding Basics for only $350.
- Access to our client resources – like our list of local providers, chiropractors, and pediatricians, and our cheat sheets to help you progress labor naturally and manage things more easily postpartum.
Level 2: Ruby - $1,550
This package gets you a second birth doula, and that’s more than just an extra set of hands! Together, your support team will provide:
- Two prenatal meetings, held in your home if you prefer, to dive deep into your feelings, wants, needs, and birth or postpartum plans.
- Assistance writing your birth plan and communicating with your care provider.
- 24/7 phone support leading up to your labor.
- In-person, hands-on support from your team for your labor and delivery for as long as you need them. No matter how long the labor lasts, you can rest assured that you will have skilled labor support from the doulas you’ve gotten to know!
- 1-2 hours of immediate postpartum support to help with feeding your new baby and transitioning into parenthood.
- Availability of emergency backup doula, if needed.
- One follow-up visit in your home to make sure that you’re doing ok and have everything that you need.
- 5% discount on our Postpartum Doula services – read more about that here!
- Education: add-on private, in-home Childbirth and Breastfeeding Basics for only $350.
- Access to our client resources – like our list of local providers, chiropractors, and pediatricians, and our cheat sheets to help you progress labor naturally and manage things more easily postpartum.
Level 3: Sapphire - $1,850
In addition to two birth doulas and exemplary prenatal and birth support, this popular package provides growing families with a bunch of postpartum essentials! Together, your support team will provide:
- Two prenatal meetings, held in your home if you prefer, to dive deep into your feelings, wants, needs, and birth or postpartum plans.
- Assistance writing your birth plan and communicating with your care provider.
- 24/7 phone support leading up to your labor.
- In-person, hands-on support from your team for your labor and delivery for as long as you need them. No matter how long the labor lasts, you can rest assured that you will have skilled labor support from the doulas you’ve gotten to know!
- 1-2 hours of immediate postpartum support to help with feeding your new baby and transitioning into parenthood.
- Availability of emergency backup doula, if needed.
- “Newborn SOS!” – our popular Infant Care class that’s scheduled right after you come home from the hospital, ideally within the first week. It turns out that it’s way easier to learn how to take care of a baby when you’re actually learning with a baby! We talk about feeding, soothing, swaddling, bathing, and so much more. ($150 value)
- One follow-up visit in your home to make sure that you’re doing ok and have everything that you need.
- One 4-hour Postpartum Doula session. (daylight only, $140 value)
- 5% discount on additional Postpartum Doula services – read more about that here!
- Add-on Education: private, in-home Childbirth and Breastfeeding Basics for only $350.
- Access to our client resources – like our list of local providers, chiropractors, and pediatricians, and our cheat sheets to help you progress labor naturally and manage things more easily postpartum.
Level 4: Diamond - $2,450
If you’re hungry for more knowledge about your pregnancy and birth, our Diamond package is the one for you! It just so happens that both of your birth doulas are Childbirth Educators. Together, your support team will provide:
- Two prenatal meetings, held in your home if you prefer, to dive deep into your feelings, wants, needs, and birth or postpartum plans.
- Assistance writing your birth plan and communicating with your care provider.
- 24/7 phone support leading up to your labor.
- In-person, hands-on support from your team for your labor and delivery for as long as you need them. No matter how long the labor lasts, you can rest assured that you will have skilled labor support from the doulas you’ve gotten to know!
- 1-2 hours of immediate postpartum support to help with feeding your new baby and transitioning into parenthood.
- Availability of emergency backup doula, if needed.
- Childbirth Basics – a private, in-home class to teach you the ins and outs of what your body is doing and how your baby will arrive. ($200 value)
- Breastfeeding Basics – a private, in-home class that teaches you what feeding a baby really looks like. ($150 value)
- “Newborn SOS!” – our popular Infant Care class that’s scheduled right after you come home from the hospital, ideally within the first week. It turns out that it’s way easier to learn how to take care of a baby when you’re actually learning with a baby! We talk about feeding, soothing, swaddling, bathing, and so much more. ($150 value)
- One follow-up visit in your home to make sure that you’re doing ok and have everything that you need.
- Two 4-hour Postpartum Doula sessions. (daylight only, $280 value)
- A full color, 8×10″ hand-painted digital portrait of your newborn baby, professionally printed and ready to be framed. ($100 value)
- 5% discount on additional Postpartum Doula services – read more about that here!
- Access to our client resources – like our list of local providers, chiropractors, and pediatricians, and our cheat sheets to help you progress labor naturally and manage things more easily postpartum.
À la Carte Menu
Add anything from this list to any of our Birth Doula packages to create a custom service that’s a perfect fit for your family.
- 3 hour private Childbirth Education – $200
- 2 hour private Baby Feeding Basics – $150
- 2 hour “Newborn SOS!” – $150
- Extra Prenatal Meeting – $105 -or- $210
- Extra Postpartum Meeting – $70 -or- $140
- One 4 hour Postpartum Doula session – $140
- Minimalist, black and white 8×10″ hand-painted newborn portrait – $75
- Full color 8×10″ hand-painted newborn portrait – $100
Family Doula Fund
We believe strongly that every family that wants to work with a doula should have the ability to do so.
We maintain a certain number of open spaces in our due date calendar to offer our Birth Doula services to low-income families and members of marginalized groups on a sliding payment scale. If you fit either or both of these categories, please note that you would like to discuss payment options when you contact us to schedule your free consultation.
For families who have the means and the inclination to do so, we ask that you please consider making a monetary contribution to our Family Doula Fund. Your kind donation allows us to hold these open spaces for pregnant families in need.
