About the Author

After helping more than 700 families though pregnancy, labor, birth, and immediate postpartum, tracy wanted to be able to help even more families increase their chances of having a safe, empowering, birth. This book is your chance to help your clients improve their journeys and the outcomes. If you are a doula and have read my book and would like me to provide virtual support for you and your client or clients, please contact me through B*E*S*T Doula Service.

Supporting families during hospital births is the hardest and most rewarding job. Preparing them to navigate the complex, confusing, and often frightening procedures and protocols is the foundation of a successful hospital birth.

~ tracy hartley

Becoming a Doula

I started my doula career in 1996 after seeing a brief segment on The Today Show about doulas while I was getting ready for work and waiting for the traffic report. After hearing Penny Simkin explain what a doula is and what a doula does, I was hooked!

All day at work I kept thinking about doulas and, when I got home, I searched the Internet for doula training and signed up that night for training. I had never heard the word doula before that but, within 24 hours, I was ready to become a doula.

The three weeks of waiting for the class to begin seemed endless. I talked with my boss at work and told him I was taking the training and would need to use some of my accumulated sick time to attend births. Together we agreed that as long as I only worked with one client a month, that would work for both of us.

A few minutes after I got home from the training, my daughter called me to tell me that she was pregnant! My first grandchild was to be my first doula birth! I attended one birth as a shadow doula before being my daughter’s doula, which gave me some much needed confidence and my daughter was able to have an unmedicated birth.

My Work Life Before Becoming a Doula

Before becoming a doula, I ran a word processing department for 6 years, I trained dogs for people with disabilities other than blindness for 18 years, I was a bookkeeper, a peer counselor for Vietnam Veterans, an Air Traffic Controller in the Navy, a house painter, a calligrapher, a server, a housecleaner, part of a hot air balloon crew, and too many other jobs to remember!

Being a doula has been the absolute best job by far!

My Childhood

My childhood was a mixed bag. I was adopted when I was 10 days old. My adopted father was not a good person and my wonderful mother left him when I was two or three and we moved to New York City to live with my grandfather. Just before my 6th birthday, my mother died and I was taken in by her brother and his wife, who lived in the country and had 3 kids and seemed like a perfect family for me. Unfortunately, the new mother didn’t want another child but felt obligated to the family to take me in. It was not a good situation for anyone. I ran away for the first time at the age of seven and continued to run away until they kicked me out when I was 15, which was the best thing that could have happened to me. Another aunt and uncle took me in and let me stay with them until I graduated from High School. A week after graduation, I was in Navy bootcamp and then off to Air Traffic Control School. When I was 36, I found my birth mother and, a year later, found my biological father who had never known that he had gotten my mother pregnant. My birth mother had four other children and my bio-dad had three, which added seven siblings to the three I had grown up with. At different times in my life, I was an only child, the youngest of four and the oldest of 11.

My Life Today

My son, Derek, has an award winning podcast Derek and Romaine 2.0 that started out on Sirius/XM in April 2003. The listeners of his show have become a family, not just to me but for each other. We take cruises together because Derek is also a cruise director and we meet up for lunches, dinners and parties. The show is wonderful, but it’s definitely NOT for everyone 🙂 Derek also wrote a movie, Hurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate, and two books, Colonnade: A Life in Columns and When Nightlife Falls.

My daughter, Tiffany, and her three mostly grown children all live with me. I love living with my family. We all get along well and are happy together. I can’t imagine my life without them. Tiffany is an amazing and loving mother and daughter and is a high end Administrative Assistant. Her magic power includes solving all computer related problems, often by walking into the room or entering a Zoom call at work.

Doula Awards

About Our

Doula Services

Thanks Goodness tracy was there. All I can say, I couldn’t have done it without her help, support and guidance. She was a guiding light for me, someone I trusted and could turn to when I found myself freaking out. She is very cool, calm and collected and puts you at ease, even in the throws of labor. She does her absolute best to make you feel comfortable and knows her way around a hospital setting. Worth every penny.

- Sheena R.

Tracy is super supportive and comforting. Having Tracy next to me during my daughter’s labor gave me the strength and confidence I needed during L&D. With the expansive knowledge Tracy has she was able to provide me with guidance to make my labor more relaxed and enjoyable! Beautiful Soul!!!

- Zorina P.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I choose the right doula?

The right doula for you is the one with whom you feel most comfortable. Ask yourself, “If I were stuck in an elevator with one of these doulas, which one would make me feel the safest and keep me entertained in case we were there for a long time?”

Do you work at my hospital?

We have a list of hospitals posted at the bottom of our Contact Us page! If your hospital is not listed, let us know in the contact form and we’ll notify you if we have anyone in that area who can support you.

How much does a doula usually cost?

There’s a wide range of fees for doulas, depending on the number of births they’ve attended as well as the variety and types of services they offer. The prices for services are listed on the Cost page. We’re happy to help you find a doula who fits your budget! In the best case scenario, we can help you find a brand new doula who charges just enough to cover her expenses: gas, parking, childcare, etc.