Perinatal, Doula, & Lactation Support
Seasons of Tending
Expert postpartum and lactation care for your family, from someone who has walked this road thousands of times.
Tending the sacred season is the most
important work.
For generations, new mothers were surrounded by women who knew exactly
what was needed. This is that — postpartum doula, lactation, and
birthing year support designed to meet your
family exactly where you are.
Emerging Hearts Collective
The Birthing Year
We don't just serve a moment. We tend the whole arc — from the first flutter of new life to the roots that hold your family steady at the end of your first year.
Awakening
First Trimester
Everything changing beneath the surface before
the world can see it.
Emerging
Second Trimester
Your village begins to gather. The ceremonies of a season
Ripening
Third Trimester
Preparing the nest. Making ready for what comes.
Crossing the Threshold
The delivery of a mother
Tending
The Fourth Trimester
The most under-honored season of all — and the one we show up for the most fully.
Rooting
Months Four Through Twelve
The roots go down. The family finds its rhythm
Daytime Support
4-hour minimum visits • 8 weeks • Packages starting at $1,600
The Threshold
1 visit/week • 8 visits
A gentle, consistent weekly rhythm through your first two months home.
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Newborn care guidance
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Lactation support
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Emotional check-in
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Light household help
The Hearthside
3 visits/week • 24 visits
Sustained support through the full heart of the fourth trimester.
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Everything in
The Threshold -
Birth experience processing
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Partner & family support
The Sacred Season
5 visits/week • 40 visits
Comprehensive daytime care for NICU transitions, multiples, and complex feeding journeys.
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NICU transition support
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Complex feeding journeys
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Multiples support
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Personalized care plan
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Priority scheduling
The Hearthkeeper
7 visits/week • 56 visits
Daily presence woven into the fabric of your everyday life.
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Daily presence
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Full breadth of expertise
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Maximum family integration
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Priority scheduling
Additional daytime hours available at $55/hour by prior arrangement
Overnight Support
10-hour visits • typically 9 pm -7 am • 8 weeks • Packages starting at $3,600
The First Night
1 night/week • 8 visits
A weekly night of supported rest, a meaningful first taste of overnight care.
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Infant feeding support
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Newborn soothing & settling
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Lactation support
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Emotional check-in
The Tending Nights
3 nights/week • 24 visits
Consistent, trusted nighttime presence from someone who knows your family.
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Infant feeding support
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Feeding progression tracking
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Consistent nighttime presence
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Daytime plan coordination
The Deep Rest
5 nights/week • 40 visits
The deepest layer of nighttime tending, for waking up rested and held.
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Infant feeding support
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Feeding progression tracking
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NICU transition & High-risk recovery support
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Night continuity
The Sacred Nights
7 nights/week • 56 visits
Every night, for eight weeks — the fullest expression of overnight support.
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Infant feeding support
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Feeding progression tracking
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Dedicated availability
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Nightly continuity
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Full daytime coordination
Daytime and overnight packages may be combined – ask Willow about combined arrangements
Standalone Offerings
Available individually, or woven into any package
The Kindling
A 2-hour in-home visit before your baby arrives. Build your postpartum plan, prepare the nest, know your support network is ready.
Prenatal prep visit - $200
The Unfolding
Lactation consultation with personalized feeding plan. Every step of feeding deserves skilled guidance, natural doesn't mean easy.
Lactation consultation - $250 in-home/$175 virtual, HSA/FSA eligible
The Welcoming
A sacred ceremony in your home honoring your baby's pending arrival and your emergence as a mother. A true rite of passage experience.
Pricing upon inquiry
The Gathering
Pricing upon inquiry
A group offering for mothers moving through the fourth trimester together, rooted in circle, bridging into our Tending Circle community.
Why Willow?
You are not meant to do this alone, and you don't have to!
I have sat with women in the hardest moments of their lives — at 3am when everything felt impossible, in NICU rooms where hope and fear lived side by side, in living rooms where a mother was holding it together for everyone except herself.
I have been there for the beautiful and the messy and everything in between. I have also lived it.
There is nothing you can bring to our work together that will surprise me — nothing too hard, nothing too tender to hold.
Over 28 years, I have served families as a:
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Postpartum & NICU nurse
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Lactation consultant (IBCLC)
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Childbirth educator
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High-risk OB navigator
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Trauma transformation specialist & nurse coach
I meet you exactly where you are, with steady hands, an open heart, and nearly three decades of knowing how to help.
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Willow Merchant
Registered Nurse OR, CA, ID, WA
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Nurse Coach Board Certified
Certified Trauma Transformation Specialist
Certified Childbirth Educator
Certified Infant Massage Instructor
Master of Circle Facilitator
Certified HeartMath Clinician
Reiki Master Teacher, Levels I, II, III
Maternal Mortality Review Board OHA