Encouraging and empowering women in this life-changing and powerful season is such sweet work, and I’m honored to share these moments with moms and their growing families.
LET'S CONNECT
Alli is a board-licensed Registered Nurse, who worked in Pediatric Cancer Care at Seattle Children’s Hospital for seven years prior to serving birthing families as a doula. In addition, she has spent years traveling to Uganda to serve those without access to medical care. These experiences have shown her the impact of loving well and giving people a voice. Now as a doula, Alli strives to advocate for families, support moms in their journey to labor and birth, and empower women through an experience their bodies were designed to do.
Her extensive background in the hospital has shaped her intuitive, encouraging presence, and has emboldened her doula practice in her ability to identity needs, advocate for families, and remain calm and focused through intense circumstances. Alli believes that understanding is powerful and loves partnering with families to educate them about their body, their birth, and their baby.
Alli feels that encouraging and empowering women in this life-changing and powerful season is such sweet work, and she is honored to share these moments with moms and their growing families.
When not with clients, Alli’s time is spent outdoors hiking, running, climbing, or trying to make her garden grow. She aspires to grow enough flowers to share bouquets with others! She, her husband, Taylor, and their own newborn, Miles, live in North Seattle and she serves the greater Seattle area. Alli is trained to support all births and may be available for postpartum services.
My husband and I were initially hesitant about hiring a doula for the birth of our first baby, but choosing Vanessa and Alli from Expecting Joy was one of the best decisions we made. Vanessa was instrumental in helping me execute my birth plan, which included giving birth unmedicated and in a pool. She met me exactly where I was and respected my wishes every step of the way. Her support allowed me to labor safely at home until it was time to head to the birth center, which was so important to me.
Vanessa guided me through an incredibly intense labor and birth, providing exactly the encouragement I needed. Alli joined us toward the end and brought the perfect energy to help me find the strength for the final push. The compassion and care I received from Expecting Joy during the most challenging and vulnerable (and Joyful!) experience of my life were nothing short of extraordinary.
Because of this experience, I know I will never give birth again without the support of a doula. Having Vanessa and Alli by my side made all the difference, and I’m forever grateful to them.
Elisenda Llauradó Vilà
I can’t say enough good things about my experience with Alli Torino from Expecting Joy. Her support and guidance during my labor and delivery were exceptional. From the start, her warm and welcoming presence made me feel completely at ease and she was instrumental in helping us work through our fears and make decisions that felt right for us. Her seamless integration into our birth team and her ability to jump in when needed were truly impressive! I’m incredibly grateful for her help and would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a knowledgeable and compassionate doula.
Britta Farr
Alli was our doula for the delivery of our first child on 6/1/24 and it couldn’t have been a better fit! Working with Alli in the weeks leading up to delivery gave us confidence in our birth preferences, labor prep, and nursery set up. She supported and advised all of our decisions from our first conversation through our post-delivery meeting. On delivery day, she was an absolute rock - responsive, available, resourceful, comforting, stabilizing and so helpful. She literally helped my husband hold me up in various positions, coached me through hours of labor both at home and in hospital, worked so seamlessly with our hospital team, and even ran home for us when we forgot our bag in the rush to leave for the hospital! We had an empowering, ideal delivery where we felt like we made informed decisions at each step of the way thanks to Alli’s prep and guidance. Husband & I would recommend Alli to any expecting parents, but especially first time parents - she was the key to a supportive and empowering birth experience! We will absolutely seek her support again for any future children. 11/10.
Keara Flynn
We had the pleasure of working with Alli at Expecting Joy for the birth of my first baby and I cannot recommend her enough! I would not have been able to do birth in the way I desired without her. She is so attentive, responsive, sweet, encouraging, knowledgable and calming. She has a real gift of making you feel at ease and like you have been friends forever upon first meeting her. She truly cares about you and your baby, gets along with the rest of the delivery team so well, and helps the non birthing partner be involved. I felt so supported and empowered in my birth experience and I credit it to Alli. We will definitely work with her again for our future babies.
Natalie Miller
I highly recommend Expecting Joy! Our doula, Alli Torino, was amazing. She is very knowledgeable and was a huge support leading up to and in the delivery room. Her presence during the delivery was invaluable and I can't speak enough to her positive and upbeat personality. I would recommend Alli to anyone looking for a birth doula.
Veronica Ahern
After having my firstborn 3 weeks ago, my husband and I have been telling everyone about how our doula, Alli, made the biggest impact in the birth! Her support and knowledge of tools available to us at the hospital allowed me to have peace during and after labor. Her bright and bubbly attitude was a hit among hospital staff and made the mood in our room upbeat and positive. We ended up having to make some tough decisions in the moment and Alli helped us talk through the options so we could make the best decision for us. Having a doula like Alli is soo worth the cost and I can’t imagine what we would have done without her!!
Lauren Terry
Alli Torino was our doula. She was absolutely incredible! I wanted to give birth naturally, without an epidural, and I know I could not have done it without her. She knew exactly what to do, and had amazing expertise from a nursing background. She was encouraging, kind, and went above and beyond to help me deliver my 9 lbs. 5 oz. baby girl. She was an absolute blessing, and we are so grateful that we hired her! Highly recommend Alli, Vanessa, and Expecting Enjoy!
Christine Russell
Alli is the friend you NEED during your pregnancy and postpartum! We worked with her for the delivery of our first child and she could not have been more knowledgeable, helpful, responsive and kind. She's not just a source of strength and support for the birthing parent but an amazing partner and guide for the their partner.
Meeting her for the first time during the last weeks of pregnancy was such a well timed breath of fresh air. We were overwhelmed with all the education material out there and she helped guide us with evidence based coaching. She came extremely well prepared for our prenatals visits coaching us through the third trimester with helpful guidance about how to manage the weeks up to the delivery and labor better. She is a great listener and answered all our questions patiently. By the end of the first session, we had a thorough plan set in place for us.
In the following weeks, she diligently kept in touch, checking in but always giving us space as we needed it. Our baby was due on Christmas Eve and she could not have been more accommodating with her time.
When it time (right on time on Christmas Eve day), she came to the delivery room well prepped and brought that familiar energy and warmth with her. I cannot tell you how happy I and my husband were to see her there. She was a familiar, trustworthy face in the chaos that is the delivery room! She immediately established a great rapport with all our nurses (she's a former nurse herself!!). Our nurses LOVED her! They told us later that she's one of the best birth doulas they've ever worked with and we're lucky to work with her. She guided us throughout the labor, bringing in so much expertise regarding exercises to move labor along as well as being a voice of reason when helping us interact with ourcargivers. She would take time to explain to us what's going on, when we can ask questions and clarify options for us. When the magical moment came, she took a backseat and let me and my husband have a wonderful bonding with our newborn (while clicking some memorable pics which we'd asked her to do).
At the time of writing this review, we have not yet asked for her help in the postpartum phase but have no doubt that she will be amazing!
She's been such an asset to us! We cannot thank her enough and cannot recommend her to anyone looking! ALLI you're awesome!!
Anjali Belani
We loved working with Expecting Joy - we interviewed 3 potential birth doulas and felt all would have been a terrific addition to our birth experience. The billing and admin support was great too, I was able to use my FSA card to pay for the services with ease. Alli was a rockstar/angel/game-changer during labor and delivery! We loved getting to know her during our prenatal check-ins, she was pivotal in our laboring process and when our son was ultimately delivered via c-section, Alli photographed his birth, kept us calm and informed and helped initiate successful breastfeeding. My husband and I were stronger and more confident with Alli’s support. You’re in the best hands with Expecting Joy!
Katie Bryn Cagle
We used Alli as both a birth Doula and a postpartum Doula. She was absolutely wonderful, and we can’t imagine what our experience would be like without her! Several members of the hospital staff commented after the birth that Alli was the best doula they’ve ever worked with. If we could give higher than 5-stars we would. Thanks for everything Alli!
Patrick Schuppert
Alli is excellent! She responded to my questions quickly during my pregnancy. And I don’t know how I could go through labor without her. She is also very helpful postpartum. I feel that I didn’t just hire a doula, I also made a friend, who is a crucial part of my support network.
Eunice Liou
