Project details

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Tools:

Postgres, pgvector, OpenAI API, Node.js, Next.js, TypeScript, Clerk

Parentbirth: An powered AI Doula

Parentbirth started with a simple but important goal: make certified doula support accessible 24/7 without losing clinical integrity or emotional warmth.

The team had access to thousands of anonymized real-world doula conversations. These were not generic FAQs. They were nuanced, deeply personal exchanges covering pregnancy, postpartum recovery, anxiety, breastfeeding, decision-making, and emotional reassurance.

The objective was not to build a chatbot.

It was to build a trusted AI support system grounded in real expertise.

We designed a retrieval-based AI system trained on real doula transcripts, capable of delivering calm, evidence-informed, context-aware responses at any time of day. The experience needed to feel human, responsible, and safe, while operating autonomously at scale.

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Challenges We Had to Overcome

Building AI in a maternal health context requires more than strong prompts. It requires architecture, constraints, and safety-first thinking.

Large language models are probabilistic. In healthcare-adjacent environments, even small hallucinations are unacceptable.

We addressed this by implementing:

  • Retrieval-augmented generation grounded strictly in verified doula transcripts

  • Postgres + pgvector vector search to anchor every response in real historical conversations

  • Structured prompting with explicit response constraints

  • Controlled temperature and deterministic fallback responses

If the system could not find grounded context, it was instructed to acknowledge limits rather than fabricate an answer


Outcomes & Wins

The result is a fully autonomous AI doula support system built on thousands of real, anonymized conversations.

Key outcomes:

  • 24/7 availability without staffing overhead

  • Fully automated support grounded in real certified doula expertise

  • Consistent tone aligned with trained professionals

  • Rapid response times across pregnancy and postpartum topics

  • Guardrail-enforced safety boundaries