Imagine as your birth approaches, an ongoing relationship with an engaged and experienced practitioner, working together over multiple home visits to prepare physically and emotionally for labor and for the postpartum. We talk. Go over the anatomy of the birthing pelvis and how to facilitate its natural movements. We assess the baby’s position and discuss ways to align baby for a smooth transition. Assess your internal pelvic floor musculature for painful over-tight areas, and for the ability to engage and soften in a dynamic and coordinated way. Then create space and movement, using internal pelvic floor manual therapy, massage of the external pelvic muscles, and techniques to align and stabilize the bony pelvis. We learn what works for YOU to consciously soften your pelvic floor: which positions, which breathing patterns, which visualizations.
Then, imagine bringing this relationship, and these tools, to your birth. You are supported throughout your labor, via calm presence, empathy and encouragement, and a variety of hands-on tension relief skills. You are guided through the personalized strategies we developed for softening your pelvic floor.
Afterward, imagine this relationship continuing into your postpartum pelvic healing. We discuss your birth experience and your emotional journey. We make you soothing herbal baths. And after a few weeks, when you’re feeling healed enough, we re-assess your pelvic floor, drawing on our experience of your baseline balance and tone before the labor. We work together for as long as feels right for you postpartum, and perhaps come full circle to another pregnancy for you.
This care approach is the culmination of MY imaginings, interweaving skills from 15 years of experience as a massage therapist, labor doula, pelvic floor therapist, and homebirth midwife, to create a new paradigm of pelvic floor wellness with continuity throughout the childbearing year: the pelvic floor doula.
Birthing Pelvis package has options with and without Pelvic Floor Doula Care
I will happily support families anywhere within the Portland Metro area, excluding Vancouver until I get my Washington massage license. I consider support requests further away (for example, in Salem) on an individual basis depending on whether I'm on call for a birth; a higher rate may be negotiated to reflect the increased travel time.
Option 1: 3 Birthing Pelvis prenatal childbirth preparation sessions and 2 follow-up postpartum sessions: $1250.
Option 2: Birthing Pelvis + Pelvic Floor Doula package: all prenatal and postpartum sessions, plus labor attendance with individualized pelvic floor strategies: $2750, saving $500 off my usual rate.
If you find yourself still pregnant and needing more care, you may arrange additional prenatal Birthing Pelvis sessions at $150 each.
I also offer a combo deal of a whopping $500 off my Whole Postpartum integrated support packages for any labor doula client.
And if the Pelvic Floor Doula package isn't quite your jam, read more about my massage doula package, which is simply fabulous labor support without the pelvic floor focus.