Home Birth Support, Birth Doula, Postpartum Care and Ritual
Birth Doula
When I see the wild brilliance of mothers holding life in their womb, giving birth to their babies and nurturing that life through the many trials of modern motherhood, I get on my knees and give thanks. I believe that a vibrant and healthy human culture begins with mamas and babies. Your birth matters, and you deserve someone by your side who sees you and supports you unconditionally.
I bring a high level of education, experience, and skills to the table as a doula, but my greatest value is really my presence. I know that all women have within them the strength and wisdom it takes to be both the lighthouse and captain for the human family. I trust birth, even in the unexpected. I know that the most important thing I can do as a birth attendant is to reflect and encourage what a woman already knows. And I have the assurance of all that education, experience and skill so that when the seas are stormy, my captain has a second mate she can count on.
My doula package for support in home, birth center or hospital includes:
on call support via text and phone call, Monday-Saturday 9-6
3 prenatal visits
3 postpartum visits
24/7 on call window from 37 weeks on
Full labor support and back up labor support
*Plus the option to add on massage therapy, Body Ready Method® sessions, 1:1 Breathwave ceremony, and Closing the Bones postpartum ritual.
The first step in working together for pregnancy, birth and postpartum is a phone consultation. No strings attached, I would love to talk and explore if we are a good fit.
“I cannot say enough about this woman. She is a force of energy and light that is everything I could have ever of wanted in my pregnancy and delivery. You will be delighted to have her alongside your journey from maiden to mother.”
— Tayler S.
Postpartum Care
The postpartum is for life, such are the changes you experience from your body to your brain to your soul, not to mention the brand new body brain and soul of your baby! How this life long journey begins can make the difference between thriving and barely making it on your mothering journey. The work of tending to new life is meant to be shared by many, not in the hands of one or few but, tragically, that’s how so many new experience their early postpartum time.
I want mothers to feel they are being witnessed, nurtured and appreciated. I want mothers to enter the world after their weeks of healing and rest feeling more radiant than they did before their baby was born. As a postpartum care provider I am prepared to nurture new mothers, body brain and soul, from the first days through the “fourth trimester.”
A typical postpartum visit usually lasts between three and four hours. My visits are mother focused, meaning we focus on what YOU need. If you have what you need, you will best equipped to give baby what THEY need. I find myself preparing meals, herbal teas, herbal baths, sitz baths or pelvic steams. We may massage your womb and wrap your belly and eventually close the bones, a ritual therapy you can read more about on my body work page. We may talk, integrating the birth and all the new things happening in your body. I may do light house work like laundry, dishes and tidying up to support the flow of the household.
Along with rest, warmth and nourishing food, bodywork is a pillar of postpartum traditions around the world. I have been visiting mothers in the early days and weeks and giving bodywork for 7 years and it is high on the list of my favorite things to do. It is essential for the postpartum body to receive skillful touch. Bodywork sessions are personal and always meet you where you are.
I am not currently taking postpartum clients, but you can still receive this quality of care with my Doula services. You are welcome to contact me for referrals.
“Paeonia’s energy and healing bodywork were exactly what I had dreamed of. The days that she was in our home were undeniably brighter. I attribute my speedy recovery to the bodywork I reeived from her and am so grateful to have had her loving support.”
Closing Ceremony
Cerrando las caderas, closing the hips, rebozo closing. These are all ways to refer to the ritual therapy that I simply refer to as a Closing Ceremony. A gift to me from my training with INNATE Traditions, Aixa Amankay and other indigenous midwives, this therapy is an elegant and practical Mexican-wisdom tradition that utilizes the Rebozo to seal a woman’s spirit and body following major life changes and transformations, including the birth of her child.
The Rebozo is a Mexican shawl with a rich history. These handwoven shawls have been used for centuries and are still used across Central America to carry babies, firewood and prayers; for warmth, for beauty, and modesty; and are used by the partera, the midwife, as a tool for body work and positioning during pregnancy, birth and postpartum.
Birthing is the most open a woman will ever be. She opens up to bring down the spirit of her child and to allow the baby through the pelvis. This openness is one reason that the early postpartum is such a sensitive time. Protecting this vulnerable and magical openness is the wisdom behind a cuarentena, or time of laying in.
A Closing the Bones ritual begins with bodywork and ritual bathing and completes with the Rebozo closing. Here the woman is wrapped in the shawl from head to toe, and the cloth is pulled tight around the pelvis to literally bring the bones together. Her energy is sealed and grounded and she is protected for her reintegration into family and worldly life.
The simple, earthy elegance of this ritual therapy rarely fails to touch the hearts of those receiving and those present. It is ideal to have a few beloved support people in the ritual space with you. Someone to care for the baby, someone to assist with the Rebozo and perhaps a dear friend or two to bear witness and lend their heartfelt prayer to empower the ritual and feed your life.
Cost for Closing the Bones Ritual in your home: $250
*In support of the indigenous wisdom keepers, I donate $25 to The Midwife Project Guatemala for every ritual I offer.
We’ll begin our work together with an intake call to clarify any questions, connect about your birth experience and craft your ceremony. From here, we will schedule a three-hour block in your home for your bodywork and ritual.