Our 3.5 hour childbirth education class covers all the major topics from physical and emotional comfort measures, to the labor process, and through medications and augmentations used in the birth process. To end the class, we introduce the idea of writing your birth plan. And why do we end the class with it rather than start it? Well, because we want you to know what the heck to include! But Our Favorite Topic Is The Birth Plan So why is it our favorite? Well, because this is when you get to write your birth plan, you are in control! And as doulas, we love when our clients are making the deci ..read more

In our Childbirth Education small group classes, we like to empower families with toolkits for coping through labor and delivery. Whatever your goals for birth, we aim for parents to understand how to manage the discomfort of contractions physically, mentally, and emotionally at every stage of labor, from the start of cramps through the process of pushing. We walk through ideas for engaging all your senses and common tips for what to have on hand to help. Additionally, we discuss the many options for pushing positions and how to facilitate a conversation with your provider regarding your wish ..read more

In our Childbirth Education small group classes, one of the things we deep-dive into is the process of labor and delivery. As our teacher jokes, the labor process can be the world’s least organized flash mob. The members of team? Fetal engagement, cervical dilation, contraction patterns, and cervical effacement. In our class, we break down these terms and phrases, and how they are evaluated before and during labor. We also walk through how the body prepares for weeks leading up to labor ever beginning, from your belly lightening to losing your mucus plug. Did you know only 10-15% of labors b ..read more

Connecting with Dr. Valerie Nazario of Well Aligned Family Chiropractic a few months ago was an absolute pleasure. Not only is she extremely passionate about chiropractic care, specifically the perinatal population, she is also extremely personable! And as bonus, she speaks Spanish which I know extremely important for many of our clients! Dr. Valerie sees clients in her Cary office throughout the week, and offers a variety of chiropractic services that help her clients improve their health and live their full potential, which is such a powerful and necessary services for those in the perinata ..read more

Connecting with like minded providers is something that I truly love. And when they are able to think of the emotional, physical and education needs of clients during the perinatal period, well, that is just icing on the cake of providers we want to know. And more importantly, they are providers we want to connect our clients to! Kyrsten Spurrier of The Perinatal Pelvis is one such provider! She sees clients in her Hillsborough office, which is great to be able to provide access to pelvic floor support for those in Orange and Alamance Counties. She also offers a very interesting perspective ..read more

Building your baby's registry can be equal parts of fun, exciting and also confusing! We have found over the years many new parents do not know where to start and what to include, so we created this list to help! We highly suggest you do more research, but hope this list provides a good general list and ideas to start pondering as you embark on this journey. Clothing We recommend that you get more 0-3 month clothing than newborn, because that newborn stage goes fast! We have also seen that people who are buying clothing as a present would rather pick out what they think is cute vs what you t ..read more

Parenthood looks different for each and every one of our clients, and for that reason, we wanted to highlight a company this month helps parenthood dreams come true, Creative Conception, Inc. Creative Conception offers a variety of services to achieve these dreams including: Surrogacy Egg Donation And support for intended parents What makes them so wonderful is they provide this full service experience the clients of Carolina Birth and Wellness have grown to expect, for both those wanting to become parents (intended parents) and for those wanting to help others become parents (surro ..read more

Connecting with local pelvic floor therapists are some of my favorite providers to refer our clients to. I feel like so often as new parents, we either hear horror stories of our new life or “if only I had known…”, and pelvic floor therapists can really help correct those two statements! I remember at my baby shower, my sister in law told, “Oh prepare to never be able to laugh without peeing a little after birthing a Chaffee head.” And yes, my husband’s family has giant-headed babies, so part of that statement is true. But, living with laughing and peeing at the same time is not a expectation ..read more

My absolutely favorite part of working in the field of maternal health is connecting to other like minded professionals. I think it makes Carolina Birth and Wellness a better doula agency, it makes me a better a doula, and hopefully it helps our clients! Different professionals who have similar goals of advancing care during the pre-conception, birth, and the postpartum period further build up the options for clients. When I connected with Dr. Norah Whitten of Functional Phyzio and Performance Therapy, I knew she was someone that our clients needed to meet! Her interest in athletes as well as ..read more

With being a doula now for a few years, many of our early clients are coming back because they are pregnant with their second babies. And those clients hold a very special place in my heart for sure! And I hope we do for them as well. Sometimes, those extra special clients, will even connect us to providers that that love, and well that is just great! One such provider: Dr. Ashley McGuire of Abundant Life Chiropractic in Apex! We actually first talked a few months ago, but all this virtual networking has our waitlist for provider spotlights pretty full! When I first talked to Ashley, I ..read more