We are excited to offer lymphatic massage in addition to our prenatal and postpartum massage services at Carolina Birth and Wellness! Book Now Lymphatic massage, or MLD (manual lymphatic drainage) is a gentle technique involving rhythmically stretching and compressing the skin over specific structures and pathways to support drainage of fluid in the body. It is a light yet effective modality that feels great and has a huge amount of potential health benefits. Typically, the lymphatic system will move lymph through the body and back to the heart to filter back into the body. However, when some ..read more

As you are preparing for your birth or postpartum period, we love talking about the numerous benefits of having a birth doula or postpartum doula such as: Improved birth outcomes Better communication between you, your partner, and your medical team Overall more satisfaction with your birth experience Education and guidance throughout pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period around your body, feeding your baby, and more Support and education around infant feeding options Emotional support throughout the entire process And SO much more But we also recognize that paying fo ..read more

As a longtime practicing birth doulas, we’ve done countless consults with expecting families. The questions our teams have receive vary wildly, from standard clarifications as to what services we offer to left-field inquiries such as naming a superpower or a weakness. The most common refrain on these calls is typically an admission along the lines of, “we don’t know what we don’t know.” Unless you’re deeply familiar with birth work, that’s ok! Every birth doula you meet with offers a variation on prenatal meeting(s), being on call for you before labor, in-person labor support, and postpartum ..read more

Doula support is something that we find extremely beneficial and we are excited to see that various insurances are recognizing these benefits as well! Carrot Insurance provides benefits for birth doula and postpartum doula support. We are here to break down the process for you. Carrot is a benefit covered by many employers to provide personalize support through the perinatal period. They provide reimbursement to employees for fertility support, birth doula support, and postpartum doula support, plus many other services. To learn more about this great offering, you can read more on their web ..read more

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