Services
Labor Whispering™
There are 4 general categories on why someone doesn’t go into labor:
1) The Due Date is Crap ~ due dates are arbitrary, a general guideline, as in, the body just isn’t ready yet. And sometimes we
have to get the show on the road for whatever reason, AND everyone scrutinizing you around your due date is not helpful, like at all.
2) It’s all in your Mind~ Which doesn’t make it any less real, and I’d expand this to say emotional status influences this also. In the midwifery world, we call this emotional dystocia, and past trauma can be a big factor.
3) Let’s get Physical! A baby that is head down is only part of the solution, a well-flexed head, limbs tucked, back on the left side is optimal. If you’ve had prior abdominal surgery, haven’t stayed active or have been hanging out in a recliner with feet up, these fetal contribute to malposition.
4) Sometimes we just don’t know why things aren’t kicking in, but this category is way smaller than you would be lead to believe. Clues are often revealed after birth, but sometimes we never know.
In a labor whispering session Mary or I will work with you to figure out what’s slowing the roll, and then help get things moving along.
Someone asked what our success percentage is, and I want to be clear this is not an induction. So having said that, how do you measure the success of a whisper? Is it like the person who came in at 2 pm with an irregular labor pattern at minus two station with minimal dilation who I drove home in Montrose cause I was a little concerned (she had taken a Lyft over) and I dropped her off at 4:15 so she could get her hubs and roll to hosp, and she sent me a text that evening, she had the baby at 5:58p? Or is it the birthing person who had a planned homebirth that went on to a surgical birth, who told me she enjoyed our time, and it definitely kicked in labor but by then she was exhausted and dehydrated and baby didn’t tolerate labor well.
I’m going to deem it a success if we figure out how to support you, your body, and get a plan together for getting your needs met and headed into the direction of labor land.
Tools we use: acupressure, essential oils, Spinning Babies Informed, massage to loosen muscles or ligaments that might be holding up progress, and energetic, mental and physical blocks.
Note: If you have concerns that you may have cervical scaring, or need a pelvic exam to assess station and baby position (in addition to Leopold’s Maneuvers) book in with Rowan. If you don’t require this additional service, book in with Mary.
Arvigo Therapy™ Maya Abdominal Massage
Arvigo Therapy can be beneficial for many issues, but when we dial it back I think everyone should know how to massage their bellies. It’s an important part of self-care, hormone regulation, and personal wellness.
List of benefits can be found on the Arvigo Therapy website.
We like for you to come in and see Rowan first, and for your self-care lesson and followups, you see Mary. This is especially important if you have had a complex delivery with a prior pregnancy, and are seeking to grow your family. We’ve found that people are getting pregnant too quickly, without resolving some of the underlying issues which then lead to another complex labor or delivery. So let Rowan look at the big picture with you, and then let Mary teach the self care and do the followup Arvigo Therapy treatments.
Scar Tissue Remediation
Surgical birth, top surgery, cervical scar (which is waaaaaay under-addressed) or pelvic floor, no worries we can get you on the road to healing up. I took the STREAM training (Scar Tisue Remediation ) with Ellen Heed and Kimberly Ann Johnson, so I
learned from the BEST. Don’t believe me? Look em up!
When is the best time to start? Right now. Unless you recently had a surgical birth, six weeks after you’ve been discharged from care from your provider.
Folx come in for a couple of sessions, and then do the work on their own and check back in as needed.
Recent price increase cause I’m sending you home with all the shizzle you need to make your castor oil packs. Get the party STARTED!
Recent price increase cause I’m sending you home with all the shizzle you need to make need to make your castor oil packs. Get the party STARTED
Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioner Prenatal & PostPartum BodyWork
Problem-focused, if you got a problem yo we’ll solve it, or at least help you understand what’s going on and provide guidance and probably a referral for what’s next.
How did we get to this skill level? Years of working with pregnant bodies, our anatomy nerdiness, and recently became Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioners (SpBAP) which means advanced training with the Spinning Babies® folks to learn advanced bodywork skills for fetal positioning, comfortable pregnancy and easier childbirth.
Needing to soothe and chill out? Oh, that’s good, we can do that too.
Oh, you are postpartum with something going on that needs to be addressed? Alrighty, let’s get you fixed up. Especially if you have tailbone pain, back pain, some of these things can linger on after birth and can be tricky to address, but lucky for you we have the skillz.
Breech Release
1) Breathe, drink water, take your prenatal vitamins.
2) Timing. Some providers, both MD and midwife, will advise you to wait and see, which is excellent advice. I’d like to add, let’s listen to what baby is communicating, and get some bodywork that facilitates comfort for the pregnant person and more space and ease for baby. Like now. Not waiting. 30 weeks and beyond equals its time to get started.
3) Have a chat with yourself on where you stand on wanting to facilitate a flip. Some folks are like whatever, let’s have a surgical birth. And others are like “HELL NAH,” and start researching on how to get that baby vertex and get going on the moves. You might find yourself somewhere in between. Wherever you are on this spectrum, that ok.
4) ECV? Your provider might want to do a procedure called an ECV, which is an external cephalic version. This is the move where your provider attempts to turn the baby from head up to head down. A Breech body balancing session can contribute to a successful ECV.
5) And what if you don’t want an ECV but you want ALL THE THINGS? Many times the work we do leads a baby to flip, if it can with ease. How did we learn? Both Mary and I are trained as Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioners, from the good folks at www.SpinningBabies.com. We went through extra education focused on releasing muscles and ligaments that might be tight and restricting. This often creates space that either allows for a spontaneous turn or increases your chance for a successful ECV, like waaaaaaay increases your likelihood. *So say we are doing our moves and either baby flips on own, or later that day or night. Sometimes it be like that. Sometimes it isn’t. As Nicole Morales likes to say, “babies have inside information” #spinningbabies
#spinningbabiesawarepractitioner
6) Is seeing a trained professional better than attempting moves and tilts and essential oils and self-administered moxa sticks as described by an exhaustive search of the internet? Wellll, maybe, maybe not. Depends on the type of person you are. Some folks are DIY till the end, and others want some professional guidance with skills that are out of the box but evidence-based. Either way I’m down. You do you.
*There hasn’t been big funded studies on this so anecdotally I’m hearing from my peers like 80% more success with EVC.
Midwifery Care
Home birth Cash Pay
Get ready to check this out. We put everything we could think of into a global midwifery services package to really lay it out, we want you supported and educated so that you are growing the best human possible while taking A-game care
Midwife Service for all prenatal care, homebirth and postpartum care for 6 weeks.
Mental Health Monitoring Fitness ~ One year subscription to MommaStrong.com 3 Massage sessions (1 Arvigo Mayan Abdominal Massage, 1 Labor Whispering, 1 Postpartum )
Labor Doula Credit Child Birth Education Credit Placenta Encapsulation or Smoothie Ready Raw Prep Lactation Support Online Postpartum Support Group Postpartum Belly Binding Pelvic Floor Assessment
Pricing is $5,600, payment plan offered. Schedule an Interview or watch our “Meet The Midwife” to see if we might be a fit.
Informed Choice, so you know about me and the midwifery scope of practice.
What’s included — our Schedule of Care.
Feeling Serious? Here is the Financial Contract.
Trauma-Informed PE/PAPS/STI testing
This service is a fit for you if:
- you have avoided getting well cervix care for whatever reason,
- had a questionable recent sexual experience,
- have a new partner,
- or something else. It’s your body, you do you.
Tests offered:
baseline tests, with pregnancy test~ chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, syphilis, human papilloma virus (HPV), herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), and vaginal infections such as candida.
Schedule of Care from time of sexual contact**:
< 5 days ~ At this time we can do a full panel of tests, noting that some infections take time to manifest so if you were positive it was likely positive before the contact. At this visit, we consider what medications, herbs and supplements may be indicated to promote health and decrease the chances of infection.
- pregnancy test, if not pregnant consider taking plan B.
- Seven Common STIs (sexually transmitted diseases) MDL
- chlamydia,
- gonorrhea,
- trichomoniasis,
- human papillomavirus (HPV) High-Risk Subtypes
- Mycoplasma genitaliaum
- Mycoplasma hominis
- Ureaplasma urealyticum
- herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), MDL
- and other vaginal infections such as thrush. MDL
- PathGroup Blood Draw
- hepatitis B,
- hepatitis C,
- HIV,
- syphilis,
- Mental health check-in, we can get you a session with Dr.Blythe, cut the waiting line, fast track your insurance if she is in network. Cash pay rate is $200 initial visit, $161 follow up
- chlamydia,
- gonorrhea
- vaginal infections;
- blood test for HIV, If the initial test results for HIV were negative, patients should have the test repeated at 6, 12 and 24 weeks after the assault.
- hepatitis B and C,
- syphilis
Money: The Tests are often covered by insurance, the cash rate is between $200-$500, the office visit is $150 OR you can bring a sarong to donate to my practice. I use these to cover the bottom half of a person’s body instead of those crappy and inadequate paper drapes.
*I started doing trauma-informed pelvic exams (Shoutout to my amazing teacher, Dr.Denise!) Slow, chill, bring a support person/PAP doula, whatever. Insert the speculum yourself or don’t, we don’t even need that thing if you don’t want me to look with my eyes at your cervix. You will be resting on a massage table, I drag over a light called a Gyne-O-Light! and ask if you want me to take a pic of your cervix with your phone, I’m sitting on a birth ball, your feet will rest on my thighs. The labs gave me pap friendly lube so its easier to insert the speculum. And the name of the game is to make it as healing of an experience as possible. You are in charge. Teen Vogue Article that explains more.
** This schedule of services is if you were coerced, assaulted or think you may have been exposed to STI’s by a known or unknown penetrator. If it has been over three months we can do the full panel. 
Loss Services ~ When a Pregnancy ends
Y’all.
So many people miscarry.
So many folks get pregnant and for whatever reason choose not to stay pregnant.
Both of these scenarios have impact emotionally, physically, mentally, and possibly spiritually (if that’s how you roll.)
Care during and after a pregnancy loss, planned or unplanned, plus aftercare because the body and mind have a postpartum period, often unacknowledged.
Schedule of care:
- one in office bodywork and support session,
one home visit (if necessary,) - text support during the loss,
- and one office postpartum visit.
Labs (billed to insurance or at negotiated cash pay rate, so an additional fee)
Fee Structure, $700, paid at the first office visit.
Our goal is to support you as naturally and effectively as possible and i cannot offer advice or medical guidance unless you are an established pt.
Note~ I am not a licensed termination provider, that is not within my scope of practice. What is within my scope of practice is to be kind, offer support, and assist you in returning to homeostasis, mind and body.
Download this handy zine, and a big thank you to The Doula Project! ~ http://www.diydoula.org/