Dr. Hartman has been helping mom’s deliver in a peaceful environment for over 25yrs in practice. As of 7/13/22, Dr. Hartman is officially a licensed massage therapist (#MT20900063)
What is a Doula Therapist?
· A Doula Therapist supports women and their families in achieving the birth they desire.
· A Doula Therapists attend births in homes, hospitals, and birthing centers.
· A Doula Therapist provides continuous physical comfort, emotional support, and information to families during childbirth.
· A Doula Therapist does not replace the partner’s role in childbirth. Therapists supports the partner to love and encourage the laboring mother.
· A Doula Therapist supports the woman’s decisions and does not force her own viewpoint.
· A Doula Therapist works with the woman’s health care provider / hospital team but does not interfere
· A Doula Therapist does not take place of the woman’s health care provider or doctor and will not prescribe, diagnose or claim to treat.
· A Doula Therapist maintains client confidentiality. However, if there is something the therapist feels the health care provider/ doctor should know or be aware of the therapist will confide in the appropriate persons on the medical team.
A Doula / Labor Therapist is: a professional labor assistant who works with mom, her partner, her health care provider, and any other members of her birth team, to ensure the best birth possible. This can mean very different things to different women. The doula therapist’s primary job is to ensure that mom is making informed decisions by providing objective information prior to, during the birth and to provide a wide range of comfort measures / options to support mom and help her manage the emotional and physical stresses of labor. A doula therapist may help with a wide range of childbirth issues – ranging from advocating your birth preferences in a medical setting, to using a variety of techniques / skills, using aromatherapy and labor lotions, postpartum and breastfeeding support etc. Your relationship with your doula therapist and what your expectations are will determine what your doula therapist does for you.
A Labor Doula Therapist typically provides…
-Objective information about all aspects of childbirth
-Extensive knowledge of comfort measures
-Help developing your birth plan/preferences
-Facilitation of communication with hospital staff and care giver
-Continuous support to mom throughout labor and delivery
-Support at prenatal visits or childbirth classes if desired
Why use a Doula Therapist?
Birth is one of the most important days of your life. A doula therapist helps your labor with less stress, more comfort, and speedier progress. Recognizes birth as a key life experience that the mother will remember all her life. Understands the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor…
What Benefits Are There to Having a Doula Therapist?
Having a Doula Therapist at your birth has been proven to make the process easier, safer, less painful and faster! Examples:
– Need for Forceps 40% decrease
– Cesarean Rate 50% decrease
– Epidural Requests 60% decrease
– Pain Medication 30% decrease
– Length of labor 25 % decrease
Being in labor with a Doula Therapist you will have: Someone who takes care of only you, continuously massages your back, hips, neck, shoulders, head and feet, using various techniques / skills. Make you physically and emotionally as comfortable as possible. Answers questions you may have. Keeps your room peaceful and quiet, options of soft back ground music, aromatherapy, and dim lights if desired. Speaks in a calm low voice and encourages others to do the same. Keeps family members in the waiting area if desired. Encourages partners involvement, shows partner how to help, and assists you in whatever you need while this miracle is taking place, so you have a positive birth experience.
What a Massage Doula Therapist can do for you: During Pregnancy: Safe, drug-free relief of aches & pains, reduce swelling, ease pressure on the sciatic nerve, learn relaxation skills for labor, prepare your body for delivery, assist circulation, release emotional tension, improve sleep patterns; among several others’. As your therapist, I’ve had advanced training so I can assist in turning your baby if the baby becomes breech without any pain & discomfort.
During Labor: Shorten length of labor, reduce need for pain medications or epidurals, reduce the need for induce labor, reduce the need for forceps & vacuum extraction, reduce the need for c-sections, reduces the chance of the baby being breech. Enhance peace and quietness, ensuring a relax environment. Dramatically increase your odds of a natural labor, and most importantly improve the health of your baby!
Postpartum: Restore muscle tone to abdomen, stimulate the uterus to return to its pre-pregnant size and position, alleviate muscle pain from postural shifts, fuller breasts, and weight of carried infant; among others’.
Infant Massage: Promote bonding, stimulate circulation, ease colic, gas, and digestive discomfort, improve sleeping patterns, stimulate brain development; among several other benefits.
How your partner benefits: Remember, this is a special time for you and your partner. Your partner most likely does not have specialized training in assisting a woman throughout her labor. You need your partner to be there emotionally for you, holding your hand and reassuring you, not trying to give physical comfort. Why should your partner be stressed and worried about being able to adequately assist you in labor? Your partner will already be anxious and worried about whether you and the baby will get through labor safely. If you have a16, 24, or 36 hour labor, how is your partner going to assist you after birth, and help take care of your new baby when exhausted? You both are going to need rest. You will need your partner even more after birth. This alone is a good reason to hire a doula therapist.
What if I Plan on Having an Epidural?
A doula therapist can still play an important role in the delivery and birth. You will need continuous physical and emotional support until & after you receive the epidural. Once you receive your epidural, the doula helps with positioning to keep the labor progressing, relaxation techniques, support for the partner, answering questions, pushing, and initial breast-feeding.
Doula / labor Fees: When evaluating the cost of using a doula therapist, please consider the long-term value of having the best birth possible. A caring, nurturing, calm professional will support you emotionally, physically and help manage your birthing experience. This support is important whether you are interested in a non-medicated, low-intervention birth or if you know you’ll be having a planned epidural and cesarean birth. It can be significantly more expensive to proceed without a doula and end up with a high hospital bill due to potentially unneeded medication and procedures – not to mention the emotional cost that is not the birth you choose, and the physical cost (i.e., pain, inconvenience, health risks, busy labor rooms etc.) of increased interventions for you and your baby. The fees are based on a number of factors and, therefore, vary somewhat from mother to mother. Dr. Hartman offers a 10% discount for the premium package, if you make the full payment prior to delivery and accepts cash, and checks. Her goal is to make my services affordable to all women who want a doula therapist.
Doula Labor Coach: Advanced Training and Certification! Packages starting at -$450: Pregnancy Massage & Doula Care provides patients with the care, comfort and support they need to make the joy of pregnancy and childbirth more enjoyable. No one can guarantee a perfect birth, but I can guarantee that every effort will be made to make your childbirth experience the best as possible for you and your baby. I would be your professional labor assistant who works with mom, her partner, her health care provider, and any other members of her “birth team,” to ensure the best birth possible. This can mean very different things to different women. The doula therapist’s primary job is to ensure that mom is making informed decisions by providing objective information prior to, during the birth and to provide a wide range of comfort measures / options to support mom and help her manage the emotional and physical stresses of labor. A doula therapist may help with a wide range of childbirth issues – ranging from advocating your birth preferences in a medical setting, to using a variety of techniques / skills, using aromatherapy and labor lotions, postpartum and breastfeeding support etc. Dr. Hartman has worked with numerous women and their spouse /families throughout the years to help with easier labors, pain management, etc. (There are other packages available -contact Dr. Hartman for more information)
Contact Dr. Hartman at 765-860-2144 for more details and pricing of packages. Visit Main Page To Learn More About Massotherapy