Bringing peace of mind to the pregnant, birthing, and post delivery moms and families through caring for your needs, honoring your desires and wishes, and supporting you through this life changing moment. Let's talk more about how I can assist you. I serve the Ogden to Draper, UT area with pregnancy, continuous labor and birth support, and postpartum care. In our pre-labor meetings we get to know each other and you share what details of birth are important to you, concerns you have, and questions that come up. We talk about techniques available to us and walk through simple visualizations or meditations to use and comfort measures that the birth partner can assist with, if they desire. Postpartum services are designed based on what is most helpful or needed at the time or can be planned in advance. May include basic breastfeeding support, newborn care, preparing meals and caring for older siblings, doing errands or shopping and light housekeeping. Feel free to contact me with any questions! (See Testimonial Below)
More about me:
After ten years of working with families as a preschool teacher, I spent a year studying Inca shamanism and receiving intensive training from an Inca Shaman in balancing energy and learning to see how energy flows in the body and how to assist this flow. I lean on the foundations of this training to create personalized meditative visualizations for specific concerns, including balancing, fear release, and focused intention. I enjoy listening to the body and following the things it has to show and teach me. In a similar way, I enjoy listening to my clients and to their hopes, their fears, their history and their desires for the future. I use all this awareness to assist you in making powerful decisions, letting go of worries and fears that may get in the way, and supporting you in knowing that YOU are the most powerful element in having a powerful birth. Another part of me that I bring into the birth room is my bachelors degree in Family Studies. With a heavy focus on the working order of the family system, this training keeps me aware of the balance of the family system, making sure to involve and empower the partner in ways that they feel comfortable, and being aware of the emotional balance in the room as well as the physical coping needs of everyone who is a part of the birth team. The third thing I bring to the room is my study and training with birth, prenatal health, and postnatal care. I've studied the Dona materials, gone to training with Penny Simkin (birth worker extraordinaire and author of many birth books, including The Birth Partner), received training in Spinning Babies, and am currently in process to receive my certification as an Advanced Doula through the Midwives College of Utah. I loved the information given by the Spinning Babies program and I emphasize the importance of pelvic health and balance to all of my clients...giving you homework to do with your partner to help your pelvic floor be in top condition for birth. Client Testimonial:
"Raquel is a very knowledgeable and professional doula. She was a great support during and after the birth of my son. During labor, I enjoyed her gentle, calm approach. In the post-partum phase, I felt very supported by her well-researched advice. In summary, my husband and I would recommend Raquel without hesitation as birth and post-partum doula. We hired Raquel on a hunch about 2 weeks before the due date. Incidentally, three days later I was told I would need an induction asap. During those confused hours of finding out why and what was going on, Raquel coached us on the phone, explaining our options, giving advice on how to possibly achieve a spontaneous onset of labor, and generally being there and helpful. Once my labor really started, Raquel was at the hospital in no time. Even though my husband was calm during the birth, she was instrumental in helping and supporting him during my active labor, giving him moments of rest and working with him to help me. She also did a great job at getting me through this period with gentle support, pain relief techniques and encouragement. During labor, again, Raquel always explained all the technicalities and options that nurses and midwives offered, opening up spaces for me to take informed decisions. Despite having Raquel join our birth plan really late (she only managed to meet us once before), she was readily available for all questions and concerns prior to the birth, came to the hospital very fast and came by for 2 or 3 post-partum visits. She was a fantastic support during and after the birth- and in the early days when I was fighting with breastfeeding and a baby that wasn't eating as well as everyone wanted him to. I had a very good birthing experience and I feel that Raquel played an essential role in this. Going through this without her would have been possible, but having her there made all the difference."
-Kat Schramm
Posted 3/15/2016
