FamilyCare VA: Support for Families Preconception, Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum

Welcome!

This is a course for families, couples, single people who are starting or expanding their family. We can start with you at anytime in the sequence of pregnancy and early parenthood: Preconception, conception, pregnancy, birth and after birth. Our intention with this course is to help you become more aware of your own intentions for having a baby, and then reflect on your histories, goals and dreams. We weave in stress relief and information about why and how connecting with your baby starting preconception is important. Our course is part of holistic trauma prevention approach to help you have the best possible experience.

We employ evidenced based tools, meditations, bodywork, psycho-education about the nervous system for stress relief, spiritual approaches to help you reflect on this stage in life, and we have recommendations for you so that you can conceive, carry, birth and bond with your babies to create lifelong health.

Our specialty is supporting life at this important and vulnerable stage of human development. You are crossing the threshold into being parents or expanding your families. Many things can happen here: Excitement, nervousness, stress, fears, even resistance. We have tools that will help you reflect on your histories in a trauma sensitive manner and ways you can shift your perspective on your traumas or fears to that you can welcome your baby into your family.

Our course includes 5 sections:

• Preconception: Trauma sensitive intake for pregnant people and their partners so you can feel your resilience and make choices for parenting and selfcare. We specialize in trauma prevention and resolution, and have appropriate ways to help you while you are pregnant to feel more stable, resilient and ready for parenting.
• Pregnancy Support: Stress and pregnancy support, especially mapping out your layers of support so that you will feel like someone is there for you. We will teach you how to connect with your baby if you don't already know with tools like Take a Love Break and Prenatal Bonding. We offer bodywork sessions for parents, too, especially for the pregnant person so that their stress and discomfort may decrease.
• Conscious Childbirth Education: We will give you a description of variations on normal labor, and an understanding of birth interventions. We encourage doula support and ways to craft your postpartum plan.
• Postpartum: We work with the birth story to help heal birth trauma, should you need that, and teach you ways to bond with your baby including infant massage, craniosacral therapy and baby bodywork to help with breastfeeding, affirming your challenges so you feel heard, and reflection with trauma resolution tools to help you feel settled. We continue to offer bodywork for the whole family.

Welcome to our FamilyCare Program! Please enjoy these resources and see you in the Studio for your bodywork or in our Circles so you can find your support.