Maryland area resources for pregnancy & postpartum

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Body Work and Wellness Resources

Bodywork and alternative wellness modalities can drastically change the way you feel during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, and can also address specific issues like sciatica, breech presentation, back pain, and general tension, among other issues.

COUNSELORS + THERAPISTS

Dr. Emma Basch
I have training in various psychotherapy models and treatment approaches which allows me to tailor therapy to best meet your goals. Your needs are unique and I am committed to working collaboratively to develop an integrative and personalized treatment that will work best for you. I believe it is imperative to be attuned to the role of culture, race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation in understanding who you are. As such, you will find that my practice is informed by an understanding of intersectionality and that this perspective is integrated into every aspect of our work together.

Jen Clancy
Jennifer Clancy, M.A. has served families of the Southern Maryland area as ​a doula, educator, perinatal health coach and facilitator of community events. She holds Maryland Department of Education certification as a Professional School Counselor and is currently enrolled in Post-Masters Graduate Studies towards credentialing as a Maryland State Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. She anticipates providing fee-for-service psychotherapy to families in the SoMd area by 2020.

Desiree Israel, MotherlandCo.
Desiree is currently available for in-office or virtual psychotherapy sessions and herbal therapy consults. Desiree is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, herbalist, certified breastfeeding specialist and trained birthworker specializing in perinatal mood disorders and reproductive justice. She is a Co-Founder of the Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for People of Color and a partner of the Bloom Collective, a collaboration of maternal and birthing persons health and wellness practitioners serving Baltimore City. She has over 10 years experience working in child welfare/foster care and 4 years experience specializing in perinatal mood complications. Currently, she is a Maryland co-coordinator for Postpartum Support International, a committee member of the Maryland Maternal Mortality Review Board and member of the National Perinatal Task Force founded by Jennie Joseph. She is devoted to the liberation of Black mamas and families of the Diaspora by using African-centered modalities and rituals to achieve wholistic wellness. Her philosophy is that ‘every family should be nurtured and cared for during their transition to parenthood. It is a rite of passage that has no manual, only the virtue of patience, sacrifice and sense of community that is necessary to hold space for a family on the other side of birth.’

Happy Parents, Happy Babies
As parents, we have the most important job in the world. For many of us, this can feel like a lot of pressure from the beginning. That's why my practice prioritizes helping families to get off to a strong start, with a special focus on new parents and their babies. Services include: Couples counseling, individual support around perinatal mental health for parents (aiming to prevent Postpartum Depression & Anxiety when possible), hands-on parenting support with building your understanding of your child's needs including my direct observation and modeling (when appropriate). Building a strong attachment is essential but difficult sometimes for a host of reasons, consultation to support sibling adjustments to new baby. Learning how to divide your attention and feel like you're "enough" is challenging, learning mindfulness and guided meditation as tools to support your transition to the new "work-life balance" goal that is especially elusive for many of us parents.

Rock Creek Counseling
I offer a safe space, without judgement, and without pressure. I’m informal, friendly, kind, approachable, caring, competent, and compassionate. My number one goal is to help you feel relief, and more connected to the real you.

BIRTH CIRLES + SUPPORT GROUPS

The Birthing Circle
Based in Frederick The Birthing Circle is committed to building community, providing education, and supporting families through the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum periods. We provide peer-to-peer support in person and online. We believe that knowledge is a key step in empowering families, and work to hold a space where information can be shared. Our goal is to provide encouragement and support for families making informed choices for their birth and babies. We collaborate with community partners, and work to connect our families with respected community providers. We are committed to improving birth outcomes for our community. We work through our Doula Project to provide childbirth education and doula services for low income and marginalized families. We are welcoming and affirming to all families, and work to make our resources accessible to all.

Birth Options Alliance
Birth Options Alliance keeps an ongoing list of DC metro area new parent groups! Check out the updated lists on their website!

HOME BIRTH MIDWIVES

Charm City Midwives
We are a unique group midwifery practice serving Baltimore, Maryland and surrounding communities. We are a Certified Nurse-Midwife and three soon-to-be Certified Professional Midwives combining our expertise to provide individualized care and continuity of care to create the safest and healthiest birth experience and childbearing year possible for you.

Birthing Hands
Claudia Booker, CPM, of Birthing Hands Midwifery and Birth Services strives to provide the utmost in professional holistic midwifery care and a wide array of birth options for the broad spectrum of families across the Washington DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia areas. Whether at home, at a birth center or at a hospital, every family benefits from personalized Midwifery Model of Care. By taking into consideration your needs and preferences, Claudia offer personalized care within a scope of practice that can be tailored to accommodate your birth choices and setting.

Chesapeake Midwifery
We offer comprehensive home birth services as well as GYN care and At-Home Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). Please contact us to determine if you are in our service area.

Aglow Midwifery
Serving clients in Frederick County, Baltimore County, Montgomery County, Carroll County, Washington D.C. Aglow Midwifery is a practice dedicated to supporting you as you move through your childbearing year. As a CPM, we provide care for low risk, healthy women interested in giving birth outside of a hospital setting. We are able to order any needed lab work, refer you for ultrasounds/sonograms, and prescribe medication as needed.

Red House Birth
As a midwife, I will walk beside you through your pregnancy, birth and beyond into your time of postpartum. ​ I offer holistic, full service care throughout pregnancy and 6 weeks postpartum. ​

Riverside Midwifery
Every woman has the right to informed choice based on unbiased information, and that she should have as much control as possible in determining her care. At Riverside Midwifery we believe that every woman as an autonomous individual must take responsibility for her choices. The midwife is a facilitator of the normal process and is responsible for providing safe, evidence based care including evidence-based, non-intervention, and alternative options. If a woman’s needs or choices fall outside the safety and scope of the midwife’s practice, collaboration and referral to other health care providers including physicians is the responsible course of action. Safekeeping of all aspects of the woman’s well-being should be the motivation for any action of the midwife. We specialize in providing personalized pregnancy, labor and birth, and postpartum care - all in the comfort of your own home. We care for healthy clients with low-risk pregnancies of all ages in Washington, DC and surrounding Maryland counties. Our midwives provide holistic, evidence-based, respectful and safe care through hour-long appointments and personalized care for you and your baby. Read on - we are excited to help you get the pregnancy and birth experience that you deserve.

Pathways Midwifery
Pathways Midwifery is dedicated to providing birthing parents and their families with quality, individualized care, education, and resources throughout their birthing journeys. Pathways chooses to ground the practice in evidence-based care, bodily autonomy, and parental empowerment.

WELL PERSON / GYNECOLOGIC CARE

Charm City Midwives
As a CNM, Bayla Berkowitz is able to provide annual well-body checkups as well as: Contraception counseling, prescription and management :

  • IUD placement, position checks and removal
  • Nexplanon placement and removal
  • Diaphragm fitting
  • Other contraception prescriptions and management
  • Preconception Counseling

Chesapeake Midwifery
We offer comprehensive home birth services as well as GYN care and At-Home Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). Please contact us to determine if you are in our service area.

PHOTOGRAPHY (BIRTH, NEWBORN + FAMILY)

Cat and Fiddle Photography
Emily has over 10 years experience photographing newborns, families and weddings. She has worked with over 200 families. Her approach to photography is all about you, and the details that capture the essence of you, a real family. I capture the quiet and comfortable, as well as the crazy and silly moments of you. Each session is a collaboration, and the results are memories you will cherish for a lifetime.

Melanie Amparo
I'm here to serve mamas who yearn to have memories that transport you back in time so that you can remember the real, raw moments from beginning to end. I'm here for the mamas who crave beautiful images to remember just how tiny their little one was within the first few days of life. To remember their fresh flaky skin, tiny little toes, and those pouty little lips. With my families, my hope is to capture the quirky, fun, silly, true, genuine and real you. I appreciate simplicity and genuine interaction over forced smiles.

Winnie Bruce
I customize each session to my clients’ needs and personalities. I like giving my photos a romantic and whimsy feel. I love light and mood in my images, as well as focusing on my subjects rather than the setup. My goal for your images is to showcase your family, and the little details of childhood. There's something poetic with it that truly inspires me to make more art.

Lisa Phillips Photography
Birth is a life-changing event. My goal is to document your story quietly and unobtrusively, with the aim of honoring the sacredness of your birth day. That being said i know that there are times where the best thing to do is to step out and give you and your partner time to be alone together. I do this often during labor as well as after your baby arrives. By hiring a professional birth photographer, your partner will be free to experience the moment as it is happening, rather than through the lens of a camera. And more importantly, they will actually be in the photos! Hiring a professional photographer that is very familiar with birth means that you will have your story documented, edited, and presented with the professional quality you deserve.

The Moody Momma
Documenting memories is my passion and I can’t wait to connect with you and give you and your family keepsakes of your beautiful memories. I think having these memories to look back on all those special moments is the best keepsake anyone can have! Offering birth and lifestyle photography.

Baltimore Birth Photographers
Our clients know that birth goes by in a blur of emotions and chaos. They know that long after the day is gone, they will want to revisit the feelings they felt that day. They value the raw emotion that is experienced as a family grows in numbers and in love. Our mission is to provide real and beautiful images of a baby's birth story from start to finish. A typical birth story will include photos of labor, delivery, and bonding afterwards, and showcases all the love, support, and hard work that goes into creating a family.

Heartlove Photography
We believe Love is Love, Black Lives Matter, No Human is Illegal, All Abilities should be Respected and Gender is Non-Binary. We want to know you – your race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, ability, age – we’ll stand with you. Located in Pasadena, MD, Heartlove Photography offers pregnancy and newborn photography and much more in a professional portrait studio. All-inclusive, custom portrait sessions mean straight-forward pricing and never having to choose between which images you must-have. Each image is retouched and delivered in it’s full-resolution with print release. Sessions are available in-studio, at your home or on-location as well.

Meghan Cagley Photography
I think honest, raw, beautiful pictures of your everyday are important. They help you see your story for what it really is. They show you how important the seemingly unimportant moments are for building a life together; for building relationships that last a lifetime; for writing your family’s history.

HENNA, BELLY CASTING AND MORE!

Cardamom and Clove Henna
As Charm City's top rated henna professional, Cardamom & Clove Henna provides quality, five-star services to ambitious, empowered, and self-care conscious women across the Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and lower Pennsylvania areas.

SLEEP AND PARENTING COACHES

Snooze Fest
Jayne Havens, certified sleep consultant, works directly with families to help infants and toddlers get the sleep they need. She works one-on-one with parents to help them create a plan to achieve consistent, restorative sleep for their baby, and for themselves. With unique expertise in infants’ and children’s sleep habits, and a variety of tools to help coach and support parents, Jayne is an invaluable resource for tired families and works with parents throughout the United States. 

Parenting Works
Parenting Works supports parents to enhance their ability to be consistent, effective and purposeful in all their parenting choices and practices. Parent education increases family bonding, reduces family stress and facilitates a more enjoyable parenting experience!

Intuitive Parenting
You want to nurture your child in a gentle, responsive way, but you’re tired. Oh so tired! Maybe you know you want to keep responding to your child, but how can you do it sustainably when what you’re doing now is starting to take a toll? Maybe you know you need to make a change, but you need help doing so in a truly gentle way. You want to respect your baby’s needs and the needs of your family. I address your family’s sleep holistically. My approach draws from attachment theory, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and the science of biologically normal sleep and development.

BODYWORKERS

TruCentered Chiropractic Care
At TruCentered Chiropractic Care and as a Certified Life By Design Office, we address shifts in the spine that affect your nervous system (the wires that send information to your entire body) and in turn can limit your health in ways we may feel but more often in ways that we don't. We work to correct those shifts and teach you lifestyle steps to avoid recreating them - the result is better much health and increased performance.

Nourish and Align
I am a board certified and licensed professional with extensive continuing education in lactation, tongue tie, and Craniosacral Therapy. I specialize in pre and post frenotomy (tongue/lip tie release) bodywork for infants using an individualized approach for each client and family.

Indigo Physiotherapy
A new paradigm cultivating whole-body healing. 1-1 treatment sessions with a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Specialists in pelvic floor/Womens health.

Knotts Out Massage
An experienced massage therapist serving Northern Virginia conveniently located near Ft. Belvoir. Knotts Out Massage provides excellent, customized massage in Swedish, Deep Tissue, Prenatal and Hot Stone Massage.

Spectrum Center for Natural Medicine
Acupuncture for all & craniosacral therapy for newborns & infants. Devorah Walder specializes in: Chronic Pain Relief, Migraines, Anxiety, Women’s Health and Fertility & Cosmetic Acupuncture. Devorah’s patients look to her for her empathy, experience and clinical skills. She is results oriented, efficient and caring.

The Well
We are an intentional community of healers offering integrative therapies for family health and wellness. Our elite team of massage therapists is trained in a variety of bodywork modalities to help you regain balance, restore vitality, address chronic or acute pain, increase flexibility, maximize athletic performance and integrate energy flow and body consciousness.

Stephanie Jones Doula and Massage Therapist
My goal is to help you (and your chosen birthing team) witness your child’s birth as an empowering experience. I work with compassion and respect for all types of couples, and everyone involved in your birthing process (including obstetricians and midwives), drawing from 20 years as a doula, 30 years as a massage therapist, and your inherent wisdom throughout our work together.

Mama Elephant Wellness
The vision of Mama Elephant Wellness is to provide therapeutic bodywork, wellness education, and a network of support to women and their families through all phases of life. Marya now teaches other massage therapists and specializes in therapeutic massage, trigger point therapy, Reiki, Integrative Reflexology, Lymphatic Drainage, Fertility Massage, Prenatal Massage, Postpartum massage and infant massage instruction.

Awaken Wellness
Awaken Wellness exists for the community, a center for the art of healing and for clients and practitioners to create new possibilities for themselves and their lives. We believe in the capacity that everyone has to heal and the power of being in community. Awaken Wellness is the place for people to come home to.

LACTATION

Southern Maryland Lactation Support
Laurel Cahill is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) based in Solomons, Maryland. She has helped support families in southern Maryland as a La Leche League leader since 2018. Through Southern Maryland Lactation Services, LLC, she provides support for lactating families through home visits and in her home office.

Katy Linda, IBCLC
I connect with parents, and I encourage parents. I can help with any situation and we can help the breastfeeding parent and their baby be comfortable with their breastfeeding relationship. I want to get to know the whole picture of the pair. Providing breastfeeding support is different for every situation and it is best done when I have a chance to get to know the families I am working with. I provide support in the comfort of your own home for this reason. It helps me get to know you.

Lactation Room
Lactation Room is a full service lactation practice which specializes in a wide variety of breastfeeding and pumping challenges with a special emphasis on Tongue and Lip Ties (tethered oral tissues). We know not every mom and baby are alike and work to customize a plan to help you achieve your breastfeeding goals with personalized attention and support.

Metropolitan Breastfeeding
Metropolitan Breastfeeding is the largest and most experienced Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultants’ business in Maryland. Our board certified lactation consultants have extensive training and experience in all aspects of the breastfeeding process including anatomy of the breast, physiology of lactation, biochemistry of human milk, management of the mother/infant nursing couple, maternal/infant nutrition, and more! Our mission is to promote and encourage the breastfeeding experience. Our goal is to provide sound advice, education, and emotional support for breastfeeding mothers. We recognize that each family is unique, and we work with the individual needs of each, helping them set and achieve their own personal goals, so that they can enjoy the breastfeeding relationship.