Restore balance for an easier pregnancy + birth
prenatal BODYWORK
Receive nurturing touch
Deepen the connection between your body and baby
Learn to restore balance for an easier pregnancy and birth
Find peace and clarity in decision making
Live in alignment with your physiology
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Is this you?
Have you been told that your baby’s position is a problem for labour and birth?
Exhausted and overwhelmed trying to make your breech baby turn?
Anxious about your upcoming ECV?
Have you experienced a difficult or traumatic birth in the past?
Experience physical and emotional balance now.
breech
PRENATAL
LABOUR
breech
In most communities, the support for physiological breech birth has been lost. There are few practitioners who have the skills and confidence to care for vaginal breech birth, let alone support unmedicated, physiological breech birth. The medicalization of birth, fear of liability, and a poorly done study on breech birth outcomes, has led to a 97% caesarean rate for women with breech babies (in Vancouver, BC as of 2020). Most hospitals do not support vaginal breech birth and registered midwives in BC do not have the support of their governing bodies to manage breech births out of hospital. External cephalic versions exists due to the lack of skill and confidence around vaginal breech birth. This current state perpetuates the medical model that breech is pathological and disregarded as a variation of normal.
Women have been safely and successfully birthing their breech babies for thousands of years.
You do not need to buy into the narrative of breech babies as pathology. Your breech baby is intelligent and your body has not failed you.
I'm here for you whether you are planning a vaginal breech birth, cesarean, or ECV.
breech balancing
I offer prenatal bodywork for you to reconnect with your body, baby, and innate physiology. I bring a unique perspective that your baby is intelligent and has inside information about their environment. Your baby’s position is in constant relationship with your anatomy, which is in constant relationship with your psyche. Your baby, body, and psyche are intertwined and dynamic.
Most babies turn head down by the third trimester as there is usually more space for their heads in the lower uterus than up near your respiratory diaphragm. Our habits, injuries, exercise, stress, or tensions can influence the available space for baby to settle head or bum down. Some breech babies may have just missed an opportunity to turn head down.
During a session, I offer education on posture and breath for the female body, hands-on work, and an individualized routine for the remainder of your pregnancy. The purpose is to restore tensegrity and balance of locked, loose, and twisted tissues.
Your breech baby may use any newfound space to make a turn into a head-down position, if it is safe for them.
External cephalic version
If you have an ECV scheduled, starting with body balancing creates more space and movement in your uterus and surrounding layers. This in turn can reduce resistance for your baby as it’s being pushed into a head-down position.
ECVs are usually quite forceful and put enough pressure on your uterus to cause a fight-flight response. Whether your baby was moved into a head-down position or not, it beneficial to receive bodywork following an ECV to restore the parasympathetic state and optimal functioning of your soft tissues.
additional care
Following our session, I offer at least one check-in before birth + unlimited text support.
I provide information on self-care and maintenance if your baby spontaneously turns head down or following an ECV.
Virtual care
I offer breech sessions virtually! We cover everything from self-palpation and massage, to fascial release techniques and posture for the female body. Contact me to learn more! It's a wonderful way to increase body awareness and take full responsibility for your health.
prenatal bodywork
Decrease pain
Improve the birth process
Increase your chance of vaginal birth
Better birth recovery
I offer prenatal bodywork for you to reconnect with your body, baby, and innate physiology. I bring a unique perspective that your baby is intelligent and has inside information about their environment. Your baby’s position is in constant relationship with your anatomy, which is in constant relationship with your psyche. Your baby, body, and psyche are intertwined and dynamic.
During a session, I integrate my midwifery skills to teach auscultation, self-palpation and communication with baby. We seek to discover what your baby is saying about their needs and position in the same way that we look to bring your own body in alignment.
During a session, I offer education on posture and breath for the female body, hands-on work, and an individualized routine for the remainder of your pregnancy. The purpose is to restore tensegrity and balance of locked, loose, and twisted tissues.
A prenatal session is for anyone.
Here are a few reasons a nurturing body balancing session would be especially beneficial:
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Preparing for a VBAC
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Baby is transverse
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Twins
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First pregnancy
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History of difficult or traumatic birth
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History of injuries or MVAs
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Pain and severe pregnancy symptoms
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Uterine septum or lower segment fibroids
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Physically demanding job - bodyworker, athlete etc,
Following our session, I offer at least one check-in before your birth.
I offer prenatal body balancing sessions virtually! We cover everything from self-palpation and massage, to fascial release techniques and posture for the female body. Contact me to learn more! It's a wonderful way to increase body awareness and take full responsibility for your health.
labour body balancing
A body balancing session is an option in labour! I come to your home and support you with hands-on bodywork; using my intuition and knowledge of labour anatomy + physiology.
On a physical level, the progress of birth is influenced more by the soft tissues - muscle, fascia, ligaments, organs - than the bony structure of your pelvis. The three diameters of your pelvis are dynamic with freedom of movement and exceed the diameter of your baby’s head, often by several centimeters. Your baby's head is also dynamic and can change shape to mold the pelvis.
So why is it that some labours are ‘easy’ and some are not? This question may never be answered as birth is so much more than a physical event.
We do know that soft tissue imbalance and restriction can influence pain levels, fetal descent + rotation, and labour progress. Restoring their function brings greater mobility and hydration to soft tissues, making it easier for your baby to rotate and descend during labour.
My approach to bodywork in labour also acknowledges the deep interconnection between our emotional and physical well-being.
Benefits of a session in labour:
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Nurture the parasympathetic nervous system to improve the hormonal matrix of labour
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Reduce severe, asymmetric, or localized labour pain
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Deeper connection to your body + baby to support intuition
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Support your baby’s descent or rotation
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Help your body rest
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Improve labour progress
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Equip those in your birth team with supportive techniques
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Reduce chance of hospital transfer and caesarean section
Bodywork in labour is exclusive to those who are still at home, regardless of planned place of birth. If you are in labour now or are supporting someone in labour, please call me between the hours of 9am-9pm to ask about availability.
BODYWORK AGREEMENT
This is session is for you and your baby. It is your choice to receive a prenatal session from Mandy Verghese Birth + Bodywork for the purpose of:
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Assessment of soft tissues in the abdomen
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Assessment of fetal position in relation to surrounding structures
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Release techniques for muscle, ligaments, and fascia
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mind-body-baby awareness and integration
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Breath + posture work for the female body
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Stress reduction
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Spinning Babies® techniques and education
It is your responsibility to inform me of any medical conditions, injuries, trauma, complications of pregnancy prior to our session. It is also your responsibility to let me know when you are experiencing discomfort or pain at any point throughout our session.
It is my responsibility to gain consent throughout our session through verbal or physical cues.
I am willing to offer information within my areas of expertise as a midwife and mother, and in herbal wellness. I do not diagnose conditions during our session.
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