We are eternally grateful for the confidence and compassion that our birthing doula brought into our labor and delivery room. Her expertise before, during, and after our birthing experience left us feeling overwhelmed with an immense amount of gratitude for her service and overall demeanor.
It was so helpful to have postpartum support in the weeks following the birth of my daughter. She surprised us with an early arrival and we were not ready! With no family living nearby it was so comforting to know that we had someone prepared to come help. When we were exhausted and overwhelmed, our doula arrived with a smile, patience, and reassurance. She was there to provide support for all of us. Not only did she deliver excellent newborn care and breastfeeding support, she was also there for more general assistance such as cooking, doing laundry, running errands and helping get the baby gear assembled. It was a huge shift to go from pregnancy to motherhood and I am so grateful that we had the support of a postpartum doula to help guide us through that transition.
Homegrown, as an entity, has a way of empowering women to take on the incredible task of bringing a human (or humans!) into this world! Classes, yoga, photography, and the overall support of the Homegrown Community has truly changed our lives!
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What Birth Doulas do:
As birth and postpartum doulas we accompany women and pregnant people in labor and the postpartum time in the home and in the birthing facility (birth center/hospital/home) to ensure a safe and satisfying birth and postpartum experience. During pregnancy, we provide physical, emotional, and informational support for the whole family. We facilitate communication and provide reassurance and perspective with care providers and clinical staff, thus ensuring our client has the information needed to make informed decisions prenatally, in labor and in the postpartum. Our skill set can include suggestions for pregnancy specific exercises and movement, pregnancy discomforts, labor progress, relaxation, massage, positioning, integrative complementary modalities.
Prenatal Support:
Prenatally, we are available for phone, text, and email support as questions arise. We offer in-person or virtual prenatal visits. During these visits, we will discuss your birth preferences including coping techniques, pain management, how you and your support team foresee working together, and how we will support you as doulas. We will also look ahead to postpartum and discuss your needs for support after the baby comes.
What Postpartum Doulas do:
As postpartum doulas our physical, emotional and informational support continues throughout the 4th trimester and can include, but not limited to: self-care recovery and postpartum comfort measures, breastfeeding/chestfeeding, pumping, and/or bottle feeding support; diapering, bathing, and dressing baby; babywearing; shopping and meal preparation; sibling integration; fielding phone calls, visits, and communications for the family. We will also provide educational resources and make referrals for other services/providers when appropriate. The tasks we provide each day will depend on the priorities discussed before beginning services and on your particular needs that day.
Overnight Postpartum Support
These services are purchased by the hour and often in 6-10 hour blocks of time and can be utilized/scheduled when you need the support. A usual shift for overnight postpartum care is 10pm-6/7am. Overnight postpartum care encourages rest for healing and more time and energy to bond and care for your baby. The parents give their night-time parenting duties to the doula who usually stays in the same room as the baby for the night. The doula changes the baby, holds and comforts the baby to sleep between feedings. If the parent is breastfeeding, the baby will visit to nurse every two-three hours. The doula also makes sure the nursing parent has nourishing snacks and drinks throughout the night. If the baby is taking pumped breastmilk, by bottle, then the doula may give the baby most or all of the feedings throughout the night. The parent will still need to pump milk at regular intervals throughout the night if desired but the doula can bring and clean all pump parts. Babies that are formula fed, can stay with the doula throughout the night for all feedings if that is the parent’s choice.
MaryKate’s experience as a childbirth educator along with a specialization in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders allows her years of hands on birth and baby experience provides the families that we care for with compassionate non-judgmental support and a wealth of knowledge!
MaryKate Bashaw
Birth & Postpartum Doula
Perinatal Mental Health Professional
Lamaze Childbirth & Lactation Educator
Birth Photographer
Holistic Infant Sleep Coach
Placenta Encapsulation Specialist
As our Executive Director, she is in charge of engaging new and growing families by being a source of informational and emotional support as well as connecting folks to get birth & postpartum support if they need it. MaryKate is an intuitive powerhouse that loves to help parents thrive in their parenting journey instead of simply surviving it. She understands the power of creating a nourishing community, so parents have the confidence and support they deserve. MaryKate is a DONA International certified birth and postpartum doula that specializes in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. She was trained through Postpartum Support International as a perinatal mental health professional in order to support parents in finding their inner strength with trauma-informed coping techniques. MaryKate has also studied to be a Lamaze childbirth educator, lactation educator, holistic infant sleep consulting, hypnobirthing, as well as sibling & animal integration. MaryKate serves on the WNC Perinatal Emotional Health Network task force which is to dedicated to promoting emotional wellness for WNC parents and their families during the pregnancy and postpartum period. This task force actively works to reduce trauma in our area as well as educate local parents and providers about postpartum mood & anxiety disorders. Her large skill set allows parents to make informed decisions when it comes to their birth intentions and postpartum journey.
MaryKate enjoys creating beautiful artistic placenta prints as a wonderful way to have a visual reminder of this incredibly sacred organ. She hopes this service will allow parents to treasure how amazing their placenta was for both them and their baby. She has served over 100 families in the Western North Carolina and in her free time, she is raising two little warrior ladies and fostering as many animals as possible for our local animal shelters.
MaryKate got her bachelor degree in photography, psychology, and child education at UNC Asheville. Her career path started out as a teacher and behavioral health technician, then after having her first baby she was blown away by the reality of postpartum motherhood, she started her training at Homegrown Families.
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