A Postpartum Doula is a professional support person trained in the needs of the family in the days, weeks, and months after birth or the addition of a new baby. The word Doula originates from the Greek word meaning "woman servant".
Why hire a postpartum doula?
We are your personal support in the early days of the newborn phase and beyond. We help you learn to navigate life with a new baby, normalize the overwhelming experiences, help you recognize when and how to reach out for extra support, and tame the chaos and clutter that newborns can sometimes bring along. We provide nurturing, supportive care for your entire family, and help build your confidence in your new role as a parent.
We help you thrive, not just survive, in your postpartum experience.
Laura Swift
RN • Grandmother • Postpartum Doula
After 25 years as a labor and delivery nurse and 10 years as a birth photographer, Laura is honored to support new and growing families as a postpartum doula in SW Virginia.
She offers a full-service approach, from birth education and planning through postpartum care and support with a calm, quiet, confident presence.
"grammie doula" is a trained postpartum doula providing unbiased, non-medical, and evidence-based physical, emotional, practical, and informational support to a family after childbirth—during the transition from pregnancy to parenthood. "grammie doula" serves newly delivered moms in southwest Virginia during the 16-24 weeks of recovery following the birth of your baby.
Call or email her at:
[email protected] / 540-239-1866
"50% - 80% of new mothers experience some form of anxiety or depression during the postpartum period, and many women find it hard to immediately bond and connect with their newborn." -Dr. Andra Brosh, Clinical Psychologist
What does postpartum support look like?
We take the time to get to know you, deeply listening to your story, your questions, and your concerns, and provide you with information and guidance so you can make the best decisions possible for your family. We’ll help take care of the daily household necessities so you can focus on recovering from birth and/or bonding with your new baby. From meal preparation and light housework to sibling and infant care, our postpartum doulas help you create space and time to do what's important to you in the moment.
Our postpartum doulas can even provide on-call, in-hospital support immediately following birth while your partner goes home to rest or care for older children (Note: On-call support requires an additional fee). This service provides early breastfeeding or infant feeding guidance and positioning help, and support as you begin to physically (and/or emotionally) begin to recover from birth.
How does it work?
Postpartum doula care is available in daytime shifts (4-hour minimum), or longer overnight visits (8-hour minimum). We can provide ongoing care over the first weeks or months, helping your family establish and maintain systems for postpartum success and maximize your rest; or we can provide single, one-time shifts which help fill the gaps between friends’ and family members’ supportive visits.
Our support allows your entire family to be cared for by reliable, skilled, competent, and compassionate hands, especially when you need them the most.
Our doulas are trained and experienced with all family and parenting styles, whether you're welcoming home one or more than one newborn. All of our doulas are thoroughly background checked, and up-to-date on vaccinations, so you can be sure that your family is receiving the highest quality of care possible.
Specialized care available for your unique needs.
Our doula care is also instrumental for families who are recovering from or who are experiencing a postpartum mood struggle, or who are anticipating a transition home from the NICU following birth. Our doulas are experts in caring for the emotional needs of parents battling depression, anxiety or other mood challenges, and are familiar with the unique, specialized needs of preemie/NICU newborns.
Postpartum doula support allows for the small details of your household to be attended to, while long-term overnight support allows you to focus on your own critical needs, or the needs of your partner.
We also recognize that not all families are created through a birthing experience.
We honor and welcome families of surrogacy and adoption, as well chosen families. No matter how your family was created, we are ready to meet you where you are and support your individual needs and goals.
All postpartum doula client support includes:
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Focus on restorative and compassionate support for the family
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Breastfeeding/Bottlefeeding Support
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Parent and Baby Bonding Guidance
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Infant Soothing Advice
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Basic Babywearing Advice (Or, referrals for specialized care if needed)
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Basic Newborn Care
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Big Sibling Transition Guidance (if needed)
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Registry and Nursery Set-up Guidance
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Sibling Care so parents can bond with new baby
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Newborn care so parents can bond with older siblings
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NICU Transition Support (if needed)
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Errand Running
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Light Housekeeping
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Baby Laundry
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Meal and Snack Preparation
Postpartum/ Newborn Physician Support
Dr. Katie Edson
Dr. Katie is a Family Medicine physician in Direct Primary Care in Christiansburg, VA. Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a membership model of healthcare that removes the entanglements of insurance companies in order to provide more personalized care and direct access to your physician. Dr. Katie offers a postpartum package of services to members and non-members, including weekly visits for mother and newborn in the comfort of your own home for the first 2 months after birth. All family medicine services are included in the price, however tests and medications are not. Non-members have the option to become full DPC members after the package is complete.
Visit her website: www.edsonfp.com and e-mail her at: [email protected].
