Peaceful Birthing owner Janice Weaver understands that easy, enjoyable and satisfying childbirth is not the experience of many families. She also knows that most people don’t usually use the words joyful, fun, calm and comfortable when describing birth. But she does. Weaver, who experienced two calm and empowering births of her daughters, has committed the last 7 years of her life to supporting families to discover their birth options and to open up to the joy of birth using HypnoBirthing® – The Mongan Method. Techniques help to ease pain and empower women to release fear and build confidence during pregnancy and birth. The new and expanded Peaceful Birthing
location is in the downtown Rochester historic Cary Art Gallery building at 226 Walnut Blvd.
Weaver has created a supportive learning environment for birthing women and families choosing variety of birth options: hospital, birth center or homebirth; natural birth or birth using an epidural or cesarean section. Peaceful Birthing educates clients about evidence-based maternity care including options for where to birth and to discover if their values are best matched with obstetric or midwifery care. Not only are moms supported, but partners also receive support to ready themselves for birth. Weaver’s work with ImprovingBirth.org, The Michigan Childbirth Education Connection, BirthNetwork.org and more has paved the way for this expansion of service and premiere education.
Peaceful Birthing knows that women using their own innate abilities to birth is not a new concept. It is merely one that has been forgotten and lost through the years. Hippocrates, the ‘father of medicine’believed that nature is the greatest physician and it’s best when allowed to work without intervention. Birth is a beautiful, natural function of a woman’s body. But when women are afraid or unsure of childbirth, it can get ugly. The involuntary fight-or-flight reflex kicks in once contractions start. This reflex reduces blood flow to the uterus, and the functionality of the uterus slows or stops and can be the cause of pain.
HypnoBirthing®Mothers are making choices — creating change!
- · From 2005 to 2010 17% of US HypnoBirthing® mothers birthed via C-Section, compared to the national average of 32%
- · Only 23% of HypnoBirthing®mothers birthing vaginally had epidural anesthesia, compared to the national average of 71%
- · 9.5% of HypnoBirthing® mothers chose to birth in the comfort of their homes. The national average is less than 1%
- · 6% of HypnoBirthing® mothers chose to birth in freestanding birth centers. The national average is less than 1%
Peaceful Birthing has added educator Natalie Fuoco to bring her personal experience of HypnoBirthing birth to the community. Weaver is also partnering with Fuoco and Dr. Kathy Whitmore of Health & Healing Chiropractic to bring a freestanding birth & family wellness center to Rochester, affiliating with the Sanctuary Birth & Family Wellness Center located in Los Angeles.
Expanded services include birth doula labor support and parenting classes including breastfeeding, baby care, cloth diapering, Natural Family Planning, circumcision decision information, and placenta encapsulation. Support groups that meet at the Peaceful Birthing include the Rochester La Leche League and the Metro Detroit Homebirth Circle.
Peaceful Birthing believes now is the time to take a stand to bring birthing back into the hands of parents, where it truly belongs. Hiring the right professionals to help in this process is necessary, but the foundation is set by Mom and Partner. Find joy in this responsibility. Find liberation in this way of thinking. Un-learn what we think we know about birth! Pablo Casals said, “The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn’t been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.”
Expanded Location: 226 Walnut Blvd, Suite B
in the historic Cary Art Gallery Bldg., downtown Rochester
About Tom and Ann Gendich