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$50 - Woman & Partner
$45 - Birth Worker

Back by popular demand, this workshop is intended for expectant parents and birth workers. The evening will equip the expectant woman and partner with personalized comfort techniques for their labor experience and birth workers with compassionate and appropriate labor comfort skills.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Expectant women and their labor support person | Nursing Students, OB Students, MD Residents, Doulas in Training

FORMAT

SESSION FORMAT (choose one Session to attend)

Session A:

4:30pm - Arrive and Welcome
4:40pm - Hands-on teaching centers and partner exercises for women/birth partners & birth workers
6:20pm - Break
6:30pm - Lecture and Q&A
7:45pm - Wrap Up and Dismissal 

Session B:
6:15pm - Arrive and Welcome
6:30pm - Lecture and Q&A
7:50pm - Hands-on teaching centers and partner exercises for women/birth partners & birth workers
9:30pm - Wrap Up and Dismissal

All students will receive handouts and a certificate of completion.

Call (434) 264-6455 with questions.

Katie Page, CNM

is a self-proclaimed birth junkie who loves to teach. In 2009, Katie completed her studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN and became a Certified Nurse Midwife. She worked as a CNM in South Central Pennsylvania in private practice and attended births at a community hospital from 2010 – 2013 prior to joining the midwifery practice at CMG Women’s Center. As a midwife, Katie teaches women about normal body changes and ways to improve health. Through her work, she is able to be 'with women' through all stages of life. Katie is very interested in the way we care for women during pregnancy, labor and birth and how we can better support physiologic birth in hospital settings. She loves to speak in the community on normal reproduction, female anatomy and physiology, as well as women's health topics including STDs and birth control. She is a member of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, Midwives Alliance of North America and the Virginia Midwives Alliance. She also serves on the ACNM Professional Liability Section and is the Chair of Continuing Education for the Virginia Affiliate of ACNM.

Christine A. Marraccini, MD

and her husband have four children. Certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and GynecologySpecialtyOB/GYN she holds degrees from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Emory University School of Medicine. Christine and her husband Joe moved to Lynchburg in 1999. She serves both Obstetric and Gynecology patients and is a staunch advocate for education and support.

Trish Whaley, RYT 500

fell in love with yoga after her first class and has been avidly practicing ever since. Her passion for learning and love of helping others led her pursue teaching. Completing 500 hour training with Cyndi Lee she has received certifications in meditation, pranayama, and restorative yoga. Studying under Corrina Bender she is certified to teach yin yoga. She also completed specialized trauma sensitive yoga training with David Emerson geared to help those suffering with chronic PTSD.  As is the OM yoga tradition, she blends alignment, vinyasa and mindfulness in every yoga class.  Her humor and grace create a soothing space for students of all levels to connect with their breath through movement.  She believes in making yoga approachable for everyone

Rachel Thompson, CD, CBE, CLC

has had a passion for birth as long as she can remember and has been actively involved in serving birthing women and their partners for the last 10 years. She received a BA in Nursing from Eastern Mennonite University in 1994. As her own family grew, the doors opened for her to study through Charis Childbirth Services to become a certified doula and childbirth educator.  She found that aside from her husband and eight children, her next love was birth and education concerning pregnancy and birth. Rachel has discovered such fulfilment in encouraging women and their families as they walk through such a miraculous process. Her heart is to come alongside women with love and compassion, to serve with understanding and skill, and to minister with excellence. 

Debbie Perdew, CD(DONA)

accompanies laboring women as a birth doula to help ensure a safe and satisfying birth experience. She has completed training approved by DONA International. She is the mother of nine children and has personally experienced a variety of deliveries; one resulting in a stillborn child, two vaginal unmedicated deliveries, one emergency cesarean, and five successful unmedicated VBACs. She has been a doula for home births, hospital births and water births. She draws on her professional training, knowledge and experience to provide emotional support and physical comfort to laboring mothers. As situations arise in labor, she aids in communication between her clients and the birth team, if needed. It is her goal to help her clients make informed decisions throughout the course of labor and delivery. Debbie is trained in acupressure and uses massage and aromatherapy as additional comfort measures.

Julia Bradner, CD(DONA)

strives to unlock the strength and power inside women, to help them achieve the satisfying birth experience they desire. Certified and passionate; Julia brings a personal and individualized approach to her work as a doula.  She spends time with clients in the comfort of their own home, teaching and preparing them for the miracle of childbirth. She loves being in the birth room and is comfortable whether at a client’s home, in a birth center, or at the hospital.  Julia believes her role is to provide comfort for the birth team while positioning mom to encourage labor progress in the safest and smoothest way possible.  She incorporates massage, aromatherapy, positional strategy, relaxation, visualization and hydrotherapy. Julia has a BS from Elon University, has five children with her husband of 16 years, and is the owner of Kidz Kraze.

Kelli Griffiths, BSN, RN IV

and her husband moved to Lynchburg in 2015 after growing up in Eastern North Carolina. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Liberty University with her BSN in 2017 and graduated with her RN in 2013. Her dream job is working as a Labor and Delivery nurse, and she has been living that dream for 4 years. She works at Virginia Baptist Hospital in the Birth Center as a staff nurse since February 2015. Kelli also has the honor of being a charge nurse and preceptor who trains new nurses on her unit. Kelli was one of the first nurses at Centra to receive the DAISY award, an international award that is patient nominated. She also has the privilege of being an education champion for the Resolve Through Sharing program in which they assist mothers and families with miscarriages and stillbirths. Kelli is working on a research project that will hopefully be presented at the 2019 Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) convention. Lastly, Kelli is passionate about making every patient’s experience the best possible by working alongside patients and their support team by tailoring her nursing care to their birth story to ultimately allow a healthy and happy mom and baby.