WELL ROUNDED MOMMA: Nurturing naturally

Center offers holistic approach to childbirth for moms-to-be

Sherry Hopkins, a certified doula and owner of Well Rounded Momma, 6000 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 9-A, holds 4-month-old Brooks Forrest during a class at the center, which provides holistic training to new and expectant parents. jenna dosch/view jenna dosch/viewWell Rounded Momma owner Sherry Hopkins, left, talks to Wyndee Forrest, holding her son Brooks, during a Mommas Circle session at the center. Also attending the class, which meets twice a week, are Cari Cooke, right, with her daughter Emma, and Jessica Guinta, holding her son Graham. Advertisement

Wyndee Forrest felt alone.

When the 34-year-old gave birth to her first son two years ago, she felt she was the only mother-to-be for miles who wanted to forgo pain medication during labor.

After she had read about the risks of an epidural, an anesthesia to numb labor pains, Forrest took a course that helped her focus on the delivery and how to manage childbirth pain naturally. Months before her delivery, she practiced the methods she'd learned three times a day.

She was ready for labor, but Forrest said hospital employees weren't quite ready for her offbeat delivery plans.

"I wanted a natural birth, and once we got to the hospital, they had other plans," said Forrest, who reluctantly agreed to an epidural, which she believes stretched her labor to 41 hours. "They basically laughed at me. I almost felt sabotaged."

Her second son's birth in April was a little different after she discovered Well Rounded Momma, a new southeast Las Vegas business that trains new and expecting parents in a holistic approach to childbirth, fitness and health.

Forrest worked with a midwife at the center, 6000 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 9-A, who helped her deliver her second son, Brooks, with no medication and with 71/2 hours of labor.

"It was everything we had hoped for and planned for," said Forrest, who also participates in Momma Circle group sessions at the center.

Sherry Hopkins, who opened Well Rounded Momma in April, said she expects to introduce more Las Vegas women like Forrest to their options outside of mainstream medicine.

"Right now, there's not a lot of stuff out there for women who want alternatives," said Hopkins, who estimates that less than 10 percent of local women opt for the holistic method of childbirth. "Las Vegas is very, very behind in this."

Since 1990, Hopkins, 35, has worked as a birth doula and monitrice, or labor assistant, to counsel and educate expecting parents. Through her frequent visits to local delivery rooms, she met a few other midwives and doulas who also leaned toward holistic childbirth.

"We wanted to bring all these like-minded people together to help the local birth community," Hopkins said.

She's managed to bring more than a dozen different contractors under one roof, including several birth doulas, several childbirth educators, a chiropractor, a pediatrician and a midwife.

The center's midwife, April Kermani, who worked as a nurse in Las Vegas for several years before she recently started a homebirth business, said a birth center like Well Rounded Momma brings a professionalism to the method that's often considered a "hippie's" idea of childbirth.

The doulas and midwife will encourage women to wait as long as possible for an epidural during labor or, if the mother-to-be feels she's able, to forgo the medicine completely.

"Study after study shows that the risks to mom and baby outweigh the benefit," said Kermani, referring to an epidural. "I'd like to see moms more informed."

James McGhee, a pediatrician at Siena Pediatrics, 2779 Sunridge Heights Parkway, No. 2779B, in Henderson, believes there is room for both Western medicine and holistic medicine in the delivery room. But, he said, many people would disagree.

"There are a lot of people that are very polarized on this topic," McGhee said. "People think holistic means 'idiot' and Western medicine means 'evil,' and I don't think either of those are true."

He believes more people in the traditional medical field will warm up to the idea of holistic medicine as more people who offer services labeled holistic become educated and certified, like the staff at Well Rounded Momma.

The center, tucked into a business park on South Eastern Avenue, opens its doors for a slew of classes and workshops that cover breastfeeding, how to cope with the financial strains of a child, Lamaze, homemade baby food, baby sign language and hypno-birthing, a form of self-hypnosis meant to help women focus during labor.

Plus, Well Rounded Momma offers weekly reiki sessions, which introduce the Japanese method of relaxation, and Momma Circle, where expecting and new moms chat it up about the good, the bad and the ugly tales of motherhood. The center's boutique sells equally holistic products, like herbs, books, organic cloth diapers and nursing bras.

Most classes cost $250 and go for several weeks, and a one-time workshop costs between $20 and $40. Well Rounded Momma charges $550 to hire a birth doula. The doula will meet with the parents-to-be twice before and once after the delivery, plus offer referrals, 24-hour help if needed four weeks before the due date, and continuous birth support.

Well Rounded Momma teams with childbirth nonprofit Sisters, Mothers, Friends to help cover the costs for expecting mothers who can't afford classes and services.

"I want every woman to know where they can go to hear their birth options," Hopkins said. "Ninety-year-old women remember their birth story. You don't want any regrets."

Well Rounded Momma is open from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 795-2500 or visit www.wellrounded momma.com.