February 21, 2025 • 42 mins
This episode emphasizes the critical role occupational therapy plays in supporting new parents during pregnancy and postpartum recovery. By focusing on individualized wellness approaches, the conversation enhances understanding of the integrated care needed for holistic recovery post-birth.
• Discussion on the holistic nature of occupational therapy
• Differences between occupational therapy and pelvic floor therapy
• Importance of personalized recovery plans for each client
• Value of home visits in providing practical support post-birth
• Insights on overcoming common postpartum challenges
• The enduring impact of male practitioners in women's health
• Call for ongoing postpartum care beyond initial follow-up visits
Reach out to Royce and explore how he can help enhance your postpartum recovery at empoweredclinic.com or via text/call at 801-215-9789.
Guest: Royce Porter
https://www.empoweredclinic.com/
Visit our website, here: https://birthlearning.com/
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Show Credits
Host: Angie Rosier
Music: Michael Hicks
Photographer: Toni Walker
Episode Artwork: Nick Greenwood
Producer: Gillian Rosier Frampton
Voiceover: Ryan Parker
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with
Angie Rozier, hosted by BirthLearning, where we help prepare
folks for labor and birth withexpertise coming from 20 years
of experience in a busy doulapractice, helping thousands of
people prepare for labor,providing essential knowledge
(00:34):
and tools for positive andempowering birth experiences.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello and welcome to the Ordinary Doula podcast.
My name is Angie Rozier, I'myour host and today we have a
special guest with us.
I have with me today RoycePorter, and Royce is an
occupational therapist who has aspecial focus in perinatal care
.
So I'm going to let Royceintroduce himself and then we're
going to kind of talk throughwhat he does and the benefits it
(01:10):
can provide for those he workswith.
Royce, tell us a little bitabout yourself.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Thanks, Angie.
So, as you said, my name isRoyce Porter and occupational
therapist for 10 years.
Now I'm from the Salt LakeValley, but we lived out in
Roosevelt in eastern Utah for 10years and just recently have
moved back.
So my ending time out inRoosevelt I got to know an OB
really well out there andstarted exploring women's health
(01:36):
and worked with moms beforedelivery, during delivery.
After delivery I worked withmoms the day after birth in the
hospital.
But it felt like it was time tocome home to Salt Lake Valley.
So we just recently moved backthis last year and wanted to
keep doing the work that weenjoyed so much, and so we still
(01:57):
want to start our own kind ofperinatal therapy clinic.
So we have a clinic openinghere, a location here, soon in
the next month or so, butcurrently I'm doing home visits.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Okay, very cool.
All right, I love the homevisits piece.
We're going to come back tothat.
But as an occupationaltherapist, I think people are
familiar with or it's becomingmuch more common that people are
seeing a PT during a pelvicfloor PT specifically during
pregnancy.
Tell us about the differencebetween that service and
(02:30):
occupational therapy and kind ofhow they?
How does that intersect, maybe,with the cares that are already
out there?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yeah, so physical therapy is a sister career of
occupational therapy.
We do have a lot of the samegoals, but we kind of approach
it differently.
So I really focus on function,and function comes more from
than just your physical recovery.
A lot of it can do with sleep,nutrition, mental health,
(03:03):
overall well-being.
I mean there's just we approachit from every different angle.
So, and especially at this timeduring preparing for birth and
after birth, we want to makesure we do all of that.
It's hard to encompass all thatit comes into, but it's fun
because in the end it's whatevermy client wants.
(03:23):
One of the skills that we prideourselves in occupational
therapy is one analyzingactivities that are hard to be
doing, and then we figure outwhy we can't do that.
Is it because we don't have therange of motion or the strength
, or is it because you knowwe're tired all the time, we're
not getting the sleep that weneed, or we're just not getting
our nutrition that we need?
Or am I just going, going,going that I forget to take time
(03:44):
for myself?
So we analyze what you want todo, we listen, because every
person's different.
Every person has differentneeds and wants, and I see
myself as we are workingtogether to come up with your
plan.
You're hiring me as a coach, asa therapist, to help you up
(04:07):
with your plan.
You're hiring me as as a coach,as a therapist, to help you,
not you're not hiring me tosubscribe to my plan and my
services.
It's your plan, it's yourservices.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I'm just helping you along the way so you can
customize based on the needs ofyour client.
You can customize the care, theservice that is given yeah, and
it's just a variety of I meansocial wellness.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I've done, I've set goals and we've worked on social
wellness after having kids.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So this is a pretty like holistic.
We're looking at all parts ofthe person surrounding the
perinatal period.
It's a focus on physicalfunction, as that definitely
goes into emotional function andsocial function, as people
prepare for and recover fromchildbirth correct.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yeah yeah, so it's also kind of a little bit would
be.
I also call it behaviorretraining.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Sometimes even when we're pregnant, we sometimes
pick up maladaptive behavior,whether it be posture or just
holding things in with ourpelvic floor, you know, just
kind of squeezing everything.
We need to relax.
And so I have a firm beliefwith my approach that if we can
fix and adjust behaviors, then alot of times physical recovery
can take care of itself as well.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Oh, very cool, All right, so tell me and I know you
have you have participated in alot of this care yourself in
your life.
You've?
I want to.
I guess.
My next question is I want tohear the difference between what
you do and what a doula does.
I know those are differentcategories, but how do those
dovetail together?
If someone's using a doula, howare your services totally
(05:31):
different, or where do theyintersect?
Because you guys used doulawhen you had babies, right?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
We did yeah for our second and third one, we had
used a doula, so I don't want tospeak all for the scope of a
practice, of what doula canentail.
For sure there's going to besome overlap.
It's one of the fun things ofoccupational therapy is that we
get a little training ineverything.
So, working with a doula, mygoal is to support what training
and what you are providing.
Maybe with a little moremedical training that I have, I
(06:01):
can understand a little bit moreof what's going on the muscles,
the nerves, the body, how it'sreacting.
But in the end, when I'm workingwith a doula, I want to be able
to work alongside with a doulaand provide further care and,
you know, bounce ideas off eachother and work together and know
like feedback from each other,like hey, like you know, our
(06:23):
client is feeling overwhelmed.
You know if there's somethingthat you've been working on or
you know this, my mom, I have tohave talked to her.
She doesn't have any mealsready for after after having her
kid, or there's something wecan work on together, and so I
believe that collaboration hasbeen great.
I wouldn't have, I mean, withour second and third, without
our doula.
It wouldn't have been near thepositive experience it would
(06:46):
have been After our first onethe joke in our Facebook picture
that our family.
A lot of people commented onour Facebook picture saying that
why does Royce look more tiredthan you, rachel?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
He worked hard it was .
Speaker 3 (07:00):
It was 19 hours of counter pressures and holding
her and doing all the stuff thatwe got trained from a holistic
approach to delivery, which ismy wife's approach, and it was
exhausting.
I mean it was grateful I lovedit.
I have never seen a greaterdemonstration of human strength
than watching my wife give birth.
So then, with moving out toRoosevelt, where there weren't
(07:21):
as much access to such services,we sought out more of what a
doula was, and she helped withour second and third and, as a
support person, it made myexperience so much better so
that I could appreciate themoment, instead of being just
full of stress and trying tomanage now a kid we had at home
(07:42):
with you know, and trying tomanage now a kid we had at home
with you know, not with family,with neighbors, and then to
enjoy what we were experiencingtogether.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Okay, so it sounds like, and the doula role is
quite focused on that day orsometimes it's two days or
whatever.
Right, I've seen three and four,but the actual event right.
So doulas of course preparepeople physically, emotionally,
mentally, bring their teamtogether, support person, they
do the birth.
That's big.
And then the doula kind ofbacks out like they're still
available for some postpartumsupport, depending on, you know,
limited phone calls and thingslike that.
(08:19):
But the expertise then for thatrecovery piece especially, I
liked you said you're moremedical background in the
physical recovery, physical,emotional and mental.
That is more of your focus,correct?
Whereas a doula like hey, howyou doing, how's breastfeeding
going, how you know, we mightkind of process the birth.
But doulas, unless they're apostpartum doula, and even that
(08:39):
is limited to non-medical care,their follow through in
postpartum is limited, limitedto non-medical care, their
follow through and postpartum islimited, right, or?
shorter than maybe what you'relooking at, right, yeah, yeah.
So tell me, like your idealclient, like when would somebody
start services with someonewith your role?
So when somebody startsservices with you, what does
(09:01):
that look like?
When is your heavy on the?
You know, when are you, when'syour big focus on your services
with you?
What does that look like?
Um, when is your heavy on the?
You know when are you when?
When's your big focus on yourservices with clients?
Speaker 3 (09:08):
so to kind of walk us through what that might look
like so I love working with,with moms who who are pregnant
um I love preparing early inpregnancy are we talking like
first trimester?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
when do you when?
Do they, when do they come intoyour services?
Speaker 3 (09:23):
so, with everyone being so different, I I say,
when you start feeling likeyou're not being as functional
as you want, to be Okay,physically, emotionally
functional.
Okay.
So I've had people come in, youknow 12 weeks, 20 weeks, saying
like, hey, I'm a dog groomer, Ican't lift the dogs into the
bath anymore.
And so we've talked about okay,let's talk about how to lift
dogs in the bath the physicalpart of it Now.
(09:49):
A bath, the physical part of it.
Now.
Let's talk about adaptivestrategies.
How can we stand so we can tiltour pelvis the right way?
So I've had the 20 weeks.
Generally, I see more at thethird trimester time when we
start to get a little bigger andit starts to take a little more
strain on our bodies and ourpelvis.
And some get a little nervouswhen they start to feel or have
a history of diastasis recti andthey want to be a little more
proactive about it.
So at any point when someone isstarting to feel like they're
just not as functional and needa support, person with medical
training that they can go to andand work with.
(10:12):
I love preparing that and thosethat have come and worked with
me have done prenatal work.
Um, all of them have said thatthat delivery has gone smoother
if they've had a history of aprevious, not saying that it
can't be a 100 causation, youknow right, there's just as you
know with in birth, you justcan't prepare for every
(10:33):
situation.
But, right, we give it the bestchance for it okay, so.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So I hear some um, this is awesome because you know
, some of our clients have maybephysically demanding jobs that
they need to work in up untildelivery or thereabouts, right?
So I mean, if you're a schoolteacher or a nurse or a I had a
dance teacher, several danceteachers actually, lately, and
they're teaching dance classesright through their pregnancy or
(10:59):
there's so many different rolesthat like employment roles,
right, or professional rolesthat are our clients that
pregnant people are going to befilling.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
So what your, what your services can do, is help
them do their job morecomfortably throughout their
pregnancy, like on a physicalcomfort level, and then you pull
in other things as well yeahexactly so that's so cool that's
the basis of our our therapy,and we get a lot of people think
, when they hear occupationaltherapy, we think it's just jobs
, but it's really just thethings that occupy your time is
(11:28):
what we focus on.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
How you function in the day.
Yep so brushing your teeth toyeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
To doing anything.
I mean, those are kind of thelow level wishes, typically what
occupational therapists arethought of.
You know, help people getdressed, help people brush their
teeth.
But I love working with peoplewith higher aspirations and
goals that really want to likethis is.
I know I can do more.
I want help supporting this.
I want a professional problemsolver to really help me with
this and I've analyzed so manydifferent activities.
(11:53):
I've worked with dancers.
I've worked with office jobs.
I've worked with stay-at-homemoms.
I worked with anyone pickleballplayers, the guys.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Anyone Okay anyone pickleball players, the guys,
anyone.
Okay, I love that because a lotof the what we would call
common not normal, but commoncomplaints of pregnancy and the
physical, like my sciatic nervesome people are like I can't
walk anymore Symphysis, pubis ispain, like a lot of those
(12:21):
common things that you know asyou dig into it you can't.
There are solutions to a lot ofthese things.
So care from OT.
Okay, awesome, Awesome, allright.
So baby's born.
Everything shifts now to infantcare.
But there's like recovery.
Recovery is legit, likerecovery from any kind of birth
right, Smooth, short, simple,awesome to very long, difficult,
(12:45):
arduous cesareans, vbacs.
Like every birth, regardless ofhow it goes, is going to have a
serious recovery period whichneeds to be taken seriously, in
my opinion.
So tell me what that looks likein the postpartum recovery.
Seems like that can be a veryimportant piece in postpartum
recovery.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
It certainly is, and this is a point, like you said,
I love.
The point of this is more thanjust physical.
When I would work with moms theday after birth in the hospital
, I especially would hit uppostpartum depression, anxiety,
baby blues, and I would workwith moms to make sure they have
a plan.
Someone would say like, oh,I've heard of this, I don't know
(13:25):
what it all entails, but I'mkind of scared for it, and so we
talk about the plan that can bethere.
So that's one of the advantagesI have with doing in-home
visits is I can be there withinthe first week.
And just talking about how areyou doing getting up out of bed,
getting to the toilet, gettingyour things.
You have support people readyfor you.
Let's show you a little saferway to do things.
Let's talk about how you'refeeling and about those
(13:46):
postpartum and potentially start, you know, and recommend
referrals to mental healthclinicians or to you know let's
give your, let's give yourmedical or your birthing
provider a call.
Let's, let's give them, let'sgive them that talk and and I've
had so many people that justbeen appreciative I've had a lot
of people just with tears cometo their eyes when we talk about
it.
You know, even those.
I love working with those whohave a history of maybe some
(14:08):
anxiety or depression Um cause.
Then I will try to empower themby saying like, listen, like
you've already dealt with this,for I mean, it's different, but
you've already had some.
You've learned some skills,you've learned some strategies
that helped you.
So you're far and beyond,you're more prepared than others
who haven't even experiencedanxiety or depression before.
So, let's use those skills.
So yeah, when we get into thatand then we kind of follow up on
(14:30):
that.
But then I just love, you know,at four weeks or so three, four
weeks just start doing somebasic stretches just to start to
open that body.
We're not exercising really toomuch yet, so that way we can
help the body recover faster.
That's what I've had.
Moms who worked with me in thepast have said that we've.
(14:52):
I just enjoy the fact that Iremember the very first one I
worked with was her thirdC-section and she said I have
just, I've recovered faster thanany other C-section that I've
had.
I'm 30 years old and I can'tbelieve that this is so much
better.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I wish I wasn't anticipating that.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
So I love C-sections.
I love helping, you know, weget some tension in there.
I love helping break up thescar tissue with that C-section
scars, you know do some rollingon the skin to get some
separation from the dermis andeverything underneath if we're
feeling constipated, you know.
And just teaching bowelmanagement techniques and you
know again, it's I try to.
The best way for me to tell mewhat I do is to tell stories of
(15:30):
those that I've worked with,because it's so hard to
encompass all of all of whatI've done, because I've just had
so much fun, and that's what'sfun about it is that it's
everyone is so different,everyone has different goals and
then just empowering them to.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
And everyone is so different Everyone has different
goals and then just empoweringthem to get it back going.
Okay, so tell us a favoritestory of yours.
You know a client success story.
What's?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
one of your favorite situations that you've been able
to provide services for.
That's a tough one, but I'lltell you one, your top three.
One that pops to my mind rightnow.
I've had a mom who heard aboutme on Facebook and she reached
out to me and she's like I ameight months postpartum.
My OB says I have prolapse.
Intercourse is painful for me.
(16:16):
I pee my pants all the time.
I think she was a C-section aswell, so she would come in
because she loved me doing theC-section scar massage.
She just loved the feeling onthat.
She loved how she has diastasisrecti constantly.
She had about everything, Iguess.
Um, her insurance at that timeonly allowed six visits so we
(16:38):
really rushed, not rushed.
We made sure to cover all thebases, to get teacher to the
skills that we could have so shecould go on her own afterwards.
Um, but she left pain-freeintercourse, was able to control
her bladder was able to justenjoy um life again.
And she, I don't know that was a.
(16:58):
That was a really fun one, thateverything really got me going
at the beginning you.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
You can see the impact that that has.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Very cool.
So this eight months postpartumright, that's I mean you can?
How far out postpartum can youhelp people Like probably years
right yeah, I mean as long as Imean again, you're not
functional.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You're peeing your pants, or right.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
A lot of constipation , same thing yeah, so many
people I know I'm getting closeto, I'm in my high 40s at this
point, um, so postpartum is longbehind me.
But I do have so manycolleagues and friends around my
similar age who say that, again, common, but but not normal
dysfunction, right, so bladderbowel, yep, okay.
(17:42):
So you can help not just yourpregnant people, but those who,
anyone who has the effects ofpregnancy, postpartum years,
even.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yep, I just finished working with uh.
She was in her mid forties andshe knew that it was time to be
discharged from therapy.
When she said that her husbandmade the comment that she's like
I know I haven't heard thatyou've peed your pants in a
while.
Success.
She's like that was one of mygoals and so she had that goal.
And then she's like I thinkwe're done here.
I'm like that sounds great.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Okay, so you say, like I heard you say, six visits
, what I know.
Every case is so different, butwalk us through.
It sounds like you can servepeople at so many different
points of life, which is awesome.
But if you have a pregnantperson let's say you have a
pregnant client they're pregnant, they meet you, maybe second
trimester.
(18:31):
What are visits?
Frequency of visits, when do wetime those visits before birth
and then after birth, and howmany are we looking at?
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Yeah, so it's all.
Uh, it's hard to because it'sso individualized.
Some, some people feel likethey need more support, right?
For example, we all know thatwe need to diet and exercise,
but sometimes we need to go talkto a nutritionist and talk to a
personal trainer just to kindof give that for us, and so some
people need more of the support.
So weekly visits um beforehandare really supportive.
(19:00):
Some are just like you know, Ijust need someone to really talk
to run through some things.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
And so I'm going to come so they can drive, like
they can drive their needs andkind of it's different, okay.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
So I again.
I see people who want to hireme, as they're hiring me to help
them.
They're not hiring me from themto follow my plan, like I am
here for you, customized tohiring me from them to follow my
plan, like I am here for you,so customized to the needs?
Yep, and I'm not going topressure anyone to because,
again, my my whole goal.
So my business is calledempowered health and wellness,
because I want my clients tofeel empowered afterwards, like
(19:33):
I'm here and I can't call myselfa coach, but I'm the therapist
who's wants to to give.
Have you gained those skillsunderstanding so that when we
have future problems or issueswe know what to do, because we
were trained how to do that.
So so yeah, before, beforebirth, you know it depends on
what person in the cup.
That one person came in at 20weeks.
She came then and then she cameonce a month and the tail, the
(19:56):
very end that she came a coupleof times.
Um.
Another was a ran cross countryat Utah State.
She came every week from herthird trimester on because she
was really she had a history ofthe diastasis recti and then had
the umbilical hernia, but thensay we don't do any of that.
And then we start seeing peopleafter.
Whereas I like to check in ifwe can as early as we can, just
(20:18):
because I want that earlycheck-in, I've had people
comment how they enjoy he justhaving someone to talk to,
because they don't unless theyhave the obi will say, if you
have any issues, give me a call,but how many are actually going
to give a call?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
and when you do call, you don't talk to your ob,
right?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
yeah, yeah so I've been there for that um and then
you know, we start up four weeksand then usually, if it's
everything kind of a standardand things are going well,
usually four to six visitsafterwards.
But I've had people who didextensive work maybe beforehand
and we only had just a couple ofvisits afterwards.
And then again, it all dependson aspirations and goals.
(20:55):
So I've had some people we getto that fourth or fifth visit
and they're like you know what,I'm not peeing my pants.
I feel like I've gained theskills that I need.
I've exercised a lot before.
I think I feel good about goingon from here.
Sounds great, like we can bedone.
I'm not going to pressure youto do any more and then others
will say, like you know what?
I used to run a lot.
(21:17):
So I want to keep comingbecause I want to keep asking
questions and following up andgetting back to where they want
to be.
Yeah, so everyone has differentlevels of of aspirations and
expectations and again, I letthem drive it how they want it.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Very cool.
I love that.
All right, so what this is like, I don't know.
This is awesome.
I think.
What a cool service that canaffect the whole lifespan.
Right, this is a uh over a long.
This isn't just a one visittype of thing generally, but
sounds like over a longer periodof time we can make a huge
impact.
So, all right, royce, like,tell me what it's like being a
(21:54):
man in this space like this.
This is, you know, women'shealth care, maternal care um,
many of our providers you knowthere's a, there's plenty of
male OBs, like that's common.
But tell me what it's likebeing a man in this space.
I know you've been through thispersonally yourself, like with
the children you and your wifehave had.
But tell me what that's like.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
It's different.
It comes with some roadblocks.
It's just a natural thing.
Being a man working in women'scare, you know sometimes I get
people asking me why I do it inthe first place, and I've just.
I have such the utmost respectfor anyone who's willing to,
let's say, sacrifice theirbodies or have their bodies go
(22:34):
through a traumatic experienceto bring life into the world
Like again.
I love watching sports, I lovewatching anything but the.
Still, the greatestdemonstration of human strength
I've ever seen is my wife givingbirth and someone who's willing
to go through that I have somuch respect for, and so to be
able to help a population thatmay feel like they're being
overlooked or forgotten about.
(22:56):
You know, we've heard manypeople talk about how I give
birth and then, all of a sudden,everything's about my baby.
Now, nothing's about me anymore.
I don't feel like that's thecase, and so I've seen such
turnaround, such joy come backinto people's lives because of
this, where at one point theyfelt like you know, for one lady
(23:19):
, I'm a school teacher and I'mpeeing my pants all the time
like I don't.
I have to have a spare clothesin my backpack when I go to
school because I can't managethis and finding those, those,
those tweaks, those to the day.
and you know, for her, we sether a bathroom schedule that she
could follow while she wasteaching and then she comes back
(23:40):
the next week saying I'm notpainting my pants anymore
because now I know how to holdin my urine, how to void all my
urine, how to you know when togo, and so just those, you know.
Sometimes that's what it is.
I've had some people come infor just a couple of visits
because I'm like okay, likehere's how we here, here is the
behavior we're not doing welland here's how we fix that.
(24:01):
And I've had people come backsaying that's, that was it.
Like I had a mom come in withsome.
She thought it was some carpaltunnel, but it was really some
ulnar nerve pain.
And after talking with her andhaving her show me because I'm a
functional therapist what she'sbeen doing at home, I found out
that she was lifting her carseat into her car wrong, and so
I was able to show her somestretches to help with with
(24:25):
those muscles, with the nerves,some ulnar nerve glides and some
other stretches.
And then I'm like, let'spractice how to put in your car
seat correctly, and so we showedher a different way to grip it,
how to hold it, the bodymechanics, and then she comes
back a couple of weeks later fora follow-up and she's like the
pain's gone.
That was it.
So sometimes it's just.
I don't know.
I hope that's now.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I'm going on tangents , but I hope that answers the
question about being a male,absolutely okay, yeah, yeah,
that's cool, um, and I thinkthere definitely is place, uh,
definitely a place for that,which I think.
Thank you for doing this work.
That's amazing.
And then you brought up for metoo, like, um, what an.
I think a lot of people want anapproach that's not surgery or
(25:06):
medication first, right, likelet's see what we can approach
ahead of that to avoid those um,bigger procedural, um or
pharmaceutical fixes.
so a lot of what you can do justwith adjustments in life can
help with that Very cool,correct Yep.
Okay, awesome.
Another question like pelvicfloor PT, a lot of people are
(25:29):
getting services from pelvicfloor PT.
Now, how does this, how's thisdifferent?
Like tell you know, walkthrough, how are we totally two
different animals here?
Like tell me what that lookslike.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
So that's where I got my start was studying pelvic
floor, so this is a lot of whatwe do as well, but an approach
that I have that I got from myclinic out in Roosevelt was I
don't do any internal work.
For some that have really feltlike that's what they need, I've
been able to pass them on toother pelvic floor therapists
who do internal work.
(26:02):
But again, my, my business isempowered health and wellness,
because I want to be able toempower those to be able to
manage their own, and so I'vebeen able to go on their own.
Yeah, yeah, so that was a I meangranted at some point.
At some points, some cases,there needs to be some internal
work to do some diagnosing.
But I've been able to coachmoms to use pelvic wands to kind
(26:23):
of relieve their tension andkind of feel what's on there.
I have most of my clients do ifthey want to as well, we bring
it up a self-examination.
I have a kind of a four-optionmethod for those that can go
home and do their ownexamination.
They come back and tell me whatthat feels like.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Again empowered.
Right, they're empowering themin their own health, yeah, cool.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
So dilators again, I have coupon codes and whatnot
for different dilators andequipment that you can get and
there's great YouTube videos outthere and I'm a resource to ask
.
And if I don't know, I haveplenty of mentors I have across
this who have supported me.
That that I love when I wereach out and talk to each other
, with each other.
So I cause again say we, wework on this right and we feel a
(27:11):
lot better.
But then a couple of years downthe road we may forget some of
our habits, we slip intoprevious habits and then we're
like okay, I remember the steps,I have my pelvic wand still,
like I can go and work on thesethings.
So I don't need to go back anddo pelvic floor therapy because
I know how to do it myself.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Right, cool, okay Awesome.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Yeah, that's my approach.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Okay.
And then home visits.
Tell me about home visits.
I think you know, as I work asa postpartum doula and lactation
consultant and I do home visits, you know in those two
categories but I see people sooften they have to.
They get home from the hospital.
They got to get out the doorthe next day at a certain time,
get to a pediatricianappointment or maybe there's a
(27:54):
chiropractic appointment they'regoing to, or hopefully they
don't have to go back to thehospital or their provider yet.
But sometimes there's a lot.
We impose a lot of appointmentson immediate postpartum people
that are challenging to meet.
So the fact that you offer homevisits in the comfort of their
home with those around them,right, like it's hard to haul
(28:15):
everyone off to the doctor'soffice or whatever clinic visit
we're doing, so they can havetheir support person there they
can have.
You know the babies are, you'reseeing how they're moving in
their own space, right?
How are they getting?
What is their bed?
Are they hiking up a ladder totheir bed?
And I honestly have had clientson bunk beds.
One particular client her bedit was a queen and she would
(28:36):
hike up to her bunk bed and I'mlike, wow, okay, that's a neat
place to do postpartum.
So when you see them, I imaginewhen you see that, first of all,
the benefit of not having to goanywhere with a newborn and we
say now stay home, take goodcare of yourself and then come
to these appointments and in ourculture and society I'm gonna
get off on a tangent if I'm notcareful we want people to get
(29:06):
right back to it.
Right, like you're at soccer onSaturday, you're, you know
you're at work three weeks laterin some cases, like um, get
right back at it.
There's demands of life thatour postpartum recovery is so
short, way too short.
So talk to me about home visitsLike I.
That is so enticing, I think,and what a great service.
But tell me about that a littlebit.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah, so I love going to people's homes.
I love seeing clients in theirnatural context.
That's the fun of it.
So you know being a functionaltherapist in a clinic setting,
which is great too.
Some people love the feeling ofthe clinic setting, but we
simulate what home may be like.
We say like okay, here's theskills, we're practicing them
Right.
Here's how you sit on a toilet,like now, go home and tell me
(29:43):
what that feels like where youknow at home, we can see what
your toilet exactly right.
We can see what your bathroomset up is like, how we get on
off our toilet, how we get inand out of our bed, how we
manage our kitchen, how we doall the stairs.
A lot of people are livingupstairs, downstairs, right like
yeah, couches, beds, yeah, kindof all that context of the
environment plus the comfort ofnot having to pack up and go,
(30:05):
yeah, and just feeling that.
And so I mean I, part of mytraining out in Roosevelt and
rural Utah, did home health formost my time out there.
So, and I've done pediatrictherapy as well, like I've have,
I've done, I've done pediatrictherapy as well, like I've have,
I've done, I've done everything.
So even if there's questionsabout development or like how my
(30:25):
kids functioning or how my kidsdeveloping, those are, again
I'm not for me.
So one thing I haven't talkedabout so I'm, as a cash-based
business, I'm not takinginsurance and I'm not tied down
to what an insurance company istelling me to do or tied down to
what a doctor is telling me todo.
So in a typical hospital setting.
If I seek insurancereimbursement, I have to stick
(30:46):
to what the diagnosis says andwhat the insurance says is
allowable.
But, in this setting I'm ableto.
You know I have-.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Full services.
Nothing's inhibiting yourservices.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Yeah, so I can practice the top of my license
so we can again to about earlyintervention and just kind of
the developmental stages my kiddoing what reflex testing so you
can pull some baby stuff intothis, like I can't.
I haven't an area that I'vemarketed it much as well, but
it's been.
I mean it's it's trainings thatI have.
I have the resources.
It's not my again primary focus,but I've had to do that in
(31:18):
roosevelt because there weren'tthere wasn't an therapist to
work with young kids and so theywould come in and see me and I
pull out my books and trainingand sit down and let's figure
this out together and let's gothrough this and let's
soundboard and so, yeah, I can,I'm willing to do and able to do
just about, just about anything.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
And I can also see where this will be beneficial
for breastfeeding moms.
I, as a lactation consultant, Iget people often and I I am not
I mean, I'm a trained lactationconsultant, of course, but um,
and I try to get good support ofthe wrist and the hand and so
many people with breastfeedingyou spend a good deal of time
holding something that's sevenor eight pounds right in front
of your body, right?
so people have like oh, my back,I didn't know I had that muscle
(31:59):
and I'm aching here and thereum same thing dad, sometimes,
like just from holding that babyor rocking that baby, getting
that baby back to sleep, arehaving some you know physical
discomfort that they're talkingabout.
So I imagine, uh, what you workthe work you do as well will
enhance the breastfeedingexperience on a physical comfort
level, right and functionallevel.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Okay, yeah, I just the client I'm working with
right now.
She um one of them.
She said that you know when thefirst visits or second visits
once she got the idea of oneoccupational therapist is like
she brought up back pain duringnursing, so we brought up a
couple of different tactics tohelp with that um, and again we
come back the next visit andshe's all like, yeah, they're
(32:41):
not hurting anymore.
Now that I kind of know what todo afterwards.
So it's again sometimes justthose tips.
But we learned that then andthen she brought it the next
week.
Here's another functionalquestion I have.
What do I do with thissituation?
Like, oh, I love thesequestions, let's talk about it,
let's figure this out.
I come back the next week.
She's like yeah, that's not aproblem anymore.
Now let's talk about this one.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, let's move on to get better and better all the
time.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
So cool.
Oh, what a great service.
Okay, this as I've been doingthis work for over 20 years and
I love to see, as we'reexpanding services, that things
become normal, right, like as wedo look at the whole picture,
the whole lifespan of the womanhaving a baby.
I love that you can provideservices for people years
(33:23):
postpartum.
I can see a huge benefit topeople who are in their 40s and
50s and having you know commonbut unusual.
You know physical effects, fromsexual dysfunction to
incontinence, bowel or bladder.
That's awesome as well.
And, of course, you know Iguess my passion is the
(33:43):
perinatal period as well.
So, I love to learn aboutadditional services, just to
improve this time of life forpeople.
Royce, how can people reach you?
Are you comfortable sharinglike how people might be able to
reach out to you?
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Yeah, so I guess empoweredcliniccom is my website
.
Um, by, I have a contact formon there.
I do free consultations, sothere's a form on there you can
fill out.
Uh, you can call or text me,you know, 801-215-9789.
And we can set up a time thatway to do a consultation on
(34:21):
Facebook.
I'm Empowered Health andWellness, so it's around.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Okay, they can find you Okay and then do you do any
virtual work If folks liveoutside of your service area, if
they're far away and we do havea national and international
audience too for this podcast,so do you do any virtual work?
Is that something?
That's?
What can you provide virtually,if anything?
Speaker 3 (34:43):
yep, so I can provide the virtually as long right now
as it's within our state okay,so in the state of utah, yep so
we have in it, but for those whoare nationally, you still reach
out um I can find you places,especially occupational
therapists, within the area goodreferrals but we do have an
interstate compact coming out,hopefully rolling out this
summer, where I can serve Ithink last I count was there's
(35:07):
31 States in this compact allowsme to serve others.
So just within the licensurelaws I have to stay right now
within my state.
But for those listening now orat later times, reach out, cause
again, I have networks ofoccupational therapists around
the nation that.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I've already found some in Florida for other people
, so it's cool, okay and good toknow that this, this service
from occupational therapists isavailable.
I don't I don't think, as I'veworked with thousands of
families, I don't think peoplesay, oh, my OT, so I love that
that's becoming available forpeople.
That is incredible, because Ilove the full span it looks at
(35:43):
to help, service and improvelives.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
So I love it too.
I've had so much fun with it.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I love and I can feel , as we've spoken before as well
, I love the passion you havefor this work and thank you for
doing this work.
It's important.
It's important work this periodof life and for women's health
care.
Any parting thoughts, roy, anylast things you want to leave as
we wrap things up?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
I just I want to express gratitude for this.
Like it's just, I love talkingabout why I love what I do, so I
love that fact.
But I do want to end with aquote.
This is the quote that I thinkgot me into women's health in
the sense of once I read this toour obstetrician in roosevelt
(36:26):
he was fully on board with it.
So this is a quote from theamerican college of obstetrics
and gynecology.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
This is their recommendation good old a cog
yep, yep so it says to opt.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
It's a little bit long but I I try to shorten it,
but it still encompasses anywayslet's hear it yeah.
To optimize the health of womenand infants, postpartum care
should be an ongoing processrather than a single encounter,
with services and supporttailored to each woman's
individual needs.
It is recommended that allwomen have contact with their
obstetrician, gynecologist orother obstetric care providers
(37:00):
within the first three weekspostpartum.
That summer sometimes doesn'thappen.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Right Hardly ever, I would think.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
So here it continues to say that the initial
assessment should be followed upwith ongoing care as needed,
concluding with a comprehensivepostpartum visit no later than
12 weeks after birth.
Again, that, more often thannot, does not happen.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
The comprehensive part.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Even my obstetrician that I was with.
He said he had about 50% of hismoms come back for the six week
of follow-up.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Really.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
Wow.
And then, as I've gotten intomore research, that number
supports national numbers aswell, interesting.
And so I have some moms thatsay, like I'm feeling fine, I
don't feel like I need to goback in.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Yeah, interesting.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
To finish the quote, it says the comprehensive
postpartum visit should includea full assessment of physical,
social and psychologicalwellbeing, including the
following domains.
So here's all the domains thatshould be in that 12 week visit
Mood and emotional wellbeing,infant care and feeding,
sexuality, contraception andbirth spacing, sleep and fatigue
, physical recovery from birth,chronic disease management and
(38:06):
health maintenance.
So I asked him like I goes,how's that postpartum with
comprehensive visit that yourACOG is is recommending?
And he's like well, you know,if they come and gave me the
kind of the runaround, but Isaid I can help and address
every me kind of the run around.
But I said I can help andaddress every single one of
those besides contraception andbirth spacing, right, but I can,
(38:28):
I can address every single oneof those and I'm not afraid to
address them.
It's not just a physicalrecovery, they say health
maintenance, those you know withother comorbidities, diabetes
or some heart failures orsomething we can incorporate as
the medical training all thatinto there.
So I've addressed every singleone of those domains.
And so when I told him like,instead of people you know
filling up your schedules andyour list, like, send them on to
(38:50):
me and we can free up yourschedule and we can get the as
comprehensive and better care,really like right, because you
can look at the whole picture,whereas those six week sounds
like only half people get tothat, which is interesting.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
It's a quick touch point right.
They're like 10 minutes, 15minutes maybe and they I would
say they do not touch on nearlyall you know.
There's very few of thosethings they touch on.
So that is your role and you'regoing to see them.
Sounds like far before that bein contact before and after and
the continuity of care that youprovide yep so cool.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
That's why I love that quote that is awesome and
it's kind of dismal where we'reat right, like yep there's a lot
of work to do and you're,you're, you're doing that work,
which is amazing, so yeah, and II like that too that I coached
a lot of moms to be proactiveabout their their health care.
Um, I'd have some that wouldcome and complain that, yeah,
yeah, my OB never addressed anyof this.
I'm like, well, did you bringit up?
And they're like well, no, no,I was waiting for him to.
(39:44):
I'm like well let's, let'spractice, you know.
So we work on self-advocacyskills Like let's let'sadvocacy
is not a developmental skill.
It's a learned skill.
(40:04):
And so I would.
I would set self-advocacy goalsfor kids in the school district
when I was there, so yeah, solet's talk about how to and
having lists.
Anyways, I could keep going on.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Oh, I love it.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
That's let's let's be , let's be proactive about about
it.
Let's ask our birth providersthese questions and and be ready
to talk about them, instead ofjust saying like, oh, they
didn't bring it up, so I didn'tbring it up.
Well, I didn't know it was yeahso I've helped people prepare
for that postpartum visit aswell.
Yeah, saying what, what?
Speaker 2 (40:30):
questions to take what?
Yeah, I love that cool wellvoice.
I wish I was still havingbabies.
This sounds like a great.
I know a lot of people that are, but still having babies this
sounds like a great.
I know a lot of people that are.
But, yeah, um, I I appreciatethe service that you provide um
here in Utah and, um, yeah,hopefully, people, as people
learn about this, I hope theycan take advantage of that,
cause it sounds like it's it'sgoing to benefit their lives,
(40:51):
have a huge impact on not justthat postpartum recovery but all
of life.
So very cool.
Well, I appreciate the time.
It's been a lot of fun.
Well, thanks so much for beinghere with us Again.
This is Angie Rozier, closingup this podcast episode with
Royce Porter, who's anoccupational therapist serving
the people of Utah.
I hope you can go out today andmake some good human
(41:14):
connections, like contactsomeone, a virtually eye contact
If you can get physical contact.
Make a good connection, humanconnection, today and help
improve the life of someonearound you.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Thanks for being with us and we'll see you next time
thank you for listening to theordinaryinary Doula podcast with
Angie Rozier, hosted by BirthLearning.
(41:46):
Episode credits will be in theshow notes Tune in next time as
we continue to explore the manyaspects of giving birth.
Thank you,
Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with
Angie Rozier, hosted by BirthLearning, where we help prepare
folks for labor and birth withexpertise coming from 20 years
of experience in a busy doulapractice, helping thousands of
people prepare for labor,providing essential knowledge
(00:34):
and tools for positive andempowering birth experiences.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello and welcome to the Ordinary Doula podcast.
My name is Angie Rozier, I'myour host and today we have a
special guest with us.
I have with me today RoycePorter, and Royce is an
occupational therapist who has aspecial focus in perinatal care
.
So I'm going to let Royceintroduce himself and then we're
going to kind of talk throughwhat he does and the benefits it
(01:10):
can provide for those he workswith.
Royce, tell us a little bitabout yourself.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Thanks, Angie.
So, as you said, my name isRoyce Porter and occupational
therapist for 10 years.
Now I'm from the Salt LakeValley, but we lived out in
Roosevelt in eastern Utah for 10years and just recently have
moved back.
So my ending time out inRoosevelt I got to know an OB
really well out there andstarted exploring women's health
(01:36):
and worked with moms beforedelivery, during delivery.
After delivery I worked withmoms the day after birth in the
hospital.
But it felt like it was time tocome home to Salt Lake Valley.
So we just recently moved backthis last year and wanted to
keep doing the work that weenjoyed so much, and so we still
(01:57):
want to start our own kind ofperinatal therapy clinic.
So we have a clinic openinghere, a location here, soon in
the next month or so, butcurrently I'm doing home visits.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Okay, very cool.
All right, I love the homevisits piece.
We're going to come back tothat.
But as an occupationaltherapist, I think people are
familiar with or it's becomingmuch more common that people are
seeing a PT during a pelvicfloor PT specifically during
pregnancy.
Tell us about the differencebetween that service and
(02:30):
occupational therapy and kind ofhow they?
How does that intersect, maybe,with the cares that are already
out there?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yeah, so physical therapy is a sister career of
occupational therapy.
We do have a lot of the samegoals, but we kind of approach
it differently.
So I really focus on function,and function comes more from
than just your physical recovery.
A lot of it can do with sleep,nutrition, mental health,
(03:03):
overall well-being.
I mean there's just we approachit from every different angle.
So, and especially at this timeduring preparing for birth and
after birth, we want to makesure we do all of that.
It's hard to encompass all thatit comes into, but it's fun
because in the end it's whatevermy client wants.
(03:23):
One of the skills that we prideourselves in occupational
therapy is one analyzingactivities that are hard to be
doing, and then we figure outwhy we can't do that.
Is it because we don't have therange of motion or the strength
, or is it because you knowwe're tired all the time, we're
not getting the sleep that weneed, or we're just not getting
our nutrition that we need?
Or am I just going, going,going that I forget to take time
(03:44):
for myself?
So we analyze what you want todo, we listen, because every
person's different.
Every person has differentneeds and wants, and I see
myself as we are workingtogether to come up with your
plan.
You're hiring me as a coach, asa therapist, to help you up
(04:07):
with your plan.
You're hiring me as as a coach,as a therapist, to help you,
not you're not hiring me tosubscribe to my plan and my
services.
It's your plan, it's yourservices.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I'm just helping you along the way so you can
customize based on the needs ofyour client.
You can customize the care, theservice that is given yeah, and
it's just a variety of I meansocial wellness.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I've done, I've set goals and we've worked on social
wellness after having kids.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So this is a pretty like holistic.
We're looking at all parts ofthe person surrounding the
perinatal period.
It's a focus on physicalfunction, as that definitely
goes into emotional function andsocial function, as people
prepare for and recover fromchildbirth correct.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yeah yeah, so it's also kind of a little bit would
be.
I also call it behaviorretraining.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Sometimes even when we're pregnant, we sometimes
pick up maladaptive behavior,whether it be posture or just
holding things in with ourpelvic floor, you know, just
kind of squeezing everything.
We need to relax.
And so I have a firm beliefwith my approach that if we can
fix and adjust behaviors, then alot of times physical recovery
can take care of itself as well.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Oh, very cool, All right, so tell me and I know you
have you have participated in alot of this care yourself in
your life.
You've?
I want to.
I guess.
My next question is I want tohear the difference between what
you do and what a doula does.
I know those are differentcategories, but how do those
dovetail together?
If someone's using a doula, howare your services totally
(05:31):
different, or where do theyintersect?
Because you guys used doulawhen you had babies, right?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
We did yeah for our second and third one, we had
used a doula, so I don't want tospeak all for the scope of a
practice, of what doula canentail.
For sure there's going to besome overlap.
It's one of the fun things ofoccupational therapy is that we
get a little training ineverything.
So, working with a doula, mygoal is to support what training
and what you are providing.
Maybe with a little moremedical training that I have, I
(06:01):
can understand a little bit moreof what's going on the muscles,
the nerves, the body, how it'sreacting.
But in the end, when I'm workingwith a doula, I want to be able
to work alongside with a doulaand provide further care and,
you know, bounce ideas off eachother and work together and know
like feedback from each other,like hey, like you know, our
(06:23):
client is feeling overwhelmed.
You know if there's somethingthat you've been working on or
you know this, my mom, I have tohave talked to her.
She doesn't have any mealsready for after after having her
kid, or there's something wecan work on together, and so I
believe that collaboration hasbeen great.
I wouldn't have, I mean, withour second and third, without
our doula.
It wouldn't have been near thepositive experience it would
(06:46):
have been After our first onethe joke in our Facebook picture
that our family.
A lot of people commented onour Facebook picture saying that
why does Royce look more tiredthan you, rachel?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
He worked hard it was .
Speaker 3 (07:00):
It was 19 hours of counter pressures and holding
her and doing all the stuff thatwe got trained from a holistic
approach to delivery, which ismy wife's approach, and it was
exhausting.
I mean it was grateful I lovedit.
I have never seen a greaterdemonstration of human strength
than watching my wife give birth.
So then, with moving out toRoosevelt, where there weren't
(07:21):
as much access to such services,we sought out more of what a
doula was, and she helped withour second and third and, as a
support person, it made myexperience so much better so
that I could appreciate themoment, instead of being just
full of stress and trying tomanage now a kid we had at home
(07:42):
with you know, and trying tomanage now a kid we had at home
with you know, not with family,with neighbors, and then to
enjoy what we were experiencingtogether.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Okay, so it sounds like, and the doula role is
quite focused on that day orsometimes it's two days or
whatever.
Right, I've seen three and four,but the actual event right.
So doulas of course preparepeople physically, emotionally,
mentally, bring their teamtogether, support person, they
do the birth.
That's big.
And then the doula kind ofbacks out like they're still
available for some postpartumsupport, depending on, you know,
limited phone calls and thingslike that.
(08:19):
But the expertise then for thatrecovery piece especially, I
liked you said you're moremedical background in the
physical recovery, physical,emotional and mental.
That is more of your focus,correct?
Whereas a doula like hey, howyou doing, how's breastfeeding
going, how you know, we mightkind of process the birth.
But doulas, unless they're apostpartum doula, and even that
(08:39):
is limited to non-medical care,their follow through in
postpartum is limited, limitedto non-medical care, their
follow through and postpartum islimited, right, or?
shorter than maybe what you'relooking at, right, yeah, yeah.
So tell me, like your idealclient, like when would somebody
start services with someonewith your role?
So when somebody startsservices with you, what does
(09:01):
that look like?
When is your heavy on the?
You know, when are you, when'syour big focus on your services
with you?
What does that look like?
Um, when is your heavy on the?
You know when are you when?
When's your big focus on yourservices with clients?
Speaker 3 (09:08):
so to kind of walk us through what that might look
like so I love working with,with moms who who are pregnant
um I love preparing early inpregnancy are we talking like
first trimester?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
when do you when?
Do they, when do they come intoyour services?
Speaker 3 (09:23):
so, with everyone being so different, I I say,
when you start feeling likeyou're not being as functional
as you want, to be Okay,physically, emotionally
functional.
Okay.
So I've had people come in, youknow 12 weeks, 20 weeks, saying
like, hey, I'm a dog groomer, Ican't lift the dogs into the
bath anymore.
And so we've talked about okay,let's talk about how to lift
dogs in the bath the physicalpart of it Now.
(09:49):
A bath, the physical part of it.
Now.
Let's talk about adaptivestrategies.
How can we stand so we can tiltour pelvis the right way?
So I've had the 20 weeks.
Generally, I see more at thethird trimester time when we
start to get a little bigger andit starts to take a little more
strain on our bodies and ourpelvis.
And some get a little nervouswhen they start to feel or have
a history of diastasis recti andthey want to be a little more
proactive about it.
So at any point when someone isstarting to feel like they're
just not as functional and needa support, person with medical
training that they can go to andand work with.
(10:12):
I love preparing that and thosethat have come and worked with
me have done prenatal work.
Um, all of them have said thatthat delivery has gone smoother
if they've had a history of aprevious, not saying that it
can't be a 100 causation, youknow right, there's just as you
know with in birth, you justcan't prepare for every
(10:33):
situation.
But, right, we give it the bestchance for it okay, so.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So I hear some um, this is awesome because you know
, some of our clients have maybephysically demanding jobs that
they need to work in up untildelivery or thereabouts, right?
So I mean, if you're a schoolteacher or a nurse or a I had a
dance teacher, several danceteachers actually, lately, and
they're teaching dance classesright through their pregnancy or
(10:59):
there's so many different rolesthat like employment roles,
right, or professional rolesthat are our clients that
pregnant people are going to befilling.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
So what your, what your services can do, is help
them do their job morecomfortably throughout their
pregnancy, like on a physicalcomfort level, and then you pull
in other things as well yeahexactly so that's so cool that's
the basis of our our therapy,and we get a lot of people think
, when they hear occupationaltherapy, we think it's just jobs
, but it's really just thethings that occupy your time is
(11:28):
what we focus on.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
How you function in the day.
Yep so brushing your teeth toyeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
To doing anything.
I mean, those are kind of thelow level wishes, typically what
occupational therapists arethought of.
You know, help people getdressed, help people brush their
teeth.
But I love working with peoplewith higher aspirations and
goals that really want to likethis is.
I know I can do more.
I want help supporting this.
I want a professional problemsolver to really help me with
this and I've analyzed so manydifferent activities.
(11:53):
I've worked with dancers.
I've worked with office jobs.
I've worked with stay-at-homemoms.
I worked with anyone pickleballplayers, the guys.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Anyone Okay anyone pickleball players, the guys,
anyone.
Okay, I love that because a lotof the what we would call
common not normal, but commoncomplaints of pregnancy and the
physical, like my sciatic nervesome people are like I can't
walk anymore Symphysis, pubis ispain, like a lot of those
(12:21):
common things that you know asyou dig into it you can't.
There are solutions to a lot ofthese things.
So care from OT.
Okay, awesome, Awesome, allright.
So baby's born.
Everything shifts now to infantcare.
But there's like recovery.
Recovery is legit, likerecovery from any kind of birth
right, Smooth, short, simple,awesome to very long, difficult,
(12:45):
arduous cesareans, vbacs.
Like every birth, regardless ofhow it goes, is going to have a
serious recovery period whichneeds to be taken seriously, in
my opinion.
So tell me what that looks likein the postpartum recovery.
Seems like that can be a veryimportant piece in postpartum
recovery.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
It certainly is, and this is a point, like you said,
I love.
The point of this is more thanjust physical.
When I would work with moms theday after birth in the hospital
, I especially would hit uppostpartum depression, anxiety,
baby blues, and I would workwith moms to make sure they have
a plan.
Someone would say like, oh,I've heard of this, I don't know
(13:25):
what it all entails, but I'mkind of scared for it, and so we
talk about the plan that can bethere.
So that's one of the advantagesI have with doing in-home
visits is I can be there withinthe first week.
And just talking about how areyou doing getting up out of bed,
getting to the toilet, gettingyour things.
You have support people readyfor you.
Let's show you a little saferway to do things.
Let's talk about how you'refeeling and about those
(13:46):
postpartum and potentially start, you know, and recommend
referrals to mental healthclinicians or to you know let's
give your, let's give yourmedical or your birthing
provider a call.
Let's, let's give them, let'sgive them that talk and and I've
had so many people that justbeen appreciative I've had a lot
of people just with tears cometo their eyes when we talk about
it.
You know, even those.
I love working with those whohave a history of maybe some
(14:08):
anxiety or depression Um cause.
Then I will try to empower themby saying like, listen, like
you've already dealt with this,for I mean, it's different, but
you've already had some.
You've learned some skills,you've learned some strategies
that helped you.
So you're far and beyond,you're more prepared than others
who haven't even experiencedanxiety or depression before.
So, let's use those skills.
So yeah, when we get into thatand then we kind of follow up on
(14:30):
that.
But then I just love, you know,at four weeks or so three, four
weeks just start doing somebasic stretches just to start to
open that body.
We're not exercising really toomuch yet, so that way we can
help the body recover faster.
That's what I've had.
Moms who worked with me in thepast have said that we've.
(14:52):
I just enjoy the fact that Iremember the very first one I
worked with was her thirdC-section and she said I have
just, I've recovered faster thanany other C-section that I've
had.
I'm 30 years old and I can'tbelieve that this is so much
better.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I wish I wasn't anticipating that.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
So I love C-sections.
I love helping, you know, weget some tension in there.
I love helping break up thescar tissue with that C-section
scars, you know do some rollingon the skin to get some
separation from the dermis andeverything underneath if we're
feeling constipated, you know.
And just teaching bowelmanagement techniques and you
know again, it's I try to.
The best way for me to tell mewhat I do is to tell stories of
(15:30):
those that I've worked with,because it's so hard to
encompass all of all of whatI've done, because I've just had
so much fun, and that's what'sfun about it is that it's
everyone is so different,everyone has different goals and
then just empowering them to.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
And everyone is so different Everyone has different
goals and then just empoweringthem to get it back going.
Okay, so tell us a favoritestory of yours.
You know a client success story.
What's?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
one of your favorite situations that you've been able
to provide services for.
That's a tough one, but I'lltell you one, your top three.
One that pops to my mind rightnow.
I've had a mom who heard aboutme on Facebook and she reached
out to me and she's like I ameight months postpartum.
My OB says I have prolapse.
Intercourse is painful for me.
(16:16):
I pee my pants all the time.
I think she was a C-section aswell, so she would come in
because she loved me doing theC-section scar massage.
She just loved the feeling onthat.
She loved how she has diastasisrecti constantly.
She had about everything, Iguess.
Um, her insurance at that timeonly allowed six visits so we
(16:38):
really rushed, not rushed.
We made sure to cover all thebases, to get teacher to the
skills that we could have so shecould go on her own afterwards.
Um, but she left pain-freeintercourse, was able to control
her bladder was able to justenjoy um life again.
And she, I don't know that was a.
(16:58):
That was a really fun one, thateverything really got me going
at the beginning you.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
You can see the impact that that has.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Very cool.
So this eight months postpartumright, that's I mean you can?
How far out postpartum can youhelp people Like probably years
right yeah, I mean as long as Imean again, you're not
functional.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You're peeing your pants, or right.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
A lot of constipation , same thing yeah, so many
people I know I'm getting closeto, I'm in my high 40s at this
point, um, so postpartum is longbehind me.
But I do have so manycolleagues and friends around my
similar age who say that, again, common, but but not normal
dysfunction, right, so bladderbowel, yep, okay.
(17:42):
So you can help not just yourpregnant people, but those who,
anyone who has the effects ofpregnancy, postpartum years,
even.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yep, I just finished working with uh.
She was in her mid forties andshe knew that it was time to be
discharged from therapy.
When she said that her husbandmade the comment that she's like
I know I haven't heard thatyou've peed your pants in a
while.
Success.
She's like that was one of mygoals and so she had that goal.
And then she's like I thinkwe're done here.
I'm like that sounds great.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Okay, so you say, like I heard you say, six visits
, what I know.
Every case is so different, butwalk us through.
It sounds like you can servepeople at so many different
points of life, which is awesome.
But if you have a pregnantperson let's say you have a
pregnant client they're pregnant, they meet you, maybe second
trimester.
(18:31):
What are visits?
Frequency of visits, when do wetime those visits before birth
and then after birth, and howmany are we looking at?
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Yeah, so it's all.
Uh, it's hard to because it'sso individualized.
Some, some people feel likethey need more support, right?
For example, we all know thatwe need to diet and exercise,
but sometimes we need to go talkto a nutritionist and talk to a
personal trainer just to kindof give that for us, and so some
people need more of the support.
So weekly visits um beforehandare really supportive.
(19:00):
Some are just like you know, Ijust need someone to really talk
to run through some things.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
And so I'm going to come so they can drive, like
they can drive their needs andkind of it's different, okay.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
So I again.
I see people who want to hireme, as they're hiring me to help
them.
They're not hiring me from themto follow my plan, like I am
here for you, customized tohiring me from them to follow my
plan, like I am here for you,so customized to the needs?
Yep, and I'm not going topressure anyone to because,
again, my my whole goal.
So my business is calledempowered health and wellness,
because I want my clients tofeel empowered afterwards, like
(19:33):
I'm here and I can't call myselfa coach, but I'm the therapist
who's wants to to give.
Have you gained those skillsunderstanding so that when we
have future problems or issueswe know what to do, because we
were trained how to do that.
So so yeah, before, beforebirth, you know it depends on
what person in the cup.
That one person came in at 20weeks.
She came then and then she cameonce a month and the tail, the
(19:56):
very end that she came a coupleof times.
Um.
Another was a ran cross countryat Utah State.
She came every week from herthird trimester on because she
was really she had a history ofthe diastasis recti and then had
the umbilical hernia, but thensay we don't do any of that.
And then we start seeing peopleafter.
Whereas I like to check in ifwe can as early as we can, just
(20:18):
because I want that earlycheck-in, I've had people
comment how they enjoy he justhaving someone to talk to,
because they don't unless theyhave the obi will say, if you
have any issues, give me a call,but how many are actually going
to give a call?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
and when you do call, you don't talk to your ob,
right?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
yeah, yeah so I've been there for that um and then
you know, we start up four weeksand then usually, if it's
everything kind of a standardand things are going well,
usually four to six visitsafterwards.
But I've had people who didextensive work maybe beforehand
and we only had just a couple ofvisits afterwards.
And then again, it all dependson aspirations and goals.
(20:55):
So I've had some people we getto that fourth or fifth visit
and they're like you know what,I'm not peeing my pants.
I feel like I've gained theskills that I need.
I've exercised a lot before.
I think I feel good about goingon from here.
Sounds great, like we can bedone.
I'm not going to pressure youto do any more and then others
will say, like you know what?
I used to run a lot.
(21:17):
So I want to keep comingbecause I want to keep asking
questions and following up andgetting back to where they want
to be.
Yeah, so everyone has differentlevels of of aspirations and
expectations and again, I letthem drive it how they want it.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Very cool.
I love that.
All right, so what this is like, I don't know.
This is awesome.
I think.
What a cool service that canaffect the whole lifespan.
Right, this is a uh over a long.
This isn't just a one visittype of thing generally, but
sounds like over a longer periodof time we can make a huge
impact.
So, all right, royce, like,tell me what it's like being a
(21:54):
man in this space like this.
This is, you know, women'shealth care, maternal care um,
many of our providers you knowthere's a, there's plenty of
male OBs, like that's common.
But tell me what it's likebeing a man in this space.
I know you've been through thispersonally yourself, like with
the children you and your wifehave had.
But tell me what that's like.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
It's different.
It comes with some roadblocks.
It's just a natural thing.
Being a man working in women'scare, you know sometimes I get
people asking me why I do it inthe first place, and I've just.
I have such the utmost respectfor anyone who's willing to,
let's say, sacrifice theirbodies or have their bodies go
(22:34):
through a traumatic experienceto bring life into the world
Like again.
I love watching sports, I lovewatching anything but the.
Still, the greatestdemonstration of human strength
I've ever seen is my wife givingbirth and someone who's willing
to go through that I have somuch respect for, and so to be
able to help a population thatmay feel like they're being
overlooked or forgotten about.
(22:56):
You know, we've heard manypeople talk about how I give
birth and then, all of a sudden,everything's about my baby.
Now, nothing's about me anymore.
I don't feel like that's thecase, and so I've seen such
turnaround, such joy come backinto people's lives because of
this, where at one point theyfelt like you know, for one lady
(23:19):
, I'm a school teacher and I'mpeeing my pants all the time
like I don't.
I have to have a spare clothesin my backpack when I go to
school because I can't managethis and finding those, those,
those tweaks, those to the day.
and you know, for her, we sether a bathroom schedule that she
could follow while she wasteaching and then she comes back
(23:40):
the next week saying I'm notpainting my pants anymore
because now I know how to holdin my urine, how to void all my
urine, how to you know when togo, and so just those, you know.
Sometimes that's what it is.
I've had some people come infor just a couple of visits
because I'm like okay, likehere's how we here, here is the
behavior we're not doing welland here's how we fix that.
(24:01):
And I've had people come backsaying that's, that was it.
Like I had a mom come in withsome.
She thought it was some carpaltunnel, but it was really some
ulnar nerve pain.
And after talking with her andhaving her show me because I'm a
functional therapist what she'sbeen doing at home, I found out
that she was lifting her carseat into her car wrong, and so
I was able to show her somestretches to help with with
(24:25):
those muscles, with the nerves,some ulnar nerve glides and some
other stretches.
And then I'm like, let'spractice how to put in your car
seat correctly, and so we showedher a different way to grip it,
how to hold it, the bodymechanics, and then she comes
back a couple of weeks later fora follow-up and she's like the
pain's gone.
That was it.
So sometimes it's just.
I don't know.
I hope that's now.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I'm going on tangents , but I hope that answers the
question about being a male,absolutely okay, yeah, yeah,
that's cool, um, and I thinkthere definitely is place, uh,
definitely a place for that,which I think.
Thank you for doing this work.
That's amazing.
And then you brought up for metoo, like, um, what an.
I think a lot of people want anapproach that's not surgery or
(25:06):
medication first, right, likelet's see what we can approach
ahead of that to avoid those um,bigger procedural, um or
pharmaceutical fixes.
so a lot of what you can do justwith adjustments in life can
help with that Very cool,correct Yep.
Okay, awesome.
Another question like pelvicfloor PT, a lot of people are
(25:29):
getting services from pelvicfloor PT.
Now, how does this, how's thisdifferent?
Like tell you know, walkthrough, how are we totally two
different animals here?
Like tell me what that lookslike.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
So that's where I got my start was studying pelvic
floor, so this is a lot of whatwe do as well, but an approach
that I have that I got from myclinic out in Roosevelt was I
don't do any internal work.
For some that have really feltlike that's what they need, I've
been able to pass them on toother pelvic floor therapists
who do internal work.
(26:02):
But again, my, my business isempowered health and wellness,
because I want to be able toempower those to be able to
manage their own, and so I'vebeen able to go on their own.
Yeah, yeah, so that was a I meangranted at some point.
At some points, some cases,there needs to be some internal
work to do some diagnosing.
But I've been able to coachmoms to use pelvic wands to kind
(26:23):
of relieve their tension andkind of feel what's on there.
I have most of my clients do ifthey want to as well, we bring
it up a self-examination.
I have a kind of a four-optionmethod for those that can go
home and do their ownexamination.
They come back and tell me whatthat feels like.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Again empowered.
Right, they're empowering themin their own health, yeah, cool.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
So dilators again, I have coupon codes and whatnot
for different dilators andequipment that you can get and
there's great YouTube videos outthere and I'm a resource to ask
.
And if I don't know, I haveplenty of mentors I have across
this who have supported me.
That that I love when I wereach out and talk to each other
, with each other.
So I cause again say we, wework on this right and we feel a
(27:11):
lot better.
But then a couple of years downthe road we may forget some of
our habits, we slip intoprevious habits and then we're
like okay, I remember the steps,I have my pelvic wand still,
like I can go and work on thesethings.
So I don't need to go back anddo pelvic floor therapy because
I know how to do it myself.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Right, cool, okay Awesome.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Yeah, that's my approach.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Okay.
And then home visits.
Tell me about home visits.
I think you know, as I work asa postpartum doula and lactation
consultant and I do home visits, you know in those two
categories but I see people sooften they have to.
They get home from the hospital.
They got to get out the doorthe next day at a certain time,
get to a pediatricianappointment or maybe there's a
(27:54):
chiropractic appointment they'regoing to, or hopefully they
don't have to go back to thehospital or their provider yet.
But sometimes there's a lot.
We impose a lot of appointmentson immediate postpartum people
that are challenging to meet.
So the fact that you offer homevisits in the comfort of their
home with those around them,right, like it's hard to haul
(28:15):
everyone off to the doctor'soffice or whatever clinic visit
we're doing, so they can havetheir support person there they
can have.
You know the babies are, you'reseeing how they're moving in
their own space, right?
How are they getting?
What is their bed?
Are they hiking up a ladder totheir bed?
And I honestly have had clientson bunk beds.
One particular client her bedit was a queen and she would
(28:36):
hike up to her bunk bed and I'mlike, wow, okay, that's a neat
place to do postpartum.
So when you see them, I imaginewhen you see that, first of all,
the benefit of not having to goanywhere with a newborn and we
say now stay home, take goodcare of yourself and then come
to these appointments and in ourculture and society I'm gonna
get off on a tangent if I'm notcareful we want people to get
(29:06):
right back to it.
Right, like you're at soccer onSaturday, you're, you know
you're at work three weeks laterin some cases, like um, get
right back at it.
There's demands of life thatour postpartum recovery is so
short, way too short.
So talk to me about home visitsLike I.
That is so enticing, I think,and what a great service.
But tell me about that a littlebit.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah, so I love going to people's homes.
I love seeing clients in theirnatural context.
That's the fun of it.
So you know being a functionaltherapist in a clinic setting,
which is great too.
Some people love the feeling ofthe clinic setting, but we
simulate what home may be like.
We say like okay, here's theskills, we're practicing them
Right.
Here's how you sit on a toilet,like now, go home and tell me
(29:43):
what that feels like where youknow at home, we can see what
your toilet exactly right.
We can see what your bathroomset up is like, how we get on
off our toilet, how we get inand out of our bed, how we
manage our kitchen, how we doall the stairs.
A lot of people are livingupstairs, downstairs, right like
yeah, couches, beds, yeah, kindof all that context of the
environment plus the comfort ofnot having to pack up and go,
(30:05):
yeah, and just feeling that.
And so I mean I, part of mytraining out in Roosevelt and
rural Utah, did home health formost my time out there.
So, and I've done pediatrictherapy as well, like I've have,
I've done, I've done pediatrictherapy as well, like I've have,
I've done, I've done everything.
So even if there's questionsabout development or like how my
(30:25):
kids functioning or how my kidsdeveloping, those are, again
I'm not for me.
So one thing I haven't talkedabout so I'm, as a cash-based
business, I'm not takinginsurance and I'm not tied down
to what an insurance company istelling me to do or tied down to
what a doctor is telling me todo.
So in a typical hospital setting.
If I seek insurancereimbursement, I have to stick
(30:46):
to what the diagnosis says andwhat the insurance says is
allowable.
But, in this setting I'm ableto.
You know I have-.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Full services.
Nothing's inhibiting yourservices.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Yeah, so I can practice the top of my license
so we can again to about earlyintervention and just kind of
the developmental stages my kiddoing what reflex testing so you
can pull some baby stuff intothis, like I can't.
I haven't an area that I'vemarketed it much as well, but
it's been.
I mean it's it's trainings thatI have.
I have the resources.
It's not my again primary focus,but I've had to do that in
(31:18):
roosevelt because there weren'tthere wasn't an therapist to
work with young kids and so theywould come in and see me and I
pull out my books and trainingand sit down and let's figure
this out together and let's gothrough this and let's
soundboard and so, yeah, I can,I'm willing to do and able to do
just about, just about anything.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
And I can also see where this will be beneficial
for breastfeeding moms.
I, as a lactation consultant, Iget people often and I I am not
I mean, I'm a trained lactationconsultant, of course, but um,
and I try to get good support ofthe wrist and the hand and so
many people with breastfeedingyou spend a good deal of time
holding something that's sevenor eight pounds right in front
of your body, right?
so people have like oh, my back,I didn't know I had that muscle
(31:59):
and I'm aching here and thereum same thing dad, sometimes,
like just from holding that babyor rocking that baby, getting
that baby back to sleep, arehaving some you know physical
discomfort that they're talkingabout.
So I imagine, uh, what you workthe work you do as well will
enhance the breastfeedingexperience on a physical comfort
level, right and functionallevel.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Okay, yeah, I just the client I'm working with
right now.
She um one of them.
She said that you know when thefirst visits or second visits
once she got the idea of oneoccupational therapist is like
she brought up back pain duringnursing, so we brought up a
couple of different tactics tohelp with that um, and again we
come back the next visit andshe's all like, yeah, they're
(32:41):
not hurting anymore.
Now that I kind of know what todo afterwards.
So it's again sometimes justthose tips.
But we learned that then andthen she brought it the next
week.
Here's another functionalquestion I have.
What do I do with thissituation?
Like, oh, I love thesequestions, let's talk about it,
let's figure this out.
I come back the next week.
She's like yeah, that's not aproblem anymore.
Now let's talk about this one.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, let's move on to get better and better all the
time.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
So cool.
Oh, what a great service.
Okay, this as I've been doingthis work for over 20 years and
I love to see, as we'reexpanding services, that things
become normal, right, like as wedo look at the whole picture,
the whole lifespan of the womanhaving a baby.
I love that you can provideservices for people years
(33:23):
postpartum.
I can see a huge benefit topeople who are in their 40s and
50s and having you know commonbut unusual.
You know physical effects, fromsexual dysfunction to
incontinence, bowel or bladder.
That's awesome as well.
And, of course, you know Iguess my passion is the
(33:43):
perinatal period as well.
So, I love to learn aboutadditional services, just to
improve this time of life forpeople.
Royce, how can people reach you?
Are you comfortable sharinglike how people might be able to
reach out to you?
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Yeah, so I guess empoweredcliniccom is my website
.
Um, by, I have a contact formon there.
I do free consultations, sothere's a form on there you can
fill out.
Uh, you can call or text me,you know, 801-215-9789.
And we can set up a time thatway to do a consultation on
(34:21):
Facebook.
I'm Empowered Health andWellness, so it's around.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Okay, they can find you Okay and then do you do any
virtual work If folks liveoutside of your service area, if
they're far away and we do havea national and international
audience too for this podcast,so do you do any virtual work?
Is that something?
That's?
What can you provide virtually,if anything?
Speaker 3 (34:43):
yep, so I can provide the virtually as long right now
as it's within our state okay,so in the state of utah, yep so
we have in it, but for those whoare nationally, you still reach
out um I can find you places,especially occupational
therapists, within the area goodreferrals but we do have an
interstate compact coming out,hopefully rolling out this
summer, where I can serve Ithink last I count was there's
(35:07):
31 States in this compact allowsme to serve others.
So just within the licensurelaws I have to stay right now
within my state.
But for those listening now orat later times, reach out, cause
again, I have networks ofoccupational therapists around
the nation that.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I've already found some in Florida for other people
, so it's cool, okay and good toknow that this, this service
from occupational therapists isavailable.
I don't I don't think, as I'veworked with thousands of
families, I don't think peoplesay, oh, my OT, so I love that
that's becoming available forpeople.
That is incredible, because Ilove the full span it looks at
(35:43):
to help, service and improvelives.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
So I love it too.
I've had so much fun with it.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I love and I can feel , as we've spoken before as well
, I love the passion you havefor this work and thank you for
doing this work.
It's important.
It's important work this periodof life and for women's health
care.
Any parting thoughts, roy, anylast things you want to leave as
we wrap things up?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
I just I want to express gratitude for this.
Like it's just, I love talkingabout why I love what I do, so I
love that fact.
But I do want to end with aquote.
This is the quote that I thinkgot me into women's health in
the sense of once I read this toour obstetrician in roosevelt
(36:26):
he was fully on board with it.
So this is a quote from theamerican college of obstetrics
and gynecology.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
This is their recommendation good old a cog
yep, yep so it says to opt.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
It's a little bit long but I I try to shorten it,
but it still encompasses anywayslet's hear it yeah.
To optimize the health of womenand infants, postpartum care
should be an ongoing processrather than a single encounter,
with services and supporttailored to each woman's
individual needs.
It is recommended that allwomen have contact with their
obstetrician, gynecologist orother obstetric care providers
(37:00):
within the first three weekspostpartum.
That summer sometimes doesn'thappen.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Right Hardly ever, I would think.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
So here it continues to say that the initial
assessment should be followed upwith ongoing care as needed,
concluding with a comprehensivepostpartum visit no later than
12 weeks after birth.
Again, that, more often thannot, does not happen.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
The comprehensive part.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Even my obstetrician that I was with.
He said he had about 50% of hismoms come back for the six week
of follow-up.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Really.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
Wow.
And then, as I've gotten intomore research, that number
supports national numbers aswell, interesting.
And so I have some moms thatsay, like I'm feeling fine, I
don't feel like I need to goback in.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Yeah, interesting.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
To finish the quote, it says the comprehensive
postpartum visit should includea full assessment of physical,
social and psychologicalwellbeing, including the
following domains.
So here's all the domains thatshould be in that 12 week visit
Mood and emotional wellbeing,infant care and feeding,
sexuality, contraception andbirth spacing, sleep and fatigue
, physical recovery from birth,chronic disease management and
(38:06):
health maintenance.
So I asked him like I goes,how's that postpartum with
comprehensive visit that yourACOG is is recommending?
And he's like well, you know,if they come and gave me the
kind of the runaround, but Isaid I can help and address
every me kind of the run around.
But I said I can help andaddress every single one of
those besides contraception andbirth spacing, right, but I can,
(38:28):
I can address every single oneof those and I'm not afraid to
address them.
It's not just a physicalrecovery, they say health
maintenance, those you know withother comorbidities, diabetes
or some heart failures orsomething we can incorporate as
the medical training all thatinto there.
So I've addressed every singleone of those domains.
And so when I told him like,instead of people you know
filling up your schedules andyour list, like, send them on to
(38:50):
me and we can free up yourschedule and we can get the as
comprehensive and better care,really like right, because you
can look at the whole picture,whereas those six week sounds
like only half people get tothat, which is interesting.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
It's a quick touch point right.
They're like 10 minutes, 15minutes maybe and they I would
say they do not touch on nearlyall you know.
There's very few of thosethings they touch on.
So that is your role and you'regoing to see them.
Sounds like far before that bein contact before and after and
the continuity of care that youprovide yep so cool.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
That's why I love that quote that is awesome and
it's kind of dismal where we'reat right, like yep there's a lot
of work to do and you're,you're, you're doing that work,
which is amazing, so yeah, and II like that too that I coached
a lot of moms to be proactiveabout their their health care.
Um, I'd have some that wouldcome and complain that, yeah,
yeah, my OB never addressed anyof this.
I'm like, well, did you bringit up?
And they're like well, no, no,I was waiting for him to.
(39:44):
I'm like well let's, let'spractice, you know.
So we work on self-advocacyskills Like let's let'sadvocacy
is not a developmental skill.
It's a learned skill.
(40:04):
And so I would.
I would set self-advocacy goalsfor kids in the school district
when I was there, so yeah, solet's talk about how to and
having lists.
Anyways, I could keep going on.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Oh, I love it.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
That's let's let's be , let's be proactive about about
it.
Let's ask our birth providersthese questions and and be ready
to talk about them, instead ofjust saying like, oh, they
didn't bring it up, so I didn'tbring it up.
Well, I didn't know it was yeahso I've helped people prepare
for that postpartum visit aswell.
Yeah, saying what, what?
Speaker 2 (40:30):
questions to take what?
Yeah, I love that cool wellvoice.
I wish I was still havingbabies.
This sounds like a great.
I know a lot of people that are, but still having babies this
sounds like a great.
I know a lot of people that are.
But, yeah, um, I I appreciatethe service that you provide um
here in Utah and, um, yeah,hopefully, people, as people
learn about this, I hope theycan take advantage of that,
cause it sounds like it's it'sgoing to benefit their lives,
(40:51):
have a huge impact on not justthat postpartum recovery but all
of life.
So very cool.
Well, I appreciate the time.
It's been a lot of fun.
Well, thanks so much for beinghere with us Again.
This is Angie Rozier, closingup this podcast episode with
Royce Porter, who's anoccupational therapist serving
the people of Utah.
I hope you can go out today andmake some good human
(41:14):
connections, like contactsomeone, a virtually eye contact
If you can get physical contact.
Make a good connection, humanconnection, today and help
improve the life of someonearound you.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Thanks for being with us and we'll see you next time
thank you for listening to theordinaryinary Doula podcast with
Angie Rozier, hosted by BirthLearning.
(41:46):
Episode credits will be in theshow notes Tune in next time as
we continue to explore the manyaspects of giving birth.
Thank you,
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