The Whole Way Doula Services helps new mothers

Sara Sites is passionate that women know they have choices when it comes to childbirth.
The 32-year-old mother of two young sons, Jack, 5, and Wyatt, 2, said she was not happy about how the birth of her oldest son was handled.
The Venetia resident said people naturally assume women will take painkillers during labor and give birth in a hospital. But, it was the 2008 documentary, “The Business of Being Born,” that convinced Sites she would have a natural childbirth for her second child.
“I found the documentary enlightening,” Sites said. “It really opened my eyes and sparked my interest in natural childbirth.”
And that interest led to the formation of The Whole Way Doula Services, a yoga, childbirth education, breastfeeding and doula service business. Sites’ partners in the venture include Debbie Vignovic, owner of The Whole Way Yoga Studio in Mt. Lebanon and Michelle Zoric-Chenevert, a Peters Township teacher and certified childbirth educator.
“I became really passionate about the benefits of prenatal yoga and could see how it was genuinely helping the mamas who regularly came to class while pregnant,” Vignovic said.
“It is a way for me personally at the grassroots level to facilitate change in the American approach to pregnancy and birth,” she said.
Sites, who studied advertising at Penn State, said it was she and her partners’ mutual interest in health and children that drew them together and led to the formation of their business. Most of their services and classes are held at The Whole Way Yoga studio on Broadmoor Avenue, said Sites, who handles the company’s marketing and serves as the company’s spokesperson. Whole Way was formed in August.
Sites and Zoric-Chenevert are in the process of becoming DONA (Doulas of North America) certified. It takes four years to earn DONA certification, Sites said. Zoric-Chenevert declined to be interviewed.
Sites teaches classes on motherhood-related topics such as “Thriving in Your Changing Body,” which includes advice on how to prep skin to accommodate a pregnancy, exercises to strengthen abdominal muscles and how to get hormones under control. And in “The Art of Babywearing,” Sites talks about different kinds of baby carriers, breastfeeding and baby wearing techniques, and how baby wearing makes life easier. It also offers childbirth classes; one that is eight weeks and a shorter version with the same amount of information. Classes are typically $50 each.
“If you are going to climb Mt. Everest, you need a Sherpa,” she said. “Someone needs to be there to guide you.” In addition, she hosts a monthly gathering called Café Au Lait, where new mothers can get together and share their experiences.
Sites said women who are pregnant go through a myriad of emotions and have a lot of unanswered questions. This is where a doula, an experienced and trained provider, can prove invaluable, she said.
The Whole Way’s doula services are structured so the doula can be there during the birth to offer advice and emotional support to the mother and her partner. After the birth, the doula can help young mothers learn to care for their newborns and also assist in such tasks as running errands and meal preparation.
Whole Way offers a variety of packages; from $400 to $2,100, which includes unlimited prenatal yoga, a childbirth class and eight post-natal classes. It costs around $600 to hire a birth doula, according to The Whole Way. Its full doula package runs $720. Because Sites is not yet DONA certified, she is charging $500.
Sites said The Whole Way doula can come to the client, or can be available by phone, or even on Skype. It’s whatever the client wants, she said.