Practice overview
My gymnastics and acrobatic experience at Cirque du Soleil demanded my focus around quick recovery in order to perform optimally.
Thus, I married my two passions by using my experience and knowledge in recovery and my desire to help postpartum mothers to create The Atlanta Postpartum Doula.
With my kinesiology background and my love for natural modalities, I created a philosophy of care centered around the body's physiological design.
I honor the traditional systems that women have been using for thousands of years all around the world and rooted my care around these four pillars to ensure a smooth transition after birth: Recovery, nutrition, body work, community. We want women to thrive, not just survive the postpartum period. This is the standard, not just for a select few individuals.
Additionally, I use evidence-based information and believe in working alongside parents to develop the necessary knowledge, skills, and resources for a successful journey into parenthood.
Sydney
July 21, 2022 at 11:01 am | Client reviewMelissa was a great resource and support for us with our little one! I really struggled initially with anxiety and feeling very uncertain about what was normal/not normal, and she was just tremendously reassuring and affirming. She was also very knowledgeable and supportive, and gave us lots of good tips and ideas. I highly recommend her!
Daniella
July 23, 2022 at 10:51 am | Client reviewIt is my absolute privilege to write a recommendation for Melissa Fernandez, the only difficulty will be keeping this brief and not becoming overwhelmingly verbose. It didn’t take more than 5 minutes into our initial meeting with Melissa that we knew we would be hiring her as our doula. She was personable, warm, caring, empathetic and really listened to our story, our journey and our wants and needs. She gave us insightful responses which were clearly individualized and personal and not canned responses…we knew right away we would be in great care. Melissa went out of her way on many occasions to help us with unexpected circumstances, stressful situations, and the millions of questions new parents have all while delivering her care with patience, kindness, understanding and love. To say we felt safe with Melissa, and knew our daughter was safe with her, would be the highest compliment we could possibly bestow on someone and this was most certainly the case. In our most fragile and unsure time we entrusted a part of our lives, our privacy, our family to her…and she met and exceeded every expectation we had. If we ever had another child Melissa would be our first call…and frankly we have called her many times since and she has always offered her help even if outside the purview of her responsibilities. Melissa would be an amazing addition to any team and would add immense value to any organization or group. You would be lucky to have her, I know we certainly did.
Nikki
July 27, 2022 at 11:03 am | Client reviewMelissa was just what our family needed as we prepared to embark on what would be the biggest blessing of our life so far. I knew what the books said to do to prepare for a new baby but Melissa helped me weed they that information and do what was just right for us. She helped me organize and know what I had and needed, hence, making a registry an easy process. Once our daughter arrived, she was there to assist with the transition without a hitch. She helped me learn to feed our daughter, bathe our daughter, swaddle her, calm her- you name it. She listened to my worries and helped keep up with the household chores while we were soaking in every moment with our new addition. I honestly don’t know how people do it- everyone needs a Melissa.