Whole Momma Wellness

✨Client Testimonial✨

“Madison was truly incredible to have by my side throughout my first pregnancy. She was always there, ready to answer my questions, offer suggestions, or to just be a listening ear when I needed it. Her Reiki room was so inviting and I always left feeling ten times better than I did going in. Madison had such a huge impact on my pregnancy and birth and I couldn’t thank her enough. I never felt like I was paying her for a service, she just became a friend to me and such an amazing added support system that I never knew I needed. Everyone needs a Madison in their lives!”

Photo by the amazing Emily Felton who supported this momma at Sacred Roots when two of my client’s babies wanted to have the same birthday!

✨Gratitude post✨

I am incredibly thankful to be 15 weeks pregnant with our miracle baby girl. Thankful for the self growth and the community (and family) that helped me, nudged me, and cheered me on to get to this place. We are truly blessed and I don’t want to lose sight of that. We have been waiting for this little angel for years, and it is not lost on me the privilege it is to be able to nourish her and be her mother.

🤲🏼 In my Reiki practice, I am consistently amazed as I witness the extraordinary results that arise from the synergy of intention and trust. These elements are the driving force behind the profound impacts of Reiki therapy, which include the powerful potential to:

✨Release and heal stored trauma within the body.

✨Alleviate fear associated with the birthing process.

✨Foster confidence and faith on the journey to conception.

✨Assist in positioning the baby optimally for birth.

✨Establish a profound connection between one’s body and their baby.

✨Support full-term pregnancies naturally start labor, potentially reducing the need for induction.

✨Aid mothers in processing and healing from past traumatic birth experiences.

✨Promote postpartum emotional balance and physical strength.

🌟Now accepting new clients, AND make sure to be on the lookout for an exciting new holistic care bundle!

🌟I tend to book 2-3 weeks out, so if you are interested, please visit my website or message me if you would like to get on the schedule. I look forward to working with you!

A growing business requires attention, patience, a huge learning curve, and incredible amount of time and devotion.

I would (seriously) not be able to do any of it without Neal. He is often tireless working behind the scenes at Whole Momma Wellness. If I have an idea or vision, he makes it happen. When I often don’t understand how something works, he teaches me, or helps me learn. I’m so incredibly thankful!

I’m excited to introduce the new website home for Whole Momma Wellness. This has been a collaborative process for the both of us over the past couple of months, and now it’s ready to share!

Thanks for being here, and following along as we continue to grow. It’s been a really wonderful journey to walk and to share.

Home | Madison Mellencamp Doula Services Madison Mellencamp is the wellness practitioner behind Wholemommawellness.com. She is an Indianapolis-based birth and postpartum doula and offers yoga, reiki, and holistic health coaching.

Client Testimonial 7/13/23

“I truly don’t have the words to describe how thankful I am that I had Madison as my doula. I am very much a “knowledge is power” type of person and Madison helped my feel completely ready for labor and delivery. She put so much energy into educating me and my husband about what to expect, different birthing positions and made sure my husband was prepared to be as supportive as possible, and so much more. I had a long labor (27 hours from start to finish) but the tools that Madison taught me made the labor completely manageable. While in labor she FaceTimed every couple hours and was constantly texting my husband to ensure I was coping well and to see if we needed anything. Towards the end of my labor, things had slightly stalled and Madison didn’t hesitate to come to our home and do some different maneuvers with me to get things going again. Because of her, I was able to labor at home for the majority of the time and was already 7cm dilated by the time we went to the hospital.

In the actual hospital Madison went above and beyond what I expected. Due to high blood pressure, I wasn’t able to have the water birth I was expecting and I was kind of freaking out about that. But the moment we got into the delivery room, she set up everything how I wanted to create the peaceful birth I had envisioned - string lights, LED candles, diffusers with my favorite scent, music, and immediately the stress of a changed plan went away. She used oils to rub my back between contractions and gave me so much reassurance when things really started to intensify. She helped coach me through the two hours of pushing and encouraged me when I felt like I couldn’t do it any longer. I was so thankful to have her by my side when my son came into the world after 27 hours of labor.

My goal was to have a completely natural and unmedicated birth and through the education and positivity Madison provided, I was able to do just that. Madison has such a beautiful kindness and confidence that she brings to all of her doula work and I’m forever lucky to call her a friend. I can’t recommend having her on your birth team enough.”

Someone recently asked me why I was drawn to birth work

And I didn’t have an answer right away, I think because the answer is nuanced and doesn’t take a straight path.

I can remember for many many years wanting to become a doula. It all started really when I dove into studying Buddhism, yoga, and mindfulness. I quickly dropped my outdated views of the world and my relationship in it. And started looking deeper.

My studies taught me to revere nature and the living, dying, living— life cycle of our earth. I studied death midwifery and became a death doula — something in me deeply yearned to hold sacred space for people crossing the threshold of death, entering the great mystery.

I think there has always been parts of me that have been drawn to the metaphysical portals of death and birth. And how these two realities are completely intertwined, not separate.

Then I experienced it first hand with the birth of my son, Heron. Even with a heavily medicalized birth, I was able to dance at the portal of life and death and receive the love of my ancestors there. I found my strength there.

It is a wonderful privilege to witness the power of mothers bring their babies into the world. It is actual living magic.

And now, if I can just help someone remember even a tinge of that magic — then I know I am doing my job.

Birth, pregnancy, and postpartum
require us to dance right alongside the earth in her beautiful display of the life-death-life cycle. This is how we become fully alive, by letting parts of ourselves die, and be reborn.

Birth is a sacred initiation… POSTPARTUM is a sacred initiation

When we enter the birth portal we must say goodbye to an old version of ourselves to welcome someone new, more resilient, far more compassionate than we could ever imagine.

We are welcoming the mother.

The mother is a sensitive being— sensitivity is her strength, not her weakness.

She feels things—- deeply.

She is left raw, wings dampened, her path forward unclear.

The mother must cry, cry to grow, cry to grieve, cry to surrender, cry to heal.

Some call it growing pains

Eventually she awakens from the damp fog—-her reality doesn’t feel so foreign, reality becomes clear. She recognizes her strengths, she allows them to guide her.

She forges her own path forward and through this she finds courage — and power.

The mother is sturdy, she bears witness, she acts from love instead of reactivity.

The mother holds loving space, for her own internal child, as well as the child in front of her.

Her initiation is divinely guided, unique to her, but also shared with countless women before her.

Art by of spells

We all know epidurals can be a great pain management tool! But it’s so
important to know the risks as well so you can make an informed choice for yourself. Birth plans change all the time. You may think you’ll NEVER get an epidural, and it ends up being the best decision for you. OR you may have always planned on getting one, but circumstances didn’t allow for it, or it didn’t work properly for you.

It is important to note that the epidural doesn’t work for everyone, or sometimes doesn’t work properly. That’s why I encourage all of my clients to learn alternative pain management tools!

Alternatives can include:
✨Hydrotherapy 👉 shower/ tub for pain management
✨TENS unit
✨Massage, essential oils, and reiki
✨Counter pressure
✨Nitrous (what you use at the dentist)
✨Hypnobirthing techniques, such as deep breathing, positive affirmations, and guided relaxations.

“Other than the work you do to prepare yourself for birth, there are 2 factors that will have the greatest influence over your experience. Those 2 factors are:

1. Who you choose for your prenatal care.
2. The location you choose to birth.
Who you chose to provide your prenatal care and attend your birth will be one of the most important decisions you make in your lifetime.

How much of a difference does your care provider make? Consider this:

Rebecca Dekker PhD of Evidence Based Birth reminds us that nearly half of all c-sections performed on first time moms are given for failure to progress. Yet, this diagnosis is highly subjective. In a study of over 16 thousand home births, failure to progress was the number one reason births were transferred to hospital – occurring in only 4% of cases. However, in the state of Michigan, 20% of hospital birth are diagnosed as failure to progress.

While c-sections do have their time and place, they literally carry the risk of death, separate you from your baby as he or she is entering the world and create an environment where you need extra rest and recovery at the same time additional demands of a newborn placed on you.

To make sure you have the BEST care, not the okayest care or the whatever my insurance covered first care, ask your provider these questions.”

-Words of doula Suzie Vehrs

Doulas are for the whole family. I love this testimonial from one of my recent clients. 😊

It’s time to dismantle the Hollywood idea of motherhood.

Motherhood, especially that fourth trimester, is not all bliss, smiles, and cuddles.

There are many hours spent trying to get baby to sleep

Dried cracked ni***es

Lots of tears

Probably some yelling

So many worries… “Am I doing this right?” “I feel like a bad mom.”

Let’s just take a moment to acknowledge that motherhood is HARD. It’s a huge learning curve.

Just know if you experience, or did experience any of these things listed… you are so normal. And celebrated.

You’re doing it momma, and I am here to cheer you on!

I do want to say, sometimes these can be symptoms of a postpartum mood disorder, but often times they are symptoms of not having proper support postpartum. It is absolutely crucial.

Graphic reads:

“I can’t say enough good things about Madison and the services she provided as a doula. I loved the prenatal yoga and reiki sessions so much that I ended up purchasing extra sessions from her. I had anxiety about the baby not moving enough (even though the baby was moving a lot, my anxiety was at an all time high) and she came to do a reiki session with me to help release my anxiety and the baby started moving like crazy during the session - almost as if saying, “I’m here mama, don’t worry.” It was so amazing. Active labor went so quickly for me and I thought I was going to deliver my baby in the car on the way to the hospital. Madison stayed on the phone with me the entire way (she was also on the way to meet me there) and spoke encouraging words and positive thoughts - it really helped center and calm me in a time of high anxiety. I seriously consider her a friend now and can’t say enough good things about her. I truly believe it’s because of her that my birth was so positive.”

Meditation requires you to become comfortable with your inner world. To find peace among the sometimes chaos of your mind.

Starting, or continuing a meditation practice in pregnancy can help you feel more connected to your body, mind, and your baby. AND it helps prepare you for the mental space of labor.

As labor begins, you will notice all kinds of emotions arise. Can you bear witness to these instead of letting them overcome you?

As labor builds, things will likely become more intense. The more you can call upon your practice, the more you can surrender knowing every sensation is temporary.

Meditation teaches you to cultivate this metaphoric inner garden, so when it comes time to labor, you aren’t stuck in the weeds of your mind.

Are you curious about meditation, but don’t know where to start? I absolutely love sharing resources, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Does this resonate with you? So much of birth prep work is simply realizing that you cannot control everything, especially birth. Just like you cannot control life, you cannot control birth. Yes, make your birth preferences, educate yourself, and prepare! And have a healthy mindset that things might not unfold the exact way you might be expecting them to. Begin now to develop the trust within yourself to navigate all the twists and turns, because you certainly have all the wisdom and intuition it takes to birth your baby.