Birth Trauma & NICU Therapy for Moms
Maybe your birth didn't go the way you pictured it, an emergency delivery, complications no one prepared you for, or your baby arriving earthside early, weeks before you were ready to meet them. However you got there, it landed you both in the NICU, and that experience doesn't just end once you're home, or even once you're still moving through follow up appointments and ongoing monitoring. I work with first-time moms in the Bay Area and across California carrying what that birth left behind, in you, not just in your baby's chart. You don't have to pretend you're fine just because you're supposed to be relieved.
How we work together
REMEMBER
No one prepares you for a birth that turns into something you never expected, maybe it's the emergency and the fear before you'd even see your baby, or a room full of wires and machines standing in for what your body was supposed to do on its own. Underneath that fear, there's often an older pattern too, maybe you learned early to be the one who holds things together, especially if you grew up bridging two worlds for immigrant parents. You didn't expect motherhood to start here, in a place where being dependable doesn't actually help. That's where we begin, not with fixing anything yet, just understanding how you got here.
REALIGN
Here, we get reacquainted with your nervous system, specifically the part still listening for an alarm, still flinching at a smell that takes you right back to that room. Instead of pushing past that response, we tend to it, slowly showing your body that the danger it's still bracing for has actually passed.
RECLAIM
None of this stays behind in our sessions. You carry it home, the ability to notice your body tensing before it spirals, words for an experience most people around you can't fully understand, and a growing trust in yourself as your child's mother, one that keeps growing long after we stop meeting.
Sessions are virtual, and I'm an out of network provider.
Questions you might have
What is birth trauma therapy for NICU moms?
It's therapy for the mother, not the baby, built around what a traumatic birth and a NICU stay actually leave behind, the hypervigilance, the memories tied to the sound of an alarm, the fear that started before you even reached the unit. It starts from the fact that your motherhood began somewhere you never expected it to.
Is this trauma, even after we've left the NICU?
What happened doesn't just end when you're discharged. Whether you're settling into life at home, or still moving through follow up appointments, specialists, and ongoing monitoring, the fear and hypervigilance you built up can stay with you either way. This isn't about how the story turned out. It's about what your body and mind went through getting here.
What if we're still going through it, not fully out of the woods yet?
Then we work with that directly. You don't have to wait for a clean ending to get support. The hypervigilance, the exhaustion, the fear that won't quiet down, is often strongest while things are still ongoing, not after.
What does it mean that you're PMH-C certified?
PMH-C stands for Perinatal Mental Health Certification, through Postpartum Support International. It's specialized training in reproductive and perinatal mental health, the actual focus of my practice, not something added on.
Do I have to have experienced a traumatic birth or have a child in the NICU to receive support?
Not necessarily. If how your baby arrived, or the season that followed, still feels heavier than you expected, that's reason enough to reach out. You don't need your experience to match a specific definition of trauma to deserve support.
Why do I feel traumatized regardless of how things turned out?
Trauma isn't measured by outcome, it's measured by what your nervous system went through in the moment. Whether your baby is home and thriving, or you're still in the middle of appointments and unknowns, you can be doing everything right as a mother and still be carrying something real from how you got here. Both are allowed to be true at once.
Do you take insurance?
I'm out of network. I'll provide a superbill you can submit for possible reimbursement. I won't pretend the cost isn't real, but so is what you get back, a nervous system that finally gets to rest, and a version of yourself you're not performing for anyone.
What makes working with you different?
You're done performing a version of yourself that's no longer sustainable, while still showing up every day for a child who needs you. You want to run your own life again, not just react your way through motherhood. Because I've lived pieces of what brings women like you through my door, you don't have to educate me on why you've spent your life meeting everyone else's expectations first, I already understand that weight. What we do instead is decide together what you're keeping and what you're finally allowed to put down. What you get isn't a fixed version of yourself, it's one fluid enough to keep evolving with your child, and grounded enough to trust while she does.
