EMDR + Somatic Coaching for Cesarean Recovery
You're still carrying what happened in that room.
You don't have to.
1:1 EMDR and somatic coaching for mothers anywhere in the world, who've had an unscheduled cesarean, and are ready to stop letting it write the script for everything that comes next.
Even if it's been years. Even if your baby is healthy. Even if you've already tried therapy and it helped, to a point.
You're ready to:
Think about your birth without being pulled back into it. Not just talk about it. Actually think about it, from a distance, without your chest tightening or your mind going somewhere else.
Stop replaying what you could have done differently. That loop has been running long enough.
Feel something other than dread when someone asks if you're having another baby. Or when you see a pregnancy announcement. Or when your partner brings it up and the door in you closes before you've even decided if you want it open.
Know what you actually want. Not what fear is deciding for you. Whether that's another pregnancy, a VBAC, or feeling complete about what happened. You deserve to make that decision from your own knowing.
Stop carrying the guilt of feeling like you failed at the first thing motherhood asked of you.
Trust your body again. Not to perform. Not to be managed. Just to be yours.
Be fully present in the motherhood you're actually living, instead of half here and half back in that operating room.
BUT RIGHT NOW...
It's been months. Maybe years. And you can talk about it now.
You've gotten good at the version you tell people. Short enough not to make anyone uncomfortable. Far enough from the truth that you don't have to feel it while you're saying it.
But something still fires when you drive past the hospital. When someone announces a pregnancy. When your partner mentions trying again and the door in you closes before you've even decided if you want it open.
You've been trying to figure out where it went wrong
What you could have done differently. Whether one different choice somewhere along the way would have changed the outcome. That question doesn't have an answer. But your mind keeps going back to it anyway.
You're present for your kid. You're functioning. You're fine. But part of you is still somewhere else. Still in that operating room. And you've read the things, talked about it, maybe even sat across from a therapist. It helped, until something reminded you, and suddenly you were right back there. Heart pounding. Chest tight.
Maybe you don't know if you want another baby. Or maybe you do, and the wanting is so tangled up with terror that you can't tell them apart anymore. Either way, you're tired of the question hanging over everything.
HERE'S WHAT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING
Your nervous system learned something in that operating room
That's where EMDR + Somatic Coaching Come In
EMDR resourcing works directly with how your brain stores overwhelming experience, building the inner resources your nervous system needs to process what happened
Hakomi somatic mindfulness works with what your body is still holding. Together they work the full picture, the memory your brain is still running and the experience your body is still living.
It learned that birth was sudden, dangerous, and out of your control. And it has been running that alarm ever since, every time something nudges it, keeping you away from anything that looks like a repeat.
That alarm doesn't respond to logic. It doesn't respond to time. It doesn't respond to the years that have passed.
Underneath the alarm, there's a belief that formed in the silence after. Something like: my body failed. Or: I failed my baby. That belief never got challenged because nobody asked. Because everyone moved on. Because "at least you're both okay" quietly said there was nothing here worth grieving.
That's the root. Not the cesarean itself. The meaning that formed around it in the silence that followed.
And that's exactly why talking only gets you so far. Because talking reaches the story. It doesn't reach where the story is stored.
JESSICA RITA, MA
EMDR + SOMATIC COACH
PERINATAL HEALTH
I specialize in cesarean birth trauma and perinatal mental health because I've sat with enough mothers to know that what happens in that operating room doesn't stay there.
It follows women into the next year. Into the conversation with their partner’s they keep avoiding. Into the question of whether their body is something they can trust again.
I know this journey personally. I planned a homebirth. Did all of the preparation. And ended up with an emergency cesarean instead. The gap between the birth I had imagined and the one that actually happened was significant. Motherhood arrived woven with anxiety rather than the groundedness I had pictured.
I know what it's like to feel completely disconnected from the version of motherhood you thought you were stepping into.
And I know what it's like to find your way back to yourself inside it.
I did this work myself. Not as a concept, but in my own body, with my own birth story. And what changed wasn't just how I felt about what happened. It changed how present I am in my motherhood. How much I trust myself. How I make decisions about my body and my future from my own knowing, not from the shadow of that operating room.
That's what I want for you too.
I've been specializing in birth trauma for 5 years. And in that time, the mothers I work with arrive still replaying a birth that happened years ago. Still making decisions from the shadow of it. Still wondering if this is just who they are now.
They leave with a nervous system that has finally had a reason to stand down. Able to think about their birth without being pulled back into it. Present in the motherhood they're actually living, instead of the one they planned for.
WHAT MY CLIENTS EXPERIENCE
As a licensed therapist, I'm not able to share client testimonials what I can share is what I witness, again and again in the mothers I work with.
She arrives able to tell the story but not feel it. Managed. Scripted. And her body is still reacting like the birth is happening now.
She arrives not knowing if she wants another baby, or knowing she does but unable to get underneath the terror to find out what she actually thinks.
She arrives half present in her motherhood. Going through the motions. There physically but somewhere else entirely.
And then something shifts
Not all at once. Not dramatically. But the loop starts to quiet. The alarm starts to settle. She drives past the hospital and notices she didn't hold her breath this time.
She starts to trust her instincts again. Small things at first.
Then bigger ones.
She makes a decision about another pregnancy, or a VBAC, or feeling complete about what happened, and it comes from her. Not from what fear allowed.
She's in the room with her kid. Actually there.
That's not a guarantee. I can't promise your specific outcome. But it's what I see happen when a mother finally gets the support that reaches where this actually lives.
How we move through the work, together
Regulate
We start by understanding what's actually underneath the birth. Not just what happened, but what it confirmed about you. What you're allowed to want. What your body learned that day. You'll leave the first session knowing exactly where we're going and why.
Before we go anywhere difficult, we build the inner resources your nervous system needs to do this work without being overwhelmed by it. This isn't a step we rush through. It's what makes everything that comes after actually work.
Reclaim
This is where the memory gets to finally move. Not by retelling it. Not by reliving it. By giving your brain and body what they need to digest what happened and file it as the past, not the present.
We work with the belief that formed in the silence after, and give it a reason to update.
Restore
As the charge on the memory releases, we turn toward what's ahead. Whatever that looks like for you. A decision you've been avoiding. A pregnancy you want to be present for.
Rebuilding trust in your instincts, your body, your own knowing. A version of yourself you're ready to step back into.
HERE'S WHAT'S INCLUDED
Everything you need to
do this work properly.
01
1:1 coaching sessions - twice per month
60 minutes
The most direct path to where this actually lives. 60 minute sessions, held virtually. You pick your day and time, and we work at a cadence that suits you and your life.
02
A collaborative coaching plan from session one
You'll never wonder what we're doing or why. From our first session we map your goals, your triggers, and what you most want to feel different. You'll know exactly where we're heading, which means your nervous system can actually settle into the work.
03
WhatsApp support between sessions
You're not navigating the in-between alone. Direct access to message me Monday - Friday (unless otherwise stated) when something surfaces, shifts, or you're curious and have a question between sessions.
BY THE END OF OUR WORK TOGETHER
You will.
You can think about your birth without being pulled back into it. The loop stops. Not because you forced it to, but because there's nothing left unresolved.
You know what you actually want. Not what fear decided for you. If another pregnancy is part of that, you can be in it. Present, not bracing. If planning for a VBAC is part of that, you're moving toward it from genuine confidence, not white-knuckling it. If you've decided your family is complete, you've made that decision from clarity, not from what your body is scared of happening again.
You trust yourself again. Your instincts. Your body's signals. Your ability to advocate for yourself in a room full of medical professionals.
THE INVESTMENT
One week to change how you walk into this next birth
EMDR + Somatic Coaching
$500 CAD / month
3 - month minimum commitment
2x - 60 min sessions per month
WhatsApp Support between sessions
If you're ready to find out what's possible on the other side of this, the next step is a free consult call. No commitment. Just a conversation to make sure this is the right fit.
QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT BE ASKING
Before you decide.
Because your baby's health and your experience of the birth are two completely separate things. Gratitude and grief coexist. Your nervous system doesn't respond to logic, it responds to whether it feels safe. It didn't. That's not a character flaw. That's how trauma works.
A typical EMDR protocol is around 15-18 sessions. Some people move through it faster, some take longer, it depends on what we find when we get there. We set the cadence together based on your life and what you need. What I can tell you is that we're not in this indefinitely. We have a clear direction and you'll always know where we are in the process.
Yes, and this might be exactly the right time. If the fear of going through birth again is part of what's keeping you from knowing what you actually want, that's the thing we work with. You deserve to make that decision from clarity, not from what your nervous system says it can't survive.
If you've done therapy and you can talk about the birth without falling apart, but your body still reacts, that's not a failure of the previous work. It's that the memory is stored somewhere talking doesn't reach. EMDR and somatic work are specifically designed for that layer. We're not starting over. We're going deeper.
No. This is a coaching container, not clinical therapy, and it doesn't replace it.
Coaching works differently. Rather than diagnosing or treating, we work together toward a specific goal: helping you process and make sense of your birth experience so you can move forward with more clarity, more groundedness, and more trust in yourself and your body.
The tools we use, EMDR resourcing and Hakomi somatic mindfulness, are drawn from evidence-based therapeutic approaches. But within this coaching container, they are used to support your personal goals, not to assess or treat a clinical condition.
If you are currently working with a therapist, this work can run alongside that. If you're not, and you feel you need clinical support, I'm happy to talk through what's right for you on our consult call.
This work isn't about convincing you to have a VBAC. It's about making sure whatever you choose, another cesarean, a VBAC, no more pregnancies, you're choosing it from what you actually want. Not from fear making the decision for you.
EMDR is one of the most researched trauma treatments in the world. Somatic approaches have decades of clinical evidence behind them. I can't guarantee your specific outcome. What I can tell you is that if you've read this far, something is already telling you it's time. Let's have a real conversation about whether this is the right fit before you commit to anything.
Because this is a coaching container and not clinical therapy, it is not typically covered by health insurance or extended benefits. If you're looking for coverage, the Canadian 1:1 EMDR therapy offer may be a better fit, as most extended health plans in Canada cover registered psychotherapy.
If you're unsure which offer is right for you, that's exactly what the consult call is for.
IF YOU'VE READ THIS FAR, YOU ALREADY KNOW
You're not looking for more information.
You're deciding whether you're allowed to want this. Whether it's too much to spend on yourself. Whether you can trust that it will actually work. I can't make that decision for you.
But I can tell you this: you don't have to keep carrying what happened in that room. You don't have to keep making decisions from the shadow of it. And you don't have to know what you want for your next pregnancy before you start. You just have to be ready to find out.
Your body crossed a threshold the day your babe was born. Even if it didn't feel like one.
This is the work of helping the rest of you catch up.
Jess x
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