Rachel Mans, Doula

01/07/2026

I took it easy this year & it was such a blessing! 🥰

I was still able to serve 6 doula clients, 5 of which were repeats & 1 was a referral from a wonderful chiropractor!

I'm pretty sure I attended 6 births as a midwife's assistant with Harmony Health and Home Birth - Southern Illinois, but honestly, that number might not be correct 😆 Just before Christmas, I got a bonus Christmas gift & was able to attend a VAGINAL BREECH HOME BIRTH with one of their clients. For those of you who know me, you know I LOVE breech birth!

I was also able to teach 1 childbirth ed class for a Mercy Birthing Center patient, I had 2 postpartum doula clients, AND I was the MC for "A Night with Dr. Stu" through Christian Birth Workers of St. Louis, which was a dream! 🤩

I also officially stopped creating new podcasts episodes 😢 That was a hard choice for Tiffany Muniz CLC, Certified Birth Doula & I, but it has given us more time to focus on other aspects of our work, as well as our wonderful families!

Overall, 2025 was a wonderful year! Looking ahead at 2026, I already have 9 repeat clients, as well as plans to keep assisting for Harmony 🥰

12/04/2025

I'm SO excited for Kacey 🥰❤️🥰

If you are considering a home birth, talk to her! She is so loving, compassionate, and an all-around wonderful midwife!

If you're already familiar with Harmony, then not much is actually changing for you! It's the same team of assistants (me included), same midwife, and same extremely high quality of care!

Big news today for Harmony!

In 2021, Harmony was started with so much love and the idea of wanting women in IL to be able to birth the way they wanted, in the comfort of their own homes. Local, more rural hospitals were closing their labor units left and right and it just wasn't fair or right to force women to travel an hour plus to receive care within a hospital system when they could barely make it there to birth in the first place.

In mid 2023, our family felt called away from the area. It was a super hard decision to make, but that decision was made easier after I had met Kacey. She had recently been laid off from her long time position as a hospital based CNM and a friend suggested we get together to talk about options. Once we met, it was an obvious solution! Kacey stepped in as lead midwife, keeping Meghan at her side as a consistent primary birth assistant and secondary midwife. We continued to run operations from afar but slowly turned over more and more responsibility to Kacey over the past two years.

Today, Kacey takes over as business owner. Most of you already know her well, but for those of you who don't, I have no doubt she will do a fantastic job. She's an amazing midwife and she already knows all of the ins and outs of Harmony and what she doesn't know is easily teachable. Plus, we're just a quick phone call away!

For our current clients, please know operations will run pretty seamlessly and you shouldn't notice much of anything at all during this transition. Kacey will be your go to person for all things. :-)

And just for fun and to bring it full circle, here's a pic of us together doing what we love at Kacey's first home birth. That was definitely one for the books!

With so much love and unending support,

Maggie Petry

10/30/2025

I have space for a postpartum client in December! November is booked, but I'd love to help a mama have extra rest and support just before the business & joy of Christmas 🌲

Let me know if you want/need an extra set of hands, you deserve it 🥰

10/13/2025

Wooo! It's been a minute!

I have been working hard, just not on doula work 😆 These past several months have been filled with kids and family and sports and homeschooling and more!

But after a good long break, I am offering postpartum doula care again (1-2 days/week)! $50/hour during the day, with discounts if you book 12+ hours of care up front.

All moms deserve a little extra help and support! Message me for more details ☺️

Send a message to learn more

08/30/2025

Births and postpartum visits are always such a joy! But when it's a friend, it's even better 🥰

This sweet mama had her first baby at 42+6 😳 after choosing to transfer from a home birth to the hospital for an induction for decreased movement from the baby. After a couple rounds of cytotec, she had a birth free of pain meds!

With her 2nd pregnancy, she still desired a home birth. There was talk of transfer at one point during pregnancy, which worried both of us. BUT it never happened and she rocked her 1st home birth with so much strength and excitement!

I got to see her today and brought my sweet girls with me to meet her new little girl. It was such a blessing to support her birth and then cuddle my sweet friend's baby 🥰

08/07/2025

This is a MUST WATCH! 😂❤️

06/28/2025

Postpartum visit with a wonderful repeat client and Natasha B. - Birth Wishes Doula (and her adorable girls)!

This mama had a big surprise when her water broke at 34/35 weeks gestation. Her home birth plan changed to a hospital transfer and a nicu stay for baby boy (although he came out over 7 lbs and breathing great).

But Mom and Dad did such a great job handling the twists and turns of their entire birth. And big sister was thrilled to stay with Grandma so much 😂

Navigating the nicu is hard, especially when it's your first experience with birth and postpartum in the hospital. But this handsome guy was totally worth it 🥰

06/19/2025

We're always finding out MORE BENEFITS of following nature instead of intervening. 🙌 Delayed cord clamping is just one example of that!

06/14/2025

This was such an amazing birth- for Mom, Dad, Sister, Grandma, and all the birth workers! Mom worked beautifully as she birthed her over 9lb baby!

This was the 2nd time Natasha B. - Birth Wishes Doula and I were honored to support this sweet family- and it was SO worth the 75 minute drive to their house! We were joined by the amazing midwife, Caeli Werner, and her sweet assistant, Sadie. It was truly one of the best births I have ever attended 🥰

But the REAL best part?! The excitement and joy Big Sister showed in helping Mom labor and meeting her new baby sister 🤩 Nothing is better than that ❤️

05/22/2025

🙌🙌🙌

05/16/2025

Postpartum snuggles with this super sweet and adorable little boy 🤩 Who cares if I held him so long that my arm fell asleep?!

He is going to have to work hard to keep up with his THREE older sisters, but that will be worth it because he'll be spoiled being the only boy and probably the last child! His parents chose to keep his s*x a surprise, so they were ecstatic when he was born and Dad announced "boy!" And I was SO happy for them, too 🥰

05/16/2025

This is great in pregnancy, postpartum, and any other time you feel tense and tight!

Relax Your Body & Mind with Progressive Muscle Relaxation! PMR is a simple yet powerful technique to relieve stress, ease muscle tension, and promote relaxation. By the end, you’ll feel calm, refreshed, and stress-free. Try it before bed for better sleep or anytime you need a reset!