A Massage for Mom
The Christ Hospital offers a new kind of prenatal massage that's proven to decrease pain, discomfort and stress. Learn more about this new way to pamper moms-to-be!.

Christ Hospital's specially-trained Bavia massage therapists help to reduce stress and discomfort for moms-to-be

During the entire nine months of a woman's pregnancy, hospitals often focus -- and for the most part, rightfully so -- on the wellbeing of the newborn. But what about the mother? Her body is undertaking one of the most difficult tasks it will ever experience.

That's why The Christ Hospital, recently began offering Bavia massage services to expectant and new mothers. Bavia is a concept hatched by a woman who understands the taxing effect of childbith on the body.

The services are designed to bring comfort to mothers, as they reduce the pain of women by an average of three points on the standard medical scale from one to 10 that doctors use in assessing discomfort, according to Bavia's website.

"The concept of medical massage therapy is not anything the U.S. has a corner on or anything," says Kim Pickens, the clinical director of Christ Hospital's women's service line. "The concentration on the baby is always there, but not always on the mom. [The founder of Bavia] realizes sometimes she gets lost in the shuffle as a mother. Now this has been kind of her life-long devotion." Pickens has seen this effect in observations after Bavia has been performed. They do a little survey before the service and talk to the mom about her pain and stress level. "After the service, we see great improvement on these [discomfort] levels," Pickens says. "Sometimes we don't even get another rating because mom's so relaxed that she's asleep, which is awesome. They just leave the room and let them rest."

A specially-trained Bavia massage therapist gives a free hand massage to every new mother in the hospital, and at this point also offers the rest of the massage services to the mother (and father as well). The mother and her friends or family could also schedule a Bavia appointment ahead of time, which can make for a nice gift from someone in or out of the family, Pickens says.

"[Prescheduling Bavia] is really nice because they can ask for a gift certificate for a baby shower gift," she says. "We also inform anyone who comes to prenatal services about the program."

Pickens has children of her own and seeing the relaxing effects of Bavia makes her wish she had had access to a similar program after she gave birth, she says. "I just wish something like that had been available when I had been having my babies," Pickens says. "Childbirth really just is very taxing. Massage can get the circulation flowing in the woman's legs, which is something women can complain about after childbirth."

And in honor of Mother's Day, Christ Hospital is offering women who pre-order or order from their hospital rooms to get $15 off or a 15-minute bonus for their Bavia services. The discount is applicable when women use the promotion code "Bavia15."

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