Medi-Cal & Insurance Covered Holistic Prenatal Prep and Postpartum Recovery - Telehealth Care Throughout California
Prepare Your Body for Birth, Postpartum & a Stronger Recovery
Personalized pregnancy + postpartum support with a functional, whole-body approach — combining nutrition, body preparation, nervous-system + somatic tools, partner preparation and ongoing postpartum recovery support. Someone who can walk with you throughout the journey.
Feel better through pregnancy. Prepare your body for what’s ahead. Recover with a plan.
A personalized 7+ session pregnancy preparation experience + ongoing postpartum recovery support that brings together functional wellness, nutrition, body preparation, nervous-system + somatic work, partner preparation and traditional doula care.
Instead of waiting until postpartum to realize you're depleted, overwhelmed or missing support, we'll use pregnancy to prepare your body, nervous system, partner and home for what comes next.
Then after baby arrives, we keep going — checking in on how you're actually feeling and functioning and supporting your recovery as it unfolds.
And your insurance may already cover it.
Covered by most California Medi-Cal plans + select commercial insurance for $0 out of pocket.
Kaiser Permanente • Partnership HealthPlan • Health Net • Anthem Medi-Cal • Central California Alliance • Anthem Medi-Cal • Western Health Advantage • LA Care • BSC Promise • Alameda Alliance + more
Already have a birth doula? Perfect. This can work alongside their care.
MOST POSTPARTUM CARE STARTS AFTER BABY ARRIVES.
While you can absolutely still participate in this, and we can greatly support your body, if you’re already postpartum, generally I LOVE to start helping people prepare earlier in pregnancy.
Your nutritional needs are changing, nervous system is adapting, your pelvis, abdominal wall and tissues are changing, your sleep and energy may already feel different.
And soon, your body will be asked to recover from pregnancy and birth while simultaneously adapting to feeding, interrupted sleep, hormonal changes and caring for another human.
Most pregnancy support focuses heavily on getting to the birth.
And then postpartum comes and we figure it out as we go.
I don't think we have to wait until you're exhausted, depleted or overwhelmed to start thinking about your recovery.
My approach is to use pregnancy to understand what your body needs now, build the foundations that will support you later, prepare you and your partner for what's coming - and then stay with you after birth to see how you're actually doing.
We prepare the mother, not just for the birth (which we also do) - but for everything that comes after it, as well.
Over six personalized prenatal sessions, we'll move through my whole-body pregnancy + postpartum preparation process. You'll learn what your body needs, strengthen your foundations, practice tools before you need them, prepare your partner and create an actual postpartum recovery plan. And because this isn't just a course, I'll still be there once you’re actually postpartum.
This is proactive, holistic doula care designed to help you feel supported during pregnancy while laying the foundations for a smoother, more supported transition into postpartum.
YOUR CARE JOURNEY
This goes beyond just a few doula visits, and is quite unique from traditional doula care. It's a pregnancy → birth → postpartum care journey that takes into account your personal health, emotional and energetic states, and focuses not only on preparing for the birth, but preparing for everything after, as well. And once baby is here, we can focus on supporting you to actually recover and be able to be present to bond, feed, and rest as much as possible.
We'll have a clear direction for our work together from the beginning, while still making it completely personal to you.
For many clients, that looks something like:
PREGNANCY
3–4 visits
Understand what's going on → support your body → prepare for birth + postpartum → get your partner and support system ready
BIRTH
Labor support, if you want it
Virtual labor support with me or in-person depending on location and availability with one of my doula connections. If we are doing labor support together, we will also add in time to do your birth plan, practice comfort measures and labor positions, and practice breath exercises prenatally.
POSTPARTUM
4+ visits
Recover → replenish → regulate → adjust as your body, baby and needs change
That's a typical pathway, not a rigid package. And can adapt based on your insurance plan and coverage, and how many visits you currently have. If starting postpartum, we will have more visits to support you in recovery.
Why this is Different From Traditional Doula Care
Get practical, personalized support around nourishment, hydration, movement, sleep, rest and supportive daily rhythms. You’ll get someone who doesn’t feel clinical supporting you throguh the whole journey - providing education, practicing things in real-time, and tracking your wellbeing and recovery process, so we can adjust as needed to help you feel more energized, balanced, and vibrant.
Sometimes people think virtual care couldn’t quite match what they could get in person, but I find it fills a need not often filled in person. Which is even more education and practicing, more space to go into somatic processing and integrating either past pregnancies/labors or this one, and to dive in more to the functional medicine approach to actually help with your recovery beyond only helping around the house.
What we dive into
There are four core phases to the work we do together.
They're not four classes you check off. They're the framework I use to make sure we're looking at the whole picture instead of treating every visit like a separate appointment.
PHASE 1 — UNDERSTAND YOUR BODY AND NEEDS
We’ll do a thorough health history intake and dive into your energy, nutrition, digestion, sleep, stress, nervous system, movement, pregnancy symptoms, support at home, birth plans and what you're most concerned about going into postpartum.
You can also bring recent labs or recommendations from your providers. With my functional health background, I can help you look at the bigger wellness picture within my scope and figure out what questions may be worth bringing back to your medical team.
This gives us a baseline.
Instead of assuming what you need , we start by figuring out what you need.
PHASE 2 — PREPARE: Support your body now and prepare it for what’s coming
This will usually make up the rest of our prenatal visits. Depending on what comes up in your first visit, we can work on things like:
Nutrition + replenishment
Protein, minerals, hydration, blood sugar, digestion, energy and realistic ways to stay nourished now and after birth.
Body preparation
Movement, mobility, positioning, pelvic awareness, breath, relaxation, self-massage and ways to support your changing body.
Nervous system + somatic support
Understanding how stress shows up in your body and building tools you can actually use during pregnancy, labor and postpartum.
Birth preparation
Childbirth education, birth preferences, labor positions, comfort measures, partner preparation and nervous-system tools for labor.
Postpartum preparation
Recovery, nourishment, sleep, feeding support, household help, visitors, boundaries and figuring out who is actually doing what once baby arrives.
We'll also talk about the emotional transition into postpartum, including postpartum depression and anxiety, common risk factors and warning signs, what you and your partner should be paying attention to and what support you want lined up ahead of time.
You don't need to cover every one of these things in equal depth.
We'll focus on what matters for you.
PHASE 3 — BIRTH + TRANSITION
If you want birth preparation and labor support to be a bigger part of our work, it can be. If you already have an in-person birth doula, that's not a problem at all.
In fact, this works really well alongside traditional birth doula care. Your birth doula can focus on being physically present with you during labor, while we use more of our time together for your nutrition, body, nervous system, partner preparation and postpartum recovery.
Depending on your location and availability, I may be able to connect you with one of my doula partners. And virtual labor support is an option too.
You don't have to choose between having someone at your birth and doing this work.
PHASE 4 — RECOVER
This is why I love having continuity from pregnancy into postpartum - we're not meeting for the first time after you've given birth. I already know what pregnancy looked like for you, what we were working on, what you were worried about and what we put in place for postpartum. And if you are beginning here, that’s still perfect! We will start with the intake and create an in depth plan for you.
Your postpartum visits might focus on:
Physical recovery + healing
How your body is feeling, pelvic and abdominal recovery, movement, comfort, cesarean or perineal recovery education and when another provider should be involved.
Nutrition + replenishment
Are you eating enough? How's your energy? Hydration? Digestion? What would make nourishment easier right now?
Sleep + nervous system
How is your body handling interrupted sleep? What's helping you regulate? Where are you feeling overloaded?
Mood + emotional wellbeing
How are you actually feeling emotionally? Is anything changing that we want to keep an eye on or bring to your medical or mental health team?
Feeding + baby adjustment
Support within doula scope and connection to lactation or other specialists when you need more.
Your actual support system
Is the plan we made working? Where are you still carrying too much?
What Makes my Approach Different
I love traditional doula care, but there are gaps that I see and I see many women overwhelmed and surprised by how postpartum hits them. My desire is to help ease that landing.
My background includes doula care, functional hormonal health, nutrition, somatic work, nervous-system regulation and women's bodywork, and all of that influences the way I support you.
We’re of course preparing for labor, but we're also talking about:
How you're feeling now.
How you're nourishing yourself.
How your digestion and energy are doing.
How your nervous system is handling pregnancy.
How you're preparing your body.
How your mood is postpartum and what may be impacting it.
How your partner is preparing to support you.
How you're going to eat and rest once baby arrives.
How you're doing emotionally.
And how your recovery is actually progressing afterward.
I want you to feel like someone is looking at the whole picture of you, while still working alongside your OB, midwife and other licensed healthcare providers.
ALREADY HAVE A BIRTH DOULA?
Perfect. You can still use this support.
Traditional birth doula care often focuses heavily on preparing for labor and having someone physically present during your birth.
This work can fill in everything surrounding it.
Instead of duplicating what you're doing with your birth doula, we can use our time for pregnancy wellness, nourishment, body preparation, nervous-system support, partner preparation, postpartum planning and ongoing recovery support.
Your birth doula can focus on being beside you during labor. We can focus on helping you feel and function well before and after it.
ONLY NEED POSTPARTUM SUPPORT?
You don't have to start during pregnancy.
If baby is already here, we can begin with where you are now.
We'll look at how you're recovering and functioning, what's currently draining your capacity, what support you have, and practical changes that could make this season feel more sustainable — while helping connect you with additional professional care when something is outside doula scope.
HOW MANY VISITS DO I HAVE?
With Medi-Cal, your benefit can include:
An initial visit
Up to 8 additional prenatal/postpartum visits
Labor + delivery support
Up to 2 extended postpartum visits
Up to 9 additional postpartum visits when covered under the benefit
That can give us a lot more room than most people realize to support you before and after birth. If you have another type of insurance, fill out the form and I can confirm with you.
Your Next Steps
Fill out the form with your insurance info to confirm eligibility, due date or baby's birth date and a little about what kind of support you're looking for. You’ll be able to select if you’re ready to enroll or would like to have a quick chat first.
I'll use that to figure out your next step. Most insurances cover doulas in network (and I can accept most). Some are still reimbursement only, but that should change by 2027.
FAQs:
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Partnership Health Plan of California (Medi-Cal)
Health Net
Central California Alliance for Health
Alameda Alliance for Health
Anthem Blue Cross (Medi-Cal plans or any plans that cover doulas)
San Joaquin Health Plan
Kaiser Permanente (Medi-Cal and Commercial plans)
Western Health Advantage
BSC Promise Health Plan in San Diego and LA (Medi-Cal) - can accept telehealth clients, or if you occasionally travel here we can do in person sessions
San Francisco HealthPlan
Any health plan that reimburses for Doulas - we can do private pay then I’ll provide an invoice you can give to your insurance company for reimbursement. BlueShield of CA only covers rarely and usually reimburses a partial amount if they do.
FSA or HSA accounts that cover doula
Carrot Employee Health Benefits
Via Raya Health (a Doula group, who will be our sort of concierge, but you’ll get private support from my practice), I can accept:
CalOptima (virtual only)
Mountain Valley HealthPlan
LA Care Healthplan (virtual only)
Community Healthplan of Imperial Valley
CalViva Cares Health (virtual only)
Healthplan of San Mateo
Gold Coast Healthplan (virtual only)
IEHP (virtual only)
Sharp Healthplan (virtual only)
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Yes. Many families choose this support specifically because it complements birth doula care and what I offer is something typically not covered in traditional doula care. With insurance, you can break up your visits over multiple doulas.
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Yes. Support is always appropriate during breastfeeding and focuses on nourishment, recovery, lactation foundations, and nervous system support rather than elimination protocols or detox.
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Utilizing key functional medicine frameworks, as a hormonal specialist, I support women to reclaim true vitality and health by focusing on the interconnectedness of hormones, gut, and mental health. I provide personalized diagnostic testing (GI Map, Blood Testing, & Dutch Test), analysis, consulting & protocols that address the root causes of imbalances, infections, and mystery symptoms. Let’s get to the bottom of symptoms like fatigue, mood swings, low libido, and digestive issues. Together, we heal from the inside out, restoring balance and vitality for a happier, healthier life.
Learn more on this page: https://www.kendallnichole.com/functional-hormonal-medicine
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You’re totally welcome to do what’s best for you, but I find that the work that I do fills some gaps that are not often filled in the doula world. And a lot of these pieces around preparation, education, somatic guidance, and functional medicine are best done remotely anyway.
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Honestly, wherever you are right now! It’s never too late, and I wish women got support long before week 36. I just never felt it was enough to do a couple of prenatals and one postpartum. So even if you just found out you’re pregnant, especially with the number of visits covered by insurance, we can begin now.
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Of course! Even though I’m holistic, integrative, and like to research instead of just accepting the status quo, I am by no means anti-western medicine. If it weren’t for western medicine I wouldn’t be alive still and so I know it has it’s time and place.
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Not directly, but if you had a loss within the last 12 mo and are trying again, then we could focus on pre-conception.
Kendall’s Background and Approach
Our modern society has forgotten or let go of the support we once had in the birthing space. We see a lot of fear and unnecessary medical intervention, and women without proper emotional and physical support during and after. My mission and desire are to be a part of the shift to integrating ancient ways into the modern world, supporting and holding you in this journey, bringing in ritual and ceremony as desired, and most importantly, being there for emotional, physical, and energetic space holding in preparation for and after labor (or after pregnancy loss). While also honoring and meeting you where you are at, and with the understanding that Western medicine very much has its place and at a time is needed.
I began this journey of Doulaship after my own near-death pregnancy experience that lit a fire in me to support women. Pregnancy can be a magical journey of heightened intuition and sensation, a time to be closer to the earth and Spirit, and birth a profound initiation. I want to be there to hold that space with and for you, so that you feel held and your body can do what it was made to do.
I am mentored and trained by Doula Thrive, taught by world-class Birth and Postpartum doulas, trained by the Rose Lineage Mystery School in hands on womb work, energy worker, herbalist, with backgrounds in bodywork, NLP, and coaching.
Interested in working with me or would like more information?
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