Helping Pregnant Women and Moms Be Healthier
Hello! I’m Melinda Delisle, also known as Melinda Delisle-Clark. I help pregnant women and moms be healthier, feel confident, and find their inner strength so we can not only be great for our families, but also have the life we want being our best selves. I take a non-judgmental approach – I believe the only person who knows the right options for you is YOU. I strive for no Mommy-shaming here. 🙂
I’m a healthy pregnancy coach, clinical nutritionist, speaker, Lamaze certified childbirth educator (though not currently teaching birth classes), advocate for physical and mental health, and a definite research hound. I love to go out and sift through all the stacks of research and medical terminology, distill that information down to what is actually useful to us in our lives, and present you with clear, concise options and action steps so you can make the best choices for YOU, YOUR family and YOUR situation. I am currently creating an online Confident Pregnancy course that will do all of that for pregnant women. I can’t WAIT until it comes out. In the meantime, I am doing 1-1 clinical nutrition consultations, specializing in helping manage pregnancy complications or are reducing pregnancy risk.
I'd love to work with you!
WHAT CLIENTS ARE SAYING
I often have clients tell me things like what Lisa D shared with me when I was her doula for her 3rd pregnancy, “I’m really convinced that your nutrition suggestions let me go full term with this pregnancy.” I also love hearing comments like this one: “I cannot thank you enough for how confident I felt.” Helping people to be healthier, reduce complications, and feel more confident, like those women, makes me so proud and fuels everything I do.
If you are looking for ways to be healthier and reduce pregnancy risk, improve your confidence, and just love yourself more, I’d love to work with you, too!
My Vision:
To create a “New Normal” of pregnancy with lower rates of complications, fewer uncomfortable symptoms, and in which pregnant people feel supported and confident.
My Professional Background
My Experience in a Nutshell:
- Began teaching childbirth classes in 2000 (That’s 20 years ago now!). I started as Bradley Method certified, then switched to Lamaze certification in 2006.
- Helped hundreds of pregnant women reduce their risk and prepare for birth.
- Attended over 30 births as a doula. I trained with CAPPA in 2004.
- Presented a 90 minute-talk at 2 separate Lamaze conferences.
- Speaker at numerous other expos and events.
- Published online and in print.
- Author of the Pocket Pregnancy Guide: What to Eat When Pregnant.
- Advocated for maternal and infant health bills at the Capitol with Lamaze International.
- Poster presentation at the American Nutrition Association’s 2019 conference: “Environmental Impact on Pre-Eclampsia and Potential Nutritional Interventions.”
- Earned Masters in Human Nutrition from the University of Bridgeport in Dec 2020.
What am I most proud of in my doula and childbirth professional career?
My students and doula clients have a 90% LOWER risk of preterm birth compared to the US Average*.
How cool is that?
I was thrilled to see the preterm birth rate drop from 8.3% with the first 84 moms I worked with, to 1% after that. If you are wondering, the average preterm birth rate in the United States (as of 2019*) is 10.2%. Talk about a reason to get up in the morning!
For those who want a bit more of a data summary, here it is. when I first started teaching, I taught the Bradley Method(R) straight “out of the box,” so to speak. Over time, I added more bits of the research I was finding to my classes and wrote the first version of the Pocket Pregnancy booklets and ROADS of Healthy Pregnancy. Around the time I was working with my 86th couple, I fully implemented adding Pocket Pregnancy to my classes and putting a strong emphasis on healthy lifestyle in addition to childbirth preparation. The change in preterm birth rates was amazing! To make it even more interesting, the 110 couples I worked with after implementing Pocket Pregnancy and the ROADS skewed somewhat towards women with complications. By that point, I started to attract women with gestational diabetes, pre-existing diabetes, previous preterm births, lupus, and other complications. Needless to say, I am quite proud of how my students made lifestyle changes and focused on their health!
The process of earning a master’s degree in Human Nutrition has taught me a TON more useful information that I am excited to be adding to my work. There is so much we can do with lifestyle to support healthy pregnancy!
*2020 March of Dimes Report Card, https://www.marchofdimes.org/materials/US_REPORTCARD_FINAL_2020.pdf
On a More Personal Note
I have been with my husband, Shawn Clark, since 1996. We have 2 wonderful children (now young adults!) who were both born normally (aka, naturally, no medication), using many of the suggestions I have taught. When I am not writing or researching, I enjoy hiking, kayaking, horseback riding (when I can), lasertag, meditation, playing board games, dressing up as a pirate and doing volunteer events, and just getting to know new people. I like trying new physical activities – it is actually what helps keep me motivated to exercise (or re-motivate me when I fall off the wagon. Again.). Some of our family adventures have included paragliding, river sledging, canyoning/canyoneering, wakeboarding, skiing, and river surfing (ok, that last was in a machine-driven pool). I also like to spend time living other people’s adventures and gaining insight into other people’s lives by reading fantasy books (Wheel of Time, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and Throne of Glass, to name a few) and inspiring biographies.
If you just have to know more, here are a few things most people don’t know about me.
My college degree was a BMus in French horn performance, and I completed a year of a master’s degree in Musicology (the study of music history and theory).
I collect orchids. Well, maybe 5 isn’t a collection (yet), but I do think they are awesome.
I LOVE dragons and call my powerful, inner self “the Dragon.” I’m still working on making that confidence consistent. 😉
I'd love to learn more about your needs.
Let's chat!
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If you think you might like to work with me and want to learn more, click for info about my healthy pregnancy coaching or Confident Pregnancy online courses.