Prenatal Massage

The 2nd and 3rd trimesters only

The reason is professional caution rather than a demonstrated risk: the great majority of miscarriages happen in the first trimester for reasons unrelated to anything anyone did, and no therapist wants to be a variable in that timeline. There is a fuller explanation in is prenatal massage safe?

What the session is

Customized to meet your pregnancy needs. Intended to reduce fatigue and relieve stress on muscles and joints as your body changes during pregnancy.

Prenatal massage is not simply an ordinary massage performed on a pregnant person. Positioning is different, pacing is different, and the areas that need attention change substantially between week fourteen and week thirty-eight. The session is built around where you actually are.

In the second trimester the work tends to focus on the low back and sacrum as posture shifts forward, the hips and glutes that are compensating for it, and the neck and shoulders that tighten as sleep gets less reliable. In the third trimester the emphasis moves toward comfort: making a body that is carrying substantially more load tolerable to be in.

How you are positioned

Side-lying, supported with bolsters and pillows. This is worth stating clearly because many clients arrive expecting to lie face-down on a table with a cut-out for the belly.

Those tables exist and are widely sold, and most experienced prenatal therapists do not use them. A cut-out leaves the abdomen hanging unsupported, which puts a stretch through the abdominal wall and the ligaments supporting the uterus. Side-lying avoids that entirely, and once you are properly bolstered it is considerably more comfortable than it sounds — a good number of clients fall asleep.

What to tell us when you book

Some of these change whether the session should go ahead, so please disclose them at booking rather than on the table:

• How many weeks you are, and your due date.
• Any diagnosis of a high-risk pregnancy, for any reason.
• Preeclampsia, or blood pressure that is being monitored.
• Any history of blood clots, DVT or a clotting disorder.
• Any bleeding, spotting, or a diagnosis of placenta previa.
• Whether you are carrying multiples.
• Any restriction your obstetrician or midwife has already given you.

Intake forms and waivers are completed before your appointment through the booking link, which is where most of this is captured. If anything on that list applies, please check with your provider first — and if they say no, that is the answer.

Studio or in your home

Prenatal Massage is available both ways at $145 for 60 minutes.

In-home is worth considering seriously in the third trimester, because the car journey is often the least comfortable part of a spa appointment by then. Getting into a vehicle, sitting for twenty or thirty minutes, getting out, and repeating it afterwards can undo a meaningful share of what the session achieved. In-home massage removes both legs of that.

At the studio, the session is performed in a private treatment studio inside Mattison Avenue Salon & Spa. The studio is a suite inside another business with two building entrances, so if it is your first visit, the directions page is worth reading first.

What it helps with — and what it does not

Pregnancy is a field where overclaiming is common, so it is worth being precise. Prenatal massage is a comfort and tension intervention. It is not a treatment for a medical condition and it does not change an outcome.