Healthy Mother Team
Dr. Vijaya Krishnan is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), co-founder and Director of Healthy Mother Wellness & Care and the leading official Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator (LCCE) in India. She has completed her Midwifery education from the US and is the co-founder of India's first Natural Birth Center based on Scientific Midwifery Model of Care, with full emergency care inhouse and a Doula. Dr. Vijaya is the only Indian to be awarded the Certified Professional Midwife certification by the North American Registry of Midwives, the certification body for direct entry midwives.
The LCCE certification is awarded by Lamaze International, the world’s leading organization that supports, promotes and protects Natural Birth. At the Lamaze International conference in September 2011 in Dallas, Texas, Dr. Vijaya was inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Certified Childbirth Educators (FACCE) in recognition of the outstanding work she is doing to bring about positive, sustainable change in birth practices in India.
Dr. Vijaya is a passionate advocate and practitioner of natural birth practices and has helped hundreds of women give birth naturally. At the Healthy Mother Sanctum TM Natural Birth Center, Dr. Vijaya and her staff provide individualized, high quality, Midwifery based care to laboring mothers, ensuring a cherished natural childbirth experience for them. She has been a source of trusted support for many mothers who want a VBAC (normal delivery after a previous cesarean). Dr. Vijaya is an expert Breastfeeding Counselor, teaching new mothers correct techniques of breastfeeding their babies, self-care, and newborn care, ensuring smooth transition to new motherhood. Dr. Vijaya has been practicing for 19 years, out of which 14 have been in the USA.
Dr. Vijaya has a doctorate in Physical Therapy and Physical Therapy Education with specialization in Womens Health, and conducts pregnancy and wellness programs for mothers-to-be and new moms. In addition to being a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator (LCCE), Dr. Vijaya is an ABPTS (American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties) certified Clinical Specialist. Dr. Vijaya has designed the Healthy Mother Lamaze Teaching Skills Workshop, a program to help aspiring Lamaze teachers gain the knowledge and skills to impart childbirth education in the Indian context. Dr. Vijaya is also an Adjunct Faculty in the Perinatal Program of the College of Health Sciences, Douglas College, Vancouver, Canada, the world's foremost institution in perinatal education.
Dr. Vijaya’s Credentials:
- Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), USA, awarded by North American Registry of Midwives (NARM)
- Official Certified Lamaze Childbirth Educator (LCCE)
- Fellow of the Academy of Certified Childbirth Educators (FACCE)
- Doctorate in Physical Therapy and PT Education from University of Massachesetts, USA
- Advanced Masters Degree in Physical Therapy from University of Massachusetts, USA
- Chapter Leader, ICAN of Hyderabad (International Cesarean Awareness Network)
- DONA Certification in progress
Krishnan Sakotai is a co-founder and Director of Healthy Mother Wellness & Care. He has more than 25 years diversified experience in Capital Markets, Sales and Corporate Strategy. He spent 15 years in the US investment industry with leading firms such as Mellon Asset Management, Putnam Investments and Wellington Management.
After returning to India in 2003, Krishnan joined Zensar Technologies in Pune as the head of its financial services practice. Subsequently, he set up the specialist Knowledge Process Outsourcing business of the Karvy group in Hyderabad. Most recently, Krishnan was the COO of Epitome Global Services, Mumbai, a leading financial services outsourcing firm that works with global hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and fund administrators.
Krishnan's calling from the world of analytical finance to helping Healthy Mother be the leading advocate and practitioner of Midwifery-based good maternal and newborn care has been inspired in part by his wife Vijaya's passion and by the absence of respectful, empathetic care for expecting mothers, which is backed by evidence-based practice. He brings to Healthy Mother his skills in Corporate Management, Marketing, Administration and Customer Relationship.
Ms. Pope is a specialist in the Midwifery Model of Care and is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), having been accredited by the North American Registry of Midwives, a worldwide certifying body that sets standards for practice of scientific, medically proven and evidence based midwifery care to women and newborns.
Crystal has nine years experience and specialization in Midwifery and Natural Births, Home Births and VBACs. She has interned at The Farm, the legendary birth center set up by Ina May Gaskin in the US. She has experience in delivering breech babies, twins and has helped many mothers to have water births. Crystal is an expert knitter and likes to watch movies in her spare time, though she has not yet been able to figure out the secret of Bollywood super heroes.
Dr. Jayanthi Reddy is the proprietor of JJ Hospital in Kalyan Nagar. She has 21 years of clinical experience and has been an Asst. Professor for the past 5 years at Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad. She is currently a senior faculty member at SVS Medical College, Mahboobnagar, Andhra Pradesh. Dr. Jayanthi is an expert in high-risk pregnancies and runs infertility, menopause and adolescent clinics in Hyderabad.
Millena Sehgal is a certified Yoga instructor whose specialization is in Hatha Yoga, Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga and Meditation. She has worked for over 5 years with expecting mothers and new mothers in helping them acheive a higher level of spiritual, emotional and physical wellness through her expertise in Yoga, Pranayama, and Meditation techniques. She has worked with babies and children in the areas of Infant Massage right from newborn stage till 7 years.
Millena is passionate advocate of Midwifery and Healthy Birth practices and has been a fan of Healthy Mother right from the time she came to Hyderabad from her native Brazil. Her association with Healthy Mother runs deep, having given birth to her cute baby girl, at Healthy Mother. She shares the deep committment Healthy Mother's team has towards offering empathetic, high quality care to expecting and new mothers.
Millena spearheads Wellmom by Healthy MotherTM Yoga, Meditation and Pranayama based wellness offering for expecting and new moms. She also works with new mothers and babies in offering and teaching baby massage to parents as a means of promoting calmness and well being in babies.
Millena is married to Rahul Sehgal, who is an avid gaming enthusiast, game developer and teacher and mentor to students of game development.
Dr. Udaya is a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator and a Physiotherapist with specialization in Childbirth Education. She has 5 years experience in working in OB/Gyn settings and has conducted prenatal and postnatal counseling sessions for expectant mothers and new moms. Dr. Udaya conducts Healthy Mother Lamaze classes in Bangalore and provides childbirth education, counseling and support to mothers in the Bangalore region.
Christa Hyland is a passionate supporter of Midwifery and Healthy Birth practices. She comes to Healthy Mother as an ambassador of mothers' and babies' health and wellness. Christa discovered the world of midwifery and doula care while pregnant and has been inspired to help other expecting and new mothers since then.
Christa is based out of Bangalore, and spearheads Healthy Mother's newest wellness initiative for expecting and new mothers - Wellmom by Healthy MotherTM. In this role, she coordinates Healthy Mother activities in Bangalore, facilitates online and offline Wellmom support group meetings, conducts corporate seminars on wellness for pregnancy and new motherhood and other related topics.
Ms. Rittu Nadkar is an alumni of the Healthy Mother Certified Lamaze Childbirth Educator Program conducted in association with Douglas College, Vancouver, Canada. She teaches the Healthy Mother Lamaze program for expecting couples in the Ahmedabad region. Ms. Nadkar combines her natural flair and expertise in communication with deep knowledge about safe, healthy, and “mother-baby friendly” birth practices advocated by Lamaze International. Ms. Nadkar is passionate about helping would-be mothers empower themselves with knowledge and means to have a safe pregnancy and natural birth. She is an aspiring Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, and an enthusiastic advocate of gentle birth practices which have evidence based practice.