Mary

Mary Theresa Cerny
IBCIC, Affiliated Doula

Services Provided:
Lactation Visits, Postpartum Doula, Childbirth Educator

*Serving the great Wausau and Shawano Area*

Raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Mary was raised by her father with 3 other siblings. At a young age, she learned how to help her Dad take care of the younger siblings by cooking, cleaning, and nurturing them. As a teenager, she experienced the heartache of an unplanned pregnancy. She and her Dad made the very difficult decision to surrender her son Greg for adoption. Through her very tough and unfortunate situation, she saw the care and compassion that the labor nurses and physicians gave her and decided that she wanted to give that same care to women during childbirth as well.

Mary went to nursing school and graduated from the College of DuPage in 1982. She began her nursing career as an OB RN at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove, IL. She worked there for 3 years, before her and her husband decided to move to Wisconsin to escape the rat race of the big city. While in Wisconsin, her husband started a successful business with a friend in the Lakewood area. Mary had 2 pregnancy losses, before finally giving birth to her son Luke, her rainbow baby. She was so thrilled to obtain an unmedicated birth by successfully utilizing the breathing and relaxation techniques that she learned in a LaMaze class. Soon after that, she became certified to teach childbirth classes in her local area, and got hired at the Langlade Hospital in Antigo as a Labor and Delivery, and postpartum, infant nurse.

She became passionate about birthing, bonding, and breastfeeding through the many births in which she attended, when seeing the joy on parents face when they finally meet their newborn baby. She decided to become certified in breastfeeding and began teaching breastfeeding classes, and started a breastfeeding support group at the hospital. After many hours of working and studying for the board exam to become an IBCLC, she did pass the exam in 2011. She assisted with the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative designation process and the hospital received the honored designation in 2018.

Mary has 30 years of Labor & Delivery experience, along with the caring for infants and mothers postpartum. She has seen the need in our modern society for new families to receive more support after returning home from the hospital with their new little one. There is much fear, uncertainty, and fatigue after giving birth. The mother needs mothering, so that she can effectively mother and nurture her baby. Mary hopes that she can offer this caring support to as many families as possible in her area of the world. Mary and her husband Miles has 4 children, 4 grandchildren and one on the way! They enjoy hiking, snowshoeing, bowhunting, cheering on the Green Bay Packers, and vacations to Fort Myers Beach.