Nine months ago, we celebrated a pink ribbon cutting for Dr. Brandie Keates’s new practice, Bloom Sanctuary, tucked into a quiet corner of Paoli. After 25 years of building one of Pennsylvania’s largest chiropractic practices, Bloom marked a return to the kind of deeply personal, one-on-one care that has always been at the heart of Dr. Brandie’s work with pregnant women.

“It’s been magic,” Dr. Brandie said. “I have the time to really listen and ask, ‘How can I make this better for you?’ I’ve never wanted a patient to feel dependent on me. This is her pregnancy. It’s her birth. My job is to give her the information, tools and support she needs to feel confident making the decisions that are right for her.”

A Slower Pace, A Bigger Vision to Address Pregnancy Pain

One recent patient arrived at Bloom Sanctuary carrying three pillows she had purchased, convinced that if she could only find the right one, she could fix her pain. But instead of starting with the pillows, Dr. Brandie started with her.

“It wasn’t her pillows,” she said. “When I really looked at how she was moving and what her body had been doing for years, what I was seeing was coming from the way her shoulder blades and upper body had adapted after years of carrying her children.” It’s the kind of detective work Dr. Brandie loves most: looking beyond where something hurts to understand why it hurts in the first place.

And increasingly, the women coming to her for answers aren’t experiencing pregnancy for the first time. Roughly 90 percent of Dr. Brandie’s pregnant patients are in their second pregnancy or beyond. Many arrive believing the pain they’re experiencing is simply the price of doing pregnancy again.

“Pregnancy pain is common, but that doesn’t mean you should be told to live with it,” she said. “So often, something started during the first pregnancy, never fully resolved, and then the demands of another pregnancy bring it right back. Nobody ever explained to her why.”

Sometimes the missing piece is surprisingly ordinary. Something as simple as trading a sedan for an SUV after learning you’re expecting a second child can change the way a pregnant woman gets in and out of her car dozens of times a week. That repeated motion can aggravate pubic pain without her ever realizing the two could be connected.

Those are the connections Dr. Brandie has spent nearly 25 years making with pregnant women. And they’re also at the heart of something she has spent the last eight years building: Expecting Relief™, a library of on-demand courses that puts that knowledge directly into women’s hands.

“I kept thinking about all the women I’ll never get to see in my office,” she said. “They still deserve to know why they hurt, what they can safely do about it, and when they need more help.” Dr. Brandie built Expecting Relief™ to give them a place to start.

Years in the Making, Refined by Expert and Patient Feedback

Expecting Relief™ includes courses addressing some of the most common pregnancy pain complaints Dr. Brandie has treated across a quarter-century of practice, including headaches, wrist pain, rib pain, low back pain and sciatica, and pubic pain, currently her bestseller. The library also includes preparation for VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean), with a C-section recovery course in development.

Main Line Parent readers can enjoy 50% off their first Expecting Relief™ course with code MAINLINEPARENT.

But the content itself is only half the story. Over the past nine months, Dr. Brandie has brought the material to clinicians at 22 OB practices across the Philadelphia region, asking for feedback as she continued to refine it. “I’d ask them: ‘Would this be helpful for your patients? Is there anything here that’s confusing? Would you actually give this to someone?’” she said.

Her own patients became an equally important part of the process, buying the courses, using them at home and telling her what was helpful, what was easy to follow and where they needed more explanation.

“I know how I would explain something if you were standing next to me in my office,” Dr. Brandie said. “The challenge was making sure a woman could be at home, hurting, open this up and know exactly where to start.”

The name itself carries a mission. Originally called The Bloom Philosophy®, a nod to Dr. Brandie’s belief in helping women bloom through pregnancy and birth, the program eventually took on a new name. As its purpose became clearer, it became Expecting Relief™.

“I want women to stop accepting the narrative that pain is just part of pregnancy and there’s nothing they can do about it,” she explained. “I hear women repeat it all the time because it’s what they’ve been told, and I want to change that expectation. Pregnancy pain may be common, but that doesn’t mean you should expect to suffer. I want women to expect relief.”

How the Courses Work

Dr. Brandie structured each course for the way women actually need information when they’re hurting. It isn’t designed to be consumed from beginning to end. Instead, it works more like a recipe: start with what hurts and what you need right now.

“If you’re in severe pain, go here,” she said, describing her “48-hour recipe” for getting started. Once a woman’s pain becomes more manageable, the course shifts toward daily strategies designed to help her maintain that progress.

Guided videos pair with handouts and printables to help women incorporate the sports medicine principles into everyday life, rather than trying an exercise once and hoping it works. Public health and education interns from West Chester University also helped Dr. Brandie organize the material she had developed over eight years into a format women could easily navigate and use.

“I didn’t want to give women another list of stretches,” she said. “I wanted to give them a plan. What do I do today? For the next 48 hours, what do I need? What little things can I change every day to give myself the best chance of feeling better?”

Designed for Busy, Real-Life Moms and Moms-to-Be

Dr. Brandie deliberately designed the courses for real life. Not every woman has access to a chiropractor trained in pregnancy care, and even those who do may be balancing work, other children, appointments and everything else that doesn’t stop simply because pregnancy hurts.

“It’s a great first step,” Dr. Brandie said. “If someone calls my office with mild discomfort, sometimes I’ll tell her to start with the course. I’ve never wanted women to feel dependent on me for relief. I want them to understand what’s happening in their bodies and have safe, practical things they can do for themselves.”

For women who do need in-person care, the courses can also fill the space between visits. Some of Dr. Brandie’s patients drive an hour or more to see her. They use Expecting Relief™ as their “homework,” reinforcing what they’re working on together and giving them tools to use when she isn’t standing beside them. In the office, she’ll sometimes take that same idea a step further, recording a short video on a patient’s phone so she leaves knowing exactly what to do at home.

The video format extends that support to partners, too. Each course includes demonstrations that show partners how they can help, including hands-on techniques and what to watch for.

“Pregnancy can make a woman feel like everything is happening to her body and she has very little control over it,” Dr. Brandie said. “Giving her and her partner something practical they can do together changes that. This is basic sports medicine, thoughtfully and safely applied to pregnancy.”

And Dr. Brandie is realistic about how much time women actually have. The courses aren’t designed to become another task on an already overwhelming pregnancy checklist.

“I’m asking for ten or fifteen minutes a day,” she said. “Women spend so much of pregnancy thinking about the baby and taking care of everyone around them. I want them to have a few minutes to pay attention to themselves, understand what their body is telling them and realize, ‘I know what to do here.’ That confidence matters.”

Built to Complement What OBs Recommend

What sets Expecting Relief™ apart from a stretching video found on social media, Dr. Brandie says, is the standard she holds her recommendations to. Current pregnancy guidelines, including guidance from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), inform the courses, which Dr. Brandie refined with feedback from clinicians at local OB practices. For Dr. Brandie, that relationship matters deeply.

“I have tremendous respect for OB-GYNs and for the responsibility they carry in keeping women and babies safe,” she said. “When we’re caring for the same woman, I consider her our mutual patient. I want anything I recommend to support that relationship, never work against it. I hold my advice to a very high standard because her safety has to come before everything else.”

It’s the same standard Dr. Brandie brings to her work training chiropractors nationally through Bloom Academy. Her work as a sponsored speaker for a malpractice insurance company and her experience serving as an expert witness have reinforced the importance of staying current, understanding scope and recognizing when a pregnant patient needs to be referred back to her maternity care provider.

Her guiding question is simple:

“Would your patient’s OB be comfortable with this?”

A Personal Commitment to Safety

That respect for safety is personal, too. Dr. Brandie knows firsthand what it feels like to be pregnant, in pain, and told there’s little to do but go home and rest. “I know what it feels like to be pregnant, hurting and feel like there aren’t any options,” she said. “That experience is part of why I care so much about giving women good information. But giving someone options also means knowing when something is not mine to manage. Sometimes I can give you something practical to help. Sometimes the most important thing I can tell you is, ‘I want you to call your OB.’”

That combination of her earlier career as a paramedic, nearly 25 years caring for pregnant patients and her close working relationships with maternity care providers shapes the practical approach behind Expecting Relief™. Dr. Brandie designed the courses not only to show women what they can safely try at home, but also to help them recognize when a symptom deserves a conversation with their OB rather than another stretch.

“I want women to expect relief,” Dr. Brandie said. “But I will never put relief ahead of safety.”

Giving Women Their Power Back

For Dr. Brandie, Expecting Relief™ isn’t an idea that began with the opening of Bloom Sanctuary nine months ago. It’s the latest evolution of work she has been doing for nearly 25 years, and a mission that became deeply personal during her own pregnancy in 2006.

At 17 weeks pregnant, Dr. Brandie nearly lost her baby. She was in significant pain, unable to work and suddenly experiencing pregnancy from the other side of the treatment table. “That was when something lit on fire in me,” she said. “I knew what it was like to be scared, to hurt and to feel like you didn’t know what you could do to help yourself. It changed the way I wanted to care for pregnant women.”

The idea of The Bloom Philosophy® grew from that experience: the belief that pregnancy is a temporary normal, a unique period in a woman’s life that deserves more than simply getting through it. “Pregnancy is a time you get to really explore and feel, and you’ll never experience it in quite the same way again,” Dr. Brandie said. “Why not make it good?”

For years, she has watched what can happen when a woman who arrives scared, hurting or unsure is given information that helps her better understand her body. “You get somebody who’s scared, and you get to watch her turn around and love her pregnancy and her baby again,” she said. “That’s truly blooming. Sometimes giving someone the right information gives her some of her power back.”

Expecting Relief™ takes that philosophy beyond the walls of her Paoli office. After nearly 25 years of caring for pregnant women, Dr. Brandie wants women to stop accepting the idea that suffering is simply part of pregnancy. “I can’t personally take care of every pregnant woman,” she said. “But I can share what I’ve learned — good information, safe things she can try, and help understanding when she needs more support. I want women to stop expecting to just get through pregnancy. I want them to expect relief.”

Expecting Relief™ can be given to someone else. Dr. Brandie sees it as a thoughtful option for a baby sprinkle, or simply for the friend, sister, daughter or coworker who is struggling through pregnancy when the people who love her aren’t quite sure how to help.

“Sometimes you know someone is hurting and you don’t know what to do for her,” Dr. Brandie said. “And sometimes the best gift isn’t another thing for the baby. It’s something that’s actually for her.”

“My hope is that a woman reads this because something hurts, or someone who loves her reads it and immediately thinks of her,” she said. “If this gives her a place to start and helps her realize she doesn’t have to wait until it gets worse to look for answers, that’s exactly what I want.”

Bloom Sanctuary supports the Main Line Parent Community, as seen in the Main Line Baby Guide.