What Your OB-GYN Was Never Trained to Do — And How Dr. Adrouny Built Prenatal Classes in San Jose to Fill That Gap
Root to Rise and Labor Lounge: The Prenatal Classes in San Jose Built on What the Medical System Was Never Designed to Teach
Most OB-GYNs will not tell you this. Dr. Melissa Adrouny will.
She has been practicing obstetrics in San Jose for years. She has delivered hundreds of babies. And she is the first to say that the toolkit residency gave her was built for a very specific purpose — one that most of her patients would never need.
"As physicians, the tools that we're given in residency are the medical interventions. Pitocin. Episiotomies. C-sections. That's what the physician is for. We're the end game."
That honesty is the foundation of everything the Village is built on. And it is the reason Root to Rise and Labor Lounge exist.
Why the Medical System Was Not Built for Healthy Pregnancies
Physicians Are Trained to Intervene — Not to Prepare
The obstetric care system in the United States is intervention-based by design. That is not a criticism of individual physicians. It is a structural reality shaped by liability, litigation, and a residency training model built around managing what goes wrong rather than preparing patients for what is most likely to go right.
"We're really intervention-based and historically have been very close-minded and very paternalistic in the way that we advise patients. That's how you're trained."
Dr. Adrouny is not speaking from the outside looking in. She trained in that system. She came out of residency with the same toolkit every OB-GYN receives. And she recognized early that for the majority of her patients, that toolkit was not the primary thing they needed.
"For the majority of people they really don't need a physician involved in their care unless it gets to that point where it starts to go south."
What the Midwifery Model Gets Right
One of the most striking things Dr. Adrouny says in this conversation is her endorsement of the midwifery model of care for the majority of healthy pregnancies.
"The midwifery model of care is really more than sufficient. And in many cases, by putting my patients on my midwife's schedule, I know that they're actually going to get more one-on-one time and they're going to get a lot more individualized support."
This is a practicing OB-GYN actively recommending her patients spend time with a midwife because it will serve them better. That kind of intellectual honesty is rare. It is also the philosophical foundation on which Root to Rise and Labor Lounge were built.
What Spinning Babies Changed About Childbirth Preparation in San Jose
A Methodology That Opened an Entirely New World
The turning point in how Dr. Adrouny approaches prenatal care came when she discovered Spinning Babies — a midwifery-created methodology focused on pelvic balance, alignment, and how movement and positioning during pregnancy directly affect labor patterns and postpartum recovery.
"When I did my first Spinning Babies training it was just like — it completely opened my eyes and my mind to this entirely new world."
Spinning Babies operates from a premise that conventional obstetric training largely ignores: the way you move, sit, and carry your body during pregnancy is not incidental. It is a variable that influences how your pelvis is balanced, how your baby positions, and ultimately how labor progresses.
What Spinning Babies Means for Your Labor
Before Spinning Babies, prenatal care was largely reactive. Something goes wrong, a physician intervenes. After Spinning Babies, Dr. Adrouny had a new question: what can we do on the front end to improve conditions before labor even starts?
How is the patient's pelvic alignment?
How are they moving through their daily life?
Are they building habits that support balance or create tension?
What can be adjusted weeks or months before labor to improve outcomes?
"I'm able to offer my patients more options and give them the tools on the front end to be successful."
That shift from reactive to proactive is what became Root to Rise and Labor Lounge.
Root to Rise: The Prenatal Class Series Built Around Mind, Movement, and Village
What Root to Rise Actually Covers
Root to Rise is the formal prenatal class series at the Village San Jose. It is the culmination of everything Dr. Adrouny has learned across three years of teaching — figuring out what patients respond to, what they need, and what actually changes outcomes.
The class is structured around three core tenets:
Mind: What is actually happening in your body during pregnancy and why. The clinical education most patients never receive in enough depth to use.
Movement: Exercises, stretches, and daily habits that improve the conditions for a healthy vaginal delivery or VBAC. Not a workout class — a practical education in how the pregnant body moves.
Village: Community with other expecting parents who are going through the same thing at the same time.
Who Root to Rise Is For
Root to Rise is for anyone who is pregnant and wants comprehensive prenatal preparation. It is particularly valuable for:
First-time parents who want to understand what is happening in their bodies before they walk into a delivery room
People planning a VBAC who want to build the strongest possible physical and mental foundation
Anyone who has felt like their prenatal appointments were too short to hold all their questions
Labor Lounge: Prenatal Movement and Education in San Jose Built on Spinning Babies and Body Ready Method
What Makes Labor Lounge Different From a Workout Class
Labor Lounge is a separate class that builds on the same principles as Root to Rise but with a specific focus on Spinning Babies and Body Ready Method applied to everyday life during pregnancy.
"Not so much a workout class, but really educating people about how their weight load shifts during pregnancy, how their alignment is shifting, how even just sitting with your legs crossed every day can affect the balance in the pelvis."
This is the level of specificity that most prenatal care completely misses. The things that feel like small daily habits — how you sit, how you walk, how you carry your body — are actually inputs that affect how your pelvis is balanced and how your baby can position.
Calling Patients Into Awareness
The phrase Dr. Adrouny uses about Labor Lounge is the whole point of the class: calling patients into awareness.
Awareness of how their body is shifting. Awareness of what they can do about it. Awareness that they are not passive participants in their own labor — they are active agents with real influence over how things go.
Labor Lounge meets weekly at the Village San Jose and is open to anyone who is pregnant, regardless of due date or which provider is managing their care.
Why Being in a Room With Other Pregnant People Changes Everything
One of the consistent observations Dr. Adrouny makes about both classes is what happens when people are physically together.
The questions are braver. The learning is deeper. And the community that forms between people who are in the same season of life is something no digital platform can replicate.
"Getting them in a setting where they're with a bunch of other pregnant women who are around the same time that they are."
This is not incidental to Root to Rise and Labor Lounge. It is structural. The Village was built with a physical location in San Jose specifically because being in the same room as someone who is going through what you are going through is irreplaceable.
Frequently Asked Questions About Root to Rise and Labor Lounge at Adrouny Village Wellness in San Jose
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Root to Rise is a comprehensive prenatal class series at the Village San Jose founded and taught by Dr. Melissa Adrouny, OB-GYN. It is structured around three core tenets: Mind (clinical education about pregnancy), Movement (exercises and daily habits that support healthy labor), and Village (in-person community with other expecting parents). Classes are open to anyone who is pregnant regardless of due date or provider. Learn more at thevillagesanjose.com/root-to-rise-prenatal-class-series.
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Labor Lounge is a weekly prenatal movement and education class at the Village San Jose that integrates Spinning Babies and Body Ready Method principles. Where Root to Rise is a comprehensive class series covering Mind, Movement, and Village, Labor Lounge focuses specifically on how daily movement, pelvic alignment, and positioning during pregnancy affect labor patterns and postpartum recovery. Learn more at thevillagesanjose.com/labor-lounge-prenatal-exercise.
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Spinning Babies is a midwifery-created methodology focused on pelvic balance and alignment during pregnancy. It examines how daily movement, positioning, and posture choices affect labor patterns and postpartum recovery. Dr. Adrouny completed formal Spinning Babies training and integrates its principles into both Root to Rise and Labor Lounge at the Village San Jose.
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Body Ready Method is an evidence-based prenatal movement program that prepares the body for birth through targeted exercises, alignment work, and movement education. It is integrated into Labor Lounge at the Village San Jose alongside Spinning Babies principles.
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No. Root to Rise, Labor Lounge, and all Village classes are open to anyone who is pregnant regardless of who their OB-GYN or midwife is. You are welcome here no matter who your doctor is.
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Root to Rise and Labor Lounge serve anyone who is pregnant and wants to walk into labor prepared rather than afraid. Classes are in San Jose and serve the greater South Bay Area including Campbell, Los Gatos, Willow Glen, Cambrian, and surrounding communities. LGBTQ+ families and non-binary individuals are explicitly welcome.
🌙 Register for Root to Rise: thevillagesanjose.com/root-to-rise-prenatal-class-series
🌙 Register for Labor Lounge: thevillagesanjose.com/labor-lounge-prenatal-exercise
🌙 All Village offerings: thevillagesanjose.com