It was no surprise to all that I chose a career in nursing, specializing in mother-baby. Working many years at bedside, I cared for delivered moms and their newborns during their 24-72 hour hospital stay. Teaching self care, newborn care, assisting with breastfeeding while preparing parents to discharge home were a few highlights of my day. Oh, how I loved my job! It was incredibly rewarding and I felt so honored and privileged to care for these families at such a special time in their lives.
Although after working 17 years at bedside, I decided to take a different path in my nursing career. I was given the opportunity and took a position as a nurse manager, managing both postpartum and antepartum units. The experience and growth, both professionally and personally, was invaluable yet I knew I wanted to do more. But the question was what.
There were a few things I did know. I knew I wanted to continue to work with moms and families and somehow incorporate my own experience as a mom. I thought back to when I started my pregnancy and motherhood journey. I remembered how overwhelmed I felt with the different books, philosophies and baby products out there. I knew I was not alone. I spoke to friends, families and patients throughout the years and realized they too, experienced the very same thing. It was at that moment, I came up with the idea to combine the two most important things in my life – my boys and career, to create services I felt were very much needed. And that’s how And a Baby was Born was.….well, born.
And a Baby was Born has been a labor of love. Nine years in the making before coming to fruition. Lots of planning and creating resulting in a menu of services. Services such as childbirth preparation, maternal & newborn education, lactation support as well as other services to help expecting moms and families during their pregnancy and beyond.
It wasn’t until I had children of my own that I realized “You don’t know what you don’t know”. And being able to offer resources to help expecting parents through this exciting yet challenging time has made my own experience as a mother and my decision to launch And a Baby was Born the perfect marriage.
