When Carmen Escobedo and her boyfriend Carlos Corea found out they were expecting their first child, Carmen immediately swung into action to seek out the best medical care available. “I knew I wanted a midwife,” says Carmen. “That was very important to me.”
When she found Eisner Pediatric & Family Medical Center’s Women’s Health Center, Carmen knew she was home. She learned that: The midwives at EPFMC had glowing reviews, she could deliver in a hospital setting with a midwife, she would have the option of a water birth, and the center and hospital were close to her house. Carmen was sold. It was a perfect match.
Early in her pregnancy, Carmen was very sick, resulting in hospitalization for a time. This left her unable to do much preparation for her pregnancy and delivery. In her third trimester, she is finally feeling well and making up for lost time.
Carmen’s extensive research to find the right prenatal care is just one example of her thirst for knowledge about her pregnancy. She enrolled in EPFMC’s Centering Pregnancy program with other moms who are due around the same time in late September. The program is facilitated by her midwife.
She finds the instructors full of information and loves talking with other moms. “It is good to have women around you who are experiencing the same things right alongside you. It helps with the stress and to know what is ‘normal.’ You don’t feel alone about what is happening with your body and your baby. It’s reassuring.”
Baby Buggy Supports EPFMC’s Prenatal Class Incentive Program
The prenatal classes at EPFMC include an incentive program, which offers free diapers from Baby Buggy for women who attend 5 classes and a stroller after 10. Carmen loves the incentives, “I am a competitive person, so they work for me. The incentives help women to attend the classes at the beginning, but then you get hooked on the classes (themselves).
Already, Carmen has taken about half of the approximately 15 other available prenatal classes as well. Her goal is to take them all.
“The classes are so beneficial,” she explains. “I just didn’t know HOW beneficial the incentives would be ultimately!” During one class, they discussed how many diapers are needed in the first year. She was shocked. Baby Buggy’s 246-diaper gift instantly took on even more meaning.
Expressing her gratitude, Carmen explains that the moms-to-be at EPFMC “are a group of women who researched where they wanted to (have their babies). We want to be great moms. These incentives are wonderful because it means you don’t have to pick ‘one or the other’ (necessities for the baby).” Baby Buggy’s gift means these expectant mothers have one less thing to worry about as they prepare for impending motherhood.
Prenatal Classes Help Soothe the Stresses of Managing the Sandwich Years
Currently, Carmen is experiencing the “sandwich years,” as one of her doctors described it. She lives full time with her parents to care for them in their older years while simultaneously preparing for her newborn’s arrival.
It can be stressful caring for two generations. Having the EPFMC prenatal classes to look forward to and growing through what she is learning lessens that stress for Carmen.