Birth Roots!

I mentioned Birth Roots many times during pregnancy - this is the Perinatal Resource Center here in Portland which offered the childbirth education, breastfeeding, parenting, and newborn classes in which Dan and I participated. This is the place co-founded by our awesome doula, Leah and her amazing business partner, Emily.

Birth Roots recently re-located, due in part to the closure of Portland's only free-standing birthing center, the Ballard House, which had leased space to perinatal resource groups through the years. Their new location is larger and more functional for the types of classes and services offered. On Sunday, I attended the grand opening of the new location. Here's a clip from the local news:

http://www.wcsh6.com/video/default.aspx?mid=895208689

I strongly encourage any family preparing for birth in the Portland area to see what Birth Roots is all about. I really liked the independent nature of the courses, which allowed for more open discussion on the shared experience. Rather than taking a course hosted by the hospital where we gave birth-which, I'm sure, is a fine course- we were able talk about how I wanted give birth, not just what it would be like at that particular facility. In our Birthing from Within class there was couple who started out planning to birth at Mercy Hospital, decided do home birth instead, and, in the end, finished up delivering at Maine Medical Center. In my Blossoming Newborns class, there babies born at home, at Ballard House, at Maine Med, at Mercy...in tubs, squatting, in beds, by cesaerean birth... A wide variety of experiences, and we were brought together to help each other through the strange, tumultuous, scary, frustrating, joyous, wonderful and humbling experience of being a new mother.

Thank you, Birth Roots, for all you have done for my family and friends! Congratulations on your new space - it's beautiful, open, welcoming, functional, and perfectly YOU!