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Loving Your Baby from the Inside Out 
Group for Pregnant Teens Offers Opportunity for Learning and Support

by Megan Dunlavey

Every Thursday afternoon at the Florence Crittenton Home (FCH), expectant mothers gather on couches, sharing healthy snacks and their hopes and fears about childbirth and parenting.  They are attendees of “Loving your Baby from the Inside Out” (LYB), a group designed to help pregnant teenagers become aware of the choices they have in their children’s birth experiences, and to learn to bond with their children before they are born. 

LYB is facilitated by Maria Nyberg, FCH Bonding and Attachment Specialist, and Jane Bucks, FCH Direct Care Staff and Lactation Counselor.  Both women have a passion for healthy, natural births and both help the young ladies in the group to trust, honor, and believe in themselves whether they intend to parent or make an adoption plan.
 
This group is now open to pregnant teenagers in Helena and surrounding communities.  FCH has tremendous resources and would like to offer more to young women in the community who do not live at FCH but can still benefit from the groups offered.  LYB fosters a positive change in the young mothers’ attitudes and confidence as they learn about aspects of birth that may otherwise never cross their minds: how to have the best labor and birth experience possible, the values to mom and baby of breastfeeding immediately after birth, and more.  Additionally, they have the priceless experience of each other’s support – a commodity that can be lacking for teenagers whose friends have no idea what they are going through.  They share their due dates, ultrasound photos, and personal stories.
Importantly, the moms value the time spent in LYB.  More than one young woman has said that it is her favorite group, the one where she learns the most.  Every week they fill out sheets that ask how they are feeling and whether they had contact with their OB/GYN that week.  They can also ask questions that may be on their mind.  Each Thursday, Bucks distributes answers to all the questions from the week before, which the girls keep in a special binder. 

The group hosts visiting speakers, including Nyberg’s daughter and son-in-law, new parents who visited the group before and after birth to share their experiences.  Colleen Senterfitt, Director of Women and Children’s Services at St. Peter’s Hospital, also visited.  These were great opportunities for the moms to ask questions.
    
LYB meets from 3:30 to 4:30 every Thursday.  Health insurance and Medicaid are accepted.  Interested teenagers can join at any point and shouldn’t feel intimidated because new moms are welcomed all the time.  LYB offers an invaluable opportunity for young moms to feel empowered by their role in bringing a new life into this world and to bond with their babies before birth.

For more information and/or an intake interview, call Maria Nyberg at 442-6950, extension 218.  Going through pregnancy as a teenager is a very trying experience, but LYB helps each young woman to sort things out and, hopefully, to look back on their pregnancy as a positive, empowering time in their lives. 

Dunlavey is an Americorps VISTA Volunteer working on community outreach at the Florence Crittenton Home.