For those of you who don't know me, I have been part of the Blossom Community for six years- first as a Prenatal Yoga Instructor and then I joined the office staff in the summer of 2007 as Program Manager. My passion for supporting families through their birth experience and beyond began when I was pregnant nine years ago with my first. I learned so much through that first pregnancy, and I wanted to turn around and share what I could with other new families, hopefully giving them a feeling of empowerment through such an amazing life transition. My job at Blossom gives me the chance to meet this goal every day and I never grow tired of working here.
It's really wonderful to come into the office each week and meet so many of you who come through our doors. Some families I may never meet in person, but we've chatted on the phone or exchanged emails. And others I'm sorry I never get the privilege to meet, but I know that my work here is a benefit to you nonetheless.
As Program Manager, one of my jobs is to oversee our curriculum and make sure it is meeting the needs of our community. I spend a lot of time meeting with teachers, paying attention to the needs of our clients, and comparing our program to others in the Bay Area and even beyond. With two years in this role under my belt, I was able to take a deeper look at our Childbirth Prep Program in 2009 and with the support of our devoted instructors, make changes that are sure to benefit every family who chooses to take their classes with Blossom in 2010.
One of these changes includes extending our 4-week Series to 5 weeks to allow more time for questions and a visit from recent "birth graduates" to share their experiences. My partner and I had a similar opportunity nine years ago just after our daughter was born. We connected with one of the couples in the class who was due to have their baby any day. Today, not only does this friendship continue between Kev and me and the other parents, but our daughters are best friends, too, despite living 45 minutes apart. I love witnessing the friendships that "Blossom" and hope this new addition to our birth classes contributes to it.
Another change is the offering of the Series not just as a 5-week evening course, but as a 3-week Saturday or Sunday afternoon course, as well. The classes cover the exact same curriculum, and each is a total of 12 hours of instruction. We hope this will offer more options to our community: the benefit of an in-depth weekly course, without the need to squeeze one more thing in after a busy day at work.
In 2010, we will also offer a completely new class, our Childbirth Prep Intensive (not to be confused with our previous Childbirth Prep Intensive, which was comparable to our evening course, but completed all in one weekend). Our new Childbirth Prep Intensive is a 6-hour overview of the stages of labor, basic coping techniques, and typical hospital procedures. This class will meet the needs of families simply wanting a general idea of what to expect in a hospital setting.
In addition to the changes in our core Childbirth Prep classes, we have also updated our Twins class (and other twin support offerings, as well), offer Private in-home sessions for families who are unable to make it to a regularly scheduled class, and we are working on a class specifically for parents interested in VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) which will be introduced the latter part of 2010. We continue to offer Birthing From Within, the Bradley Method, and Hypnobirthing, Practicing for an Active Birth Workshop, and our Childbirth Prep Refresher. And of course all of our other complimentary classes such as Breastfeeding Basics, Baby Care, and Adjusting to Parenthood. All of these classes, as well as Yoga cards (good for both Prenatal and Mom & Baby Yoga) and many of our Parent-Baby classes are available as part of our flexible Discount Package.
I am confident that we have something to meet the needs of every expectant and new parent. Not sure what classes are right for you? Give us a call- all of us in the office are quite knowledgable about our offerings and can help you figure it out. Hopefully, I will be the lucky one to take your call- meeting new families and helping them get started on their journey to parenthood is another great thing I love about working at Blossom! I look forward to seeing those of you I've already had the honor to meet and meeting all you new folks in 2010.
Love, Jeanna
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