On a brisk, sunny fall morning, five moms, a dad, a grandmother and five babies — ranging in age from 6 to 12 weeks old — finished up the third of a four-session infant massage class. They’re in Hampden at The Womb Room, a self-described “community space for Baltimore families to learn, connect and grow.”
Or, as instructor Jessie Bernstein calls it, a “Cheers” for new parents. “It’s such a staple in the community,” she says.
Founded a year ago by childbirth professionals Heather Brown and Carmen Calvo, The Womb Room offers a variety of programs including childbirth education, prenatal and postnatal yoga, birth and postpartum doula services, breast-feeding support groups, fathers’ groups and placenta encapsulation.
The latter is a process in which a baby’s placenta is dried and poured into capsules for the mother’s postnatal consumption. Calvo became a proponent of placenta encapsulation after she experienced good results using the capsules to prevent anxiety and other postnatal symptoms after her second pregnancy.
Brown estimates between 500 and 600 families have been served by The Womb Room, which employs seven instructors and also rents out its studio to other instructors and groups for classes on a rotating basis.
The owners say The Womb Room is the only business of its kind in the area.
At the recent infant massage session, Bernstein, 35, a Randallstown native who grew up attending the Winands Road Synagogue Center, taught parents to massage their babies’ arms and faces, something that Rachel McKnight’s child, William, thoroughly enjoyed. William was all smiles as his mom demonstrated what she learned in class.
“It’s nice to learn ways to touch William that feel good to him,” said McKnight, a Charles Village resident. “It’s also good for connecting with other moms. It can be really lonely being home with a baby when your partner goes back to work.”
Creating connections between mothers and families was one of the reasons Calvo and Brown opened The Womb Room, which is located on the second floor of a rowhome on 36th Street.
“We were not intended to do this [motherhood] by ourselves,” said Calvo, 37, a mother of two boys. “In our culture, early motherhood can be very isolating. If Heather and I can create a space and community where women can get the education they need to have a really positive, profound, beautiful birth experience, and then have that community carry through their early motherhood years, that’s really the goal.”
Medfield resident Anna Caplan said she appreciated the sense of community at The Womb Room when she took childbirth education and prenatal yoga classes there during her second pregnancy.
“I highly recommend prenatal yoga,” she said. “It’s important to stay physically active during pregnancy because labor is such a marathon. I was expecting the yoga classes to be really easy, but they were challenging. There was also a focus on doing things that helped to relieve discomfort. For instance, my feet hurt, so I learned to do [the yoga exercise] legs up the wall, which made me feel better. We did ‘hip openers’ to prepare our bodies to have a baby and breathing techniques and learning to be in the moment.”
Brown describes yoga as “a tremendous tool for prepping for birth and delivery. During pregnancy, your body is changing, you’re gaining weight, your weight is shifting. Yoga encourages flexibility and stability for the changing body and relieves discomfort. It’s also very much an inward practice that provides respite, an opportunity to take a break, connect with your inner wisdom and with your baby. It provides centeredness in a vulnerable time.”
In the course of her work with pregnant women, Brown said she often sees the best-laid birth plans go awry. She advises students and clients to “plan for the birth you want, but be flexible and open when things don’t work out that way.”
“I call it making peace with Plan B,” said Brown, a mother of three daughters. “It’s important to recognize that not everyone has that easy, blissful, positive experience. And there’s a lot of shame around birth practices like Caesareans. …
“One of my main goals is to create a holding space … an environment where everyone feels heard. We’re open, inclusive to all kinds of families and experiences. A big tenet of the practice of yoga is non-judgment.”
Said Calvo: “Motherhood is hard enough [without judgment]. Being in this profession is incredibly humbling. Especially when you’re trying to prepare couples. You don’t have all the answers. It’s important to come to a place of acceptance and love.”
For information about The Womb Room, visit womb-room.mom.
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