By Joyce Lancaster

Congratulations, you’re pregnant. Those three little words can knock the most centered woman off of her axis. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was someone to go to with education, experience and answers at this pivotal time? Thankfully, there is.

Since 1999, Patty Brennan has been running the Center for the Childbearing Year, an educational center that offers emotional, physical and logistical support to the mother-to-be and her family. “We’re actually educators on two levels,” says Patty, “we teach classes for parents such as childbirth preparation, infant CPR, postpartum issues, breastfeeding and mothering arts, but we also offer classes for the professionals in this field.” Some of these professionals become doulas (prounced doo-luhs). “A doula ‘mothers the mother’ by providing non-medical care.” says Patty, “this may include massages, hydrotherapy, nutrition education, meal preparation, breastfeeding support and household errands. She becomes a trusted friend and mentor and often attends the delivery of the baby.” A doula is different than a mid-wife in that she does not deliver the baby nor offer medical assistance. Patty has been trained to do all of those things.

Born the second youngest of five children in Detroit and raised in Dearborn, Patty later graduated from Boston College with a degree in philosophy. After five years out east, she decided to return to Michigan and was reunited with a childhood friend of her brother. They were married within a year and settled in Ann Arbor because Patty always loved to visit the downtown area and the flagship Borders store in particular. It was here that Patty found her new calling. “My interest in the childbirth field started when I became friends with a midwife who lived down the street from us. One day her son jumped into our sandbox and that was the beginning of my career,” she laughs, for 15 years she was a home birth midwife and a doula. What she learned in that time changed everything that she knew about childbirth. “With my first son, I felt that I had no control over anything and there was a high degree of medical intervention but no emotional or physical support. When my second son was born six years later and after my training, I had a home birth and my sister (who is a registered nurse) was allowed to be with me that time.”

The center started when Patty decided to help people on a larger scale and become an educator. “It’s really a collective of women’s owned businesses centered on the theme of providing services for the childbearing year” she says, “we support each other in a compatible but not directly competing way.” But it hasn’t always been easy. The early years had a lot of ups and downs because what I knew about starting and running a small business, I had learned through trial and error,” she says. She now shares that information with others at Washtenaw Community College where she teaches a continuing education class in small business development. The time she spent at Borders must have influenced her too, as she is the author of three books: “Whole Family Recipes – For the Childbearing Year & Beyond,” “Homeopathic Remedies for the Birth Bag” and “Vaccines and Informed Choice.” “Everything I do is centered on presenting my clients with informed choices and letting them know the benefits, risks and alternatives available in each situation. Then the choice is theirs.”

If you found this story interesting, informative or inspiring, please let Patty know by visiting the center’s web site at www.center4cby.com.

Center for the Childbearing Year
Patty Brennan
Website: www.center4cby.com