March 12--BRUNSWICK -- The birth of Antonette Vasseur's first child didn't go as planned. A 21-year-old, single woman, Vasseur gave birth to her son by cesarean section. Attempts to nurse him seemed futile.
She's since given birth to two more children, girls who were born at home without the aid of drugs. She nursed both of her daughters, and is still nursing 7-month-old Nathalia.
Vasseur is the founder of Sacred Roots Birth Community, which focuses on helping women and babies come into the world on their terms. Part childbirth education, part natural birth resource, part support group, Vasseur is teaching classes and fostering support for expectant and new moms in Frederick and surrounding counties. The classes are in Frederick and Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
"There are different paths to birth," she said. Those moms who choose to have their babies in hospitals, with an epidural to dull the pain, are doing no less for their children than the mom who spurns painkillers or the mom who chooses to breastfeed her baby.
Vasseur's goal is to work with pregnant women so they are comfortable about birth, and to help them through those first few months when life may seem overwhelming with a new child. Vasseur, now 28, is married to a Frenchman who works as a software developer, and they live in a small, comfortable home in Brunswick.
She does feel a little information would have helped her respond better to pressure she received from her doctors to have a C-section during her son's birth.
Following that stressful experience, she began reading about natural births and breastfeeding, and she became certified as a doula. It seemed a natural career path. Vasseur, a Brunswick native, had been a women's studies major at Towson University before she gave birth. Although she didn't finish her degree, she began doula training. She was trained by Birth Arts International, and is a trained Hypno-Doula through Hypnobabies.
She also helped found Maryland Families for Safe Birth, which last week lobbied in Annapolis for the licensure of Certified Professional Midwives in Maryland. She was also the organization's first vice president. The organization wants women in Maryland to have a choice about where to give birth, whether that is in a home, birthing center or hospital.
After six years working as a doula, Vasseur is ready to move on. "I loved teaching," she said. She writes an online column on home birth and midwifery for Mother Earth News. She has also worked at holistic medical centers and yoga centers, and has always been interested in women's health.
"This isn't about the right way or the wrong way to deliver your baby," she said. "Home birth isn't necessarily for everyone. If you're tense and tight, you may not feel safe doing that. But we should support each other. I have friends who love their epidurals. It's not to say one birth is less empowering than another. It's more about being in tune with yourself. You should honor that."
Women who start out hoping to have a natural birth but who receive medical assistance shouldn't feel guilty, either. "You feel like you failed, but only because that's how other people view it," she said.
Vasseur read the book "Sacred Pregnancy," and attended a Sacred Pregnancy retreat in Virginia, becoming certified for Pregnancy Journey and Birth Journey classes. Vasseur will offer these classes through Ananda Shala in Frederick this spring.
She experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her youngest child. She hadn't expected it, but when it happened, she knew who to turn to. "I had this community of support," she said. "Women came to my door with food."
She has started Mother Roasting, a community of women who come together after a woman has given birth to deliver a nourishing, whole foods, organic meal for the postpartum mother. In January, she started the volunteer movement with women in and around Frederick. Last week, she was making a kale and bean soup to take to a woman who lived nearby.
The meal is just for the mom, not to be shared with the family. "You've been through this experience, and you may not even realize you're hungry," she said. "We send our volunteers ideas and recipes. It is cooking with love."
She got the idea after her neighbor, Melanie DiPasquale of Brunswick's Beans in the Belfry, went into the restaurant at 11:30 p.m. following the birth of Vasseur's daughter last summer, and made Vasseur her favorite sandwich from the restaurant. The gesture meant a lot to Vasseur.
The classes are also meant to nourish expectant mothers. Sacred Pregnancy classes are eight weeks for women early in their pregnancies, and four weeks for women later in their pregnancies. The classes explore the physical, mental and emotional changes that women experience as a pregnancy progresses.
Birth Journey classes are for pregnant couples, and the VBAC workshop is for women hoping to have a vaginal birth after giving birth by C-section. The Frederick classes begin April 7.
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