The Opening of the Women's Wellness and Education Center

I did not give birth the way I had dreamed. I wanted a peaceful water birth, without drugs, and ended up having to be induced with pitocin, given the saddle block and veritably strapped to a table for fetal monitoring. But that is not perhaps the worst part of my birth story. What I remember most poignantly about my pregnancy is the time I got a massage and, having to pee half way through (I was eight months along, meaning I had to pee about every twenty minutes) I stepped outside the massage room on my way to the loo and wearing nothing but a bedsheet wrapped around my supremely round body, I found myself standing in the middle of a crowd gathered for an evening art opening. I was clearly not in a space dedicated to my pregnant state. As I protruded my way through the people, I so wished I was. This moment signifies the whole of my pregnancy through the duration of which I felt overwhelmed and uncentered. In Anita Diamante’s The Red Tent, Dinnah observes during childbirth, “Why had no one told me that my body would become a battlefield, a sacrifice, a test? Why did I not know that birth is the pinnacle where women discover the courage to become mothers?” At this pinnacle a woman can often feel simultaneously alone and, as was my case, exposed. Beginning in the New Year, Asheville will have, in the form of the Women’s Wellness and Education Center, its own Red Tent. The building located at 24 Arlington Street, which has actually been painted red, will house a collective of independent practitioners, non-profits, and service providers focused on guiding women through the transitions of life. What this means for the pregnant woman is she can get her prenatal yoga, supportive therapy, Empowered Birthing classes, prenatal massage, and acupuncture all under one roof. After she’s had the baby, she can continue her yoga, get her post-natal massage, attend MAMA time groups with other new moms and babies, keep tabs on postpartum moodshifts, get lactation counseling, and, most importantly grow into motherhood in the community of other new moms. Trish Beckman, co-founder of the center says it “brings together practitioners from all parts of Asheville to allow us to work together to nurture the unfolding of women’s wisdom, creating greater harmony and balance for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our world.” The Women’s Wellness and Education Center is comprised of Trish Beckman (certified nurse midwife and childbirth educator), Ruth MacNair (massage therapist specially in prenatal and infertility massage), Laura Beagle (doula, pregnancy massage therapist, childbirth educator), Shelley Tom M.S. (Emotional Wellness Therapist), Natalie Allard (Acupuncturist), Holly Mason (registered nurse, mother-baby educator, lactation specialist), Nathalie Schweibert (PhD. in Counseling, LPC, NCC), Sarah Gralnick (postpartum ayurvedic support, aquanatal educator). These women work in both worlds, Western and Eastern, “bridging the gap” between the modern and ancient. Natalie explains acupuncture’s helpful role in childbirth, “It is a wonderful alternative to get contractions started and to keep them going, naturally, so the woman doesn’t have to be chemically induced.” The women of the Women’s Wellness and Education Center aren’t into judging anybody for how they want to give, or very importantly end up giving birth. Ruth Macnair says “ We are comitted to supporting each woman as she travels through her pregnancy toward a deeper understanding of her own wisdom and her own journey toward safe and supported birthing and early parenting experiences.” The center provides massage, childbirth classes, acupuncture, and counseling as a way of helping women maintain calm while being faced with the challenges of pregnancy and childbirth. “Massage trains the mind and body much in the same way yoga does for deep relaxation. A woman who enjoys massage throughout her pregnancy has an increased opportunity to be centered and deeply relaxed during her labor and birth experience. Relaxation reduces tension which in turn reduces pain.” says Laura Beagle who has been offering prenatal massage in Asheville for the last four years. In a society where celebrities sport flat tummies weeks after birth and the Family Leave Act only keeps our jobs safe for ninety days and Medicaid covers us for up to eight weeks after birth, the whole pre- and postpartum rite of passage gets rather lost in what Lionel Trilling refers to as “a benevolent form of house arrest” in the house of milk and poop. But there are still places in the world where it is sacred and Asheville’s new Women’s Wellness and Education Center will be one of them. Shelley Tom and Valerie Schwiebert, PhD., who together operate Integrative Emotional Health, will offer individual and group therapy which focus on the very issues that get glanced over in our rush to get back to work and back into shape. Shelley comments, “A large part of our therapeutic practice is dedicated to dealing with the vulnerable postpartum transition that lasts up until the baby is 12 months old. By offering a safe place to explore emotions, while having many supportive adjunct resources available, we hope that we can reach more women and families, create community, and provide the much needed support during this and other important life transitions.” The Mama-time groups also offered at the center and facilitated by Holly and Shelley offer an opportunity for new moms to meet weekly with their babies for 12 weeks to explore together the joys and challenges of early parenting, to understand that the range of normal experiences is very wide, and to build community and mama confidence.