At 10 months old, Dylon Williams is ready, willing and able to walk under his own steam.
His mother, Tiffanie, though, is a little less certain about the endeavor.
“He could do it himself,” Williams said Thursday afternoon, but she held on to his hands. That was as much to keep him close as it was to make sure he didn’t wander away.
Williams, from Pittston, was sitting with her son at MaineGeneral Medical Center, wrapped in the din of female voices, punctuated by the exclamations of the babies and children gathered there.
They were gathered to celebrate the first anniversary of the local launch of CenteringPregnancy, a prenatal program that works to reduce the number of pre-term births, improve patient satisfaction and increase the rate of breast-feeding.
Williams said she got so much more from the program’s sessions than she would have from just reading a book. She struck up friendships with other soon-to-be mothers, and they also learned from each other.
To date, more than 50 families have taken part in the patient-centered model of care. Expectant mothers with similar due dates meet in group sessions that cover topics such as prenatal health, and information on how to take care of their babies and themselves.
Christine Fletcher was also a part of the program’s inaugural year. As a second-time expectant mother, she knew some of what to expect, but she said, “Your second pregnancy is different, no matter what.”
For her, the sessions — a total of 10, with monthly sessions early on and bi-weekly sessions later — gave her a chance to do nothing for that time but concentrate on being pregnant.
“We also talked about a lot of things, like what if something goes wrong, and pain management,” Fletcher said. “As a nurse, I know some of that, but I learned a lot.”
Fletcher, who is from Litchfield, works as a nurse practitioner at Winthrop Family Medicine.
The national program is offered at MaineGeneral Healthcare thanks to a $15,000 grant from the March of Dimes.
On Thursday, Sally Hennessey, program impact leader for the March of Dimes for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, said MaineGeneral has received the grant for a second year.
With it, the hope is that more women will take part.
In the first year, 30 women signed up from the joint midwifery and obstetrics and gynecology practice at the hospital. Angela Ripley, a certified nurse midwife at MaineGeneral Midwifery Services, said that’s about 6 percent of the total number of patients the practices serve.
In the second year, Ripley hopes to see that number increase so that by the third year of the program, half the women who are patients in the joint practice will be taking part.
“We do this because we love what we’re doing,” Ripley said. “I’ve been doing this for years, and I am learning from these women.”
Jessica Lowell — 621-5632
Twitter: @JLowellKJ
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