MIDDLEBURG – Ascension St. Vincent’s Clay County Hospital hosted its annual Community Baby Shower last Saturday for county mothers in honor of National Breastfeeding Week.

Along with St. Vincent’s and other resourceful organizations like Check In, Healthy Start, Team Dad, Early Steps, Quigley House, Poison Control, Better Beginnings, Healthy Families, Pelvic Floor Kara, Dr. Hyler and Associations, Myers Pediatric Dentistry and others, the event provided a network of resources and support for birthing mothers in the county.

Gillian Linden is the mother of Leo, a six-month-old boy. The mother said the array of resources at the Baby Shower would serve as a major tool for her family moving forward, but most importantly, that the event should lay a foundation to help her fellow mothers throughout the county, especially those expecting a child.

“I’m so happy that so many moms are able to (access) these resources. I’m very, very glad because unless we all help each other out, motherhood can be very, very hard, but with these many resources in our community, it should make motherhood significantly easier. As a community, we can all take the burden off of each other,” she said.

One phrase described how the hospital, organizers and vendors felt in reaction to the turnout: beyond thrilled.

Just ask Adrianne Geathers, who has served as a nurse manager at Family Birth Place at St Vincent’s since its opening in 2016. The baby shower wasn’t just a significant event for expectant mothers but a turnkey moment for Geathers and the hospital, which will celebrate its seventh anniversary on Aug. 24.

“Words don’t describe it. It’s amazing and wonderful that we’re able to give back to our mothers,” she said.

It wasn’t just the biggest turnout for the event, it more than tripled last year’s attendance, according to Geathers.

For the hospital and vendors, face-to-face exposure with clients was essential.

“Even though (we’ve been around) I still feel like a lot of people don’t know we exist. This allows the community and our birthing mothers to let them know we’re still here,” she said.

But the biggest aspect, of course, was to help mothers through the array of programs and network of services.

Amanda Toivola is the Program Director for the Woman, Infants and Children for the Florida Department of Health in Clay County. She said the event is a great opportunity for county mothers to connect with the WIC program and other resources. She said WIC, a federally-funded nutrition program, provides healthy foods, nutrition education and counseling, breastfeeding support, referrals for health care and more for low-income families.

Toivola said through the event, she hopes the program can reach more needy families.

“We hope to reach any participants that are not currently enrolled in the program. We see that a lot of times, participants don’t think they are eligible because we are an income-based program. It’s not until after we speak to them that they are really able to realize that they are able to receive the benefits,” she said.

One of the hospital programs is “Design Your Birth,” which tends to the needs of the mother and their partner.

“A lot of times when coming into a hospital, women feel like they lose all of the control. We feel like we’re giving back some of that control,” Geathers said.

The program offers a therapy room, birthing balls, and different position aids, among other services. Along with St. Vincent’s and WIC, Chelsie Braswell of Healthy Start of the Florida DOH attended. Braswell represents Baker County, but she said her organization is statewide and serves Clay residents, regardless of location.

Healthy Start provides counseling, referral and support services to high-risk clients, prenatal and newborns up to one year of age, including substance-exposed newborns.

Services like childbirth education, parenting education, child development, family planning counseling, breastfeeding support, grief support and smoking cessation are available. Free in-home care and community care is available.

“A lot of referrals come from offices and word of mouth, depending on the community, so actually being able to communicate face-to-face with these mothers to let them know about our program is a huge help,” she said.

Braswell reiterated the importance of providing a network of resources to mothers from a wide range of organizations.

“These moms are able to interact with our program who otherwise wouldn’t be able to, along with other vendors from Quigley House, to Poison Control, to the County Library to learn what’s abatable to them. You never know what your baby is going to need until they get here. They don’t come with manuals,” Braswell said.