Business owners create birth collective

A group of small-business owners is banding together to form Nourish Birth Collective, a centralized approach for families seeking birth-related services.

The collective recently launched and plans to add more businesses. For now, those participating have combined to offer a range of services from birth photography to lactation consulting.

Alicia Fonder started her business, South Dakota Babies Inc., in 2007. She is a nurse and lactation consultant who helps new mothers with childbirth education and breast feeding.

“I work out of my home and go to their homes because they’re more relaxed and calm and it’s easier to get the whole picture of what’s happening with their family,” she said.

Lisa Groon, owner of Ovo Birth Services, started her business two years ago and also does lactation consulting in addition to offering doula services.

As a doula, Groon assists families throughout the birth process, whether it is in a hospital or at home and provides postpartum support.

“There are certainly more requests for doulas right now than there are services for mothers,” she said. “If we could take all the births we could possible take, we would be taking births nonstop.”

Sandra Maurer joined the group after moving her business, Whole Beginnings, with her from Philadelphia.

“I started offering doula services but offer holistic pregnancy, fertility and postpartum coaching and fertility and prenatal yoga,” she said.

Hannah Parker’s business, Fresh Love Photography & Birth Services, is the final member of the collective. Parker, who also is a doula, opened her studio in 2010 and has an office in the Harvester Building downtown. Parker meets couples at home or at the hospital and starts chronicling their birth process in photos.

“It’s rising. More and more people are offering it, which is awesome, because a lot of people in the Midwest don’t know it’s an option,” Parker said.

The businesses hope to lease a space where they can have offices in the same spot. Until then, they are spreading the word through social media and working together to help connect clients with their various services. The group’s website is nourishbirthcollective.com.

“There’s nothing quite like this,” Groon said. “There are other doula collectives, but I haven’t found anything like this. We want women and families to have one place to go for all of the resources they might need pre-conception through those early years of parenting.”

The idea is appealing to new mother Emily Shafer. She used services from Groon and Fonder when she gave birth to her son, Wesley, in November.

“I was looking for a doula, new to town, and totally disconnected from everything,” Shafer said. “I had read about doulas ... and the more people I talked to I thought, wow, I have to have a doula for the support emotionally and to help my husband because I wasn’t sure how he was going to handle everything.”

She met Groon and said the service “was definitely worth every penny.”

When she struggled with breast feeding, she found Fonder through a support group at retailer Elegant Mommy and ended up hiring her for a home consultation.

It would be helpful to connect with all those resources in one place, she said.

“As a pregnant mom, it’s super-overwhelming because there are so many decisions to make,” Shafer said. “They used to say it takes a village to raise a child. Now, we’re trying to do it ourselves. Like Lisa says, now they’re bringing back the village, and it really helps.”

Long-term, the group is considering opening a birth center. The freestanding facility would cater to women who have low-risk pregnancies and want a birth experience similar to being in a home.

“They usually want a birth with a midwife instead of an obstetrician and often birth centers will have a relationship (with a hospital) and are close to one in case of an emergency,” Maurer said.

The collective hopes to add other small businesses and service providers.

“We will obviously provide services, but the hope is to eventually provide ... additional photography, other types of yoga, maybe nutrition and chiropractic care,” Groon said. “The concept is even larger than the four of us.”