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Healthy Beginnings, Healthy Community

“You look so big!”, “You look so small for five months!”, “You’re exercising too much and hurting your baby.”

If you’re a mother, you probably remember receiving comments similar to these and a plethora of advice from friends, family and even strangers during your pregnancy. Such was the case for Antonia Alberto (photo right), a former participant of El Buen Samaritano’s Comenzando Bien© (Healthy Beginnings) Prenatal Health Education Program.

Antonia had her third baby, Jackie, ten months ago and is deeply grateful to El Buen Samaritano for everything she learned during her pregnancy.

“Friends would tell me I had to eat for two people,” Antonia said. “The unfortunate reality is that I listened to them during my two previous pregnancies. And after my two last pregnancies, I had to work very hard to lose the extra weight.”

Antonia, 40, credits the remarkable health of her baby to all the information she received during her Comenzando Bien© classes. She learned the importance of eating small, healthy meals throughout the day, getting enough rest and ways to deal with stress. “My latest pregnancy was like a dream,” Antonia said. “It was over before I knew it.”

Comenzando Bien© is a culturally and linguistically appropriate, prenatal health education curriculum designed by the March of Dimes. It provides Hispanic women and their families with information about a healthy pregnancy, creating a supportive environment that promotes healthy behaviors and empowers participants to become assertive, informed consumers of prenatal care services.

“Today, if I were to give advice to a friend who is pregnant, I would definitely say that by taking very good care of yourself, you’re taking care of your unborn baby.”

The program is available at no cost to the participants in Spanish and English. For more information on how to support or get involved in the Comenzando Bien© Prenatal Health Education Program, contact Lil Almonte, director of outreach.