Forward: Farewell to a Mom's Haven

Marjorie Ingall provides commentary of the ESCbC closure in Forward.

The Elizabeth Seton Childbearing Center, aka the ESCbC, was the focus of my life when Josie was teeny. Back when I was sleepless and isolated and convinced that I was accidentally going to drown my unearthly slippery infant in the tub because I was the most inept parent who ever walked the earth, ESCbC gave me comfort and community.

No matter how bad things got, I knew I could wheel the Josinator over to West 14th Street for new-mom support groups, CPR classes, infant massage lessons, how-to-wangle-that-infernal-sling workshops. I didn't give birth at ESCbC, but I learned a lot about how to be a mom there. And I hoped that when it came time for Josie to have a sibling, God willing, that new little person would enter the world in one of Elizabeth Seton's comfy birthing suites. My hypothetical spawn-to-be would have joined the 3,000 babies delivered by the Seton midwives over the past three decades. (Maybe even under water! In one of Seton's big ol' Jacuzzi tubs! Because I am a hippie!)