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Blanchfield Army Community Hospital expecting moms receive visit from USO Special Delivery pregnancy, parenting author Heidi Murkoff

Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH)Fort Campbell, KY – Heidi Murkoff,Best-selling author of the pregnancy and parenting “What to Expect” book series,  visited new and expecting mothers at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH), May 6th, 2019 in conjunction with her USO Special Delivery Baby Shower and Reunion on Fort Campbell.

“This is our seventh year of doing Special Delivery Baby Showers, which we do around the world — Korea, Guam, Fort Campbell — you name it,” said Murkoff.

The USO Special Delivery Baby Shower tour has visited 35 military installations, giving military moms of newborns and moms-to-be an afternoon of traditional baby shower games, camaraderie, gifts and a question and answer period with Murkoff.

Best-selling author of the pregnancy and parenting "What to Expect" book series, Heidi Murkoff, talks with Army spouse, Courtney Crocker, during a Centering Pregnancy session at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, May 6. Murkoff visited BACH in conjunction with her USO Special Delivery Baby Shower and Reunion on Fort Campbell. (U.S. Army photo by Maria Yager)
Best-selling author of the pregnancy and parenting “What to Expect” book series, Heidi Murkoff, talks with Army spouse, Courtney Crocker, during a Centering Pregnancy session at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, May 6. Murkoff visited BACH in conjunction with her USO Special Delivery Baby Shower and Reunion on Fort Campbell. (U.S. Army photo by Maria Yager)

More than 10,000 military spouses and active-duty women have participated in this free event at military installations worldwide since it began in 2013.

“We have no military in our family but we had long ago been asked to do a baby shower for military moms, to donate books, and we were completely addicted once we saw all the moms and hugged all the moms and rubbed all the bellies and saw all the babies. We decided to partner with the USO to bring Special Delivery to military families around the world,” said Murkoff.

Her one meeting with military moms inspired the idea to bring the experience to more military moms, recognizing the challenges many military families experience being far from home.

“So we’re here not only to celebrate [mom], because these moms need to be celebrated, but also to bring moms together so they have a sense of community, which every mom needs,” said Murkoff.

Best-selling author of the pregnancy and parenting "What to Expect" book series, Heidi Murkoff, answers a question during a Centering Pregnancy session at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, May 6. Centering Pregnancy is a prenatal program that combines traditional prenatal healthcare with education sessions where moms-to-be with similar due dates connect and share their pregnancy experience. (U.S. Army photo by Maria Yager)
Best-selling author of the pregnancy and parenting “What to Expect” book series, Heidi Murkoff, answers a question during a Centering Pregnancy session at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, May 6. Centering Pregnancy is a prenatal program that combines traditional prenatal healthcare with education sessions where moms-to-be with similar due dates connect and share their pregnancy experience. (U.S. Army photo by Maria Yager)

And, that sense of community is a sentiment echoed at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital. At the hospital, Murkoff joined expecting moms in a Centering Pregnancy prenatal group, a prenatal care program offered at Blanchfield and other military hospitals.

In addition to traditional prenatal care, pregnant women in Centering Pregnancy meet regularly with other pregnant women who have similar due dates for two-hour sessions, discussing how their pregnancy is progressing, learning about topics related to their pregnancy journey and, as Murkoff advocates, connecting with other military moms.

“Being pregnant is hard enough under the best of circumstances, but when you take a mom away from her family and her friends, her network of support, then its exponentially harder, and then if her partner is deployed, even harder than that,” said Murkoff.

“There’s other first time mothers who are also sharing your same worries and your same concerns. I’ve met so many great girls in the group who’ve been people you make friends with. People you want to have play dates with afterwards. It’s been really, really cool to be a part of that,” said Spc. Samantha Herrera, a Centering Pregnancy participant whose group was joined by Murkoff.

Murkoff spoke about a variety of topics with the Centering Pregnancy group, answering questions and talking with the moms and even a dad about their pregnancy journeys.

After Centering Pregnancy, Murkoff visited the hospital’s Mother Baby Unit to meet with moms and dads and their newborn babies. She spoke one-on-one with the families, offering hugs and congratulations.

Before departing, Murkoff hugged and met with hospital staff and gave a plug for the hospital’s upcoming Baby Steps Baby Expo, a free pregnancy and postpartum education fair for military families that are pregnant, planning to get pregnant or have welcomed a new baby in the past year.

“Knowledge is power. It’s especially empowering when you’re pregnant or when you have a new baby,” said Murkoff. “[The Baby Expo] has everything you need to know in one place, and I think that’s going to be really helpful to sort out the resources that are available to new parents because you don’t have to go it alone. You should have all the support that you need.”

The Baby Expo is May 24th from 10:00am to 1:00pm at Fort Campbell’s Family Resource Center.

More than 40 educators and vendors will be on hand to answer beneficiaries’ questions and discuss available services. Topics include, prenatal care, hospital packing list, new parent support group, TRICARE, immunizations, well-baby care, Child, Youth and School Services, giveaways and more.

Military families can learn more and find out if there is a USO Special Delivery coming to their installation by visiting www.uso.org/specialdelivery

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