IT'S A ... FESTIVAL

I have three babies.  Two of them are flesh and blood people with definite personalities.  The other is this Fringe Festival that I helped found.  I love all three.  I worry about all three.  I care about how all three are growing up.  I want all three to be in the best hands at all times.

Now the Chicago Fringe Festival is moving to Jefferson Park.  Every year right around the time of the lottery, it feels like taking a pregnancy test (when you’re trying to have a baby, not when you had a drunken one-night-stand with that guy you only met the one time at the dive bar).  There’s the anticipation, nervousness, fear, excitement.  And then you see that plus sign and the fun really begins.  Each year is a different experience.  A different pregnancy, a different birth and a different baby.  And this year, Jefferson Park is our midwife.  When I tell people that I had midwives deliver my kids, 90% of the time I’m asked if I had a home birth.  My answer is usually a variation on this: No, I had both kids in hospitals; midwife care really means just having more options.  Home birth can be one of those options, but there are so many others.  A midwife is a partner with the family.  She provides guidance and a nurturing environment.  She acts as cheerleader, tour guide and mentor and ultimately, she gives the mother a list of choices and lets the mother decide how she would like the birth to be.  Midwives work to ensure that the mother has the best possible birth experience and the happiest, healthiest baby possible. 

So, when I say that Jefferson Park is our midwife, that’s not something to be taken lightly.  We have placed our unborn fourth year in the hands of a new neighborhood.  We are trusting in the guidance provided by this community.  We are looking to them for our options.  And we are excited that we have them in our corner, cheering us on.  We fully anticipate that this year will be an easy delivery based on the encouragement we’re already getting from them.  And on August 29, when the fourth Chicago Fringe Festival opens, we know we will have had an easy labor and a perfect baby.  

With a mother's love,

Adrienne Guldin

Business Manager and Staffer most likely to answer when calling for "Mommy"