Building a community for new, expectant parents

BIRTH RIGHT: Bellani Maternity owner Kelly LaChance Guertin speaks with David Dadekian and his daughter, Moira, in the South Kingstown store. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
BIRTH RIGHT: Bellani Maternity owner Kelly LaChance Guertin speaks with David Dadekian and his daughter, Moira, in the South Kingstown store. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Kelly LaChance-Guertin may laugh when she says she’s only able to manage running her professional and family lives by not sleeping, but hearing the young mother and business owner detail all she does makes it sound almost plausible.
“My day has 30 hours in it. I think that’s the magic,” LaChance-Guertin said. “I am very fortunate to have a job that I adore.”
LaChance-Guertin has owned Bellani Maternity, a shop in South Kingstown catering to expectant moms and new families with products, gear, services and classes since 2006.
Embracing a career dedicated to mothers, babies, toddlers and families, however, has been in her blood, she says, much longer.
“I’ve probably been interested in women and their childbearing years, and women’s memory of childbirth since the day I watched “The Cosby Show” and [lead character] Dr. Huxtable was an OBGYN,” she said. “Even in the ’80s, I knew this was what interested me. It’s just the idea that it’s a sacred or very special time for a family. It’s a magical beginning.”
The now-32-year-old Rhode Island native held onto her dream and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Rhode Island College in 2002.
The achievement came at the same time as a couple others, as she married and gave birth to her first child, a son, in 2001.
Needing a steady job with benefits, LaChance-Guertin turned to elementary school education and taught fifth grade at the now-closed Sunrise Academy in Scituate, which she saw as a natural connection to her training and which allowed her to spend time with children as they learned new things.
She also became certified as a birth doula – an instructor who provides support to women in labor – and childbirth educator with Doulas of North America, working through Women & Infants Hospital in Providence.
When Sunrise Academy closed about 2 1/2 years into her time there, LaChance-Guertin continued her doula and childbirth coaching work and gave birth to two daughters. When she started thinking there would be great reception to creating a space where pregnant women, new parents, and young families could come to connect with each other and take pre- and post-childbirth classes, the idea for Bellani Maternity was born.
“That’s where the idea came from, to have all the classes in one location as well as a place where people could go and ask questions,” she said.
LaChance-Guertin started the business with her friend, Shannon Giorgio, after discussing the idea in a parking lot of their children’s preschool. LaChance-Guertin’s husband, Paul Guertin, named the store with a play on the Italian words for beautiful (bella) and years (anni).
Giorgio left Bellani Maternity in October 2011 to pursue a career as a nursing assistant.
Before she left, the two decided to add a retail component to their plan to offer customers a one-stop shop for all things related to new family life.
“There were so many things you just couldn’t find except online and as a new parent, you want to be able to touch it and feel it and make sure it’s what you’re looking for. You also don’t want to wait for the mail,” LaChance-Guertin said.
LaChance-Guertin said she and her staff have been able to both create a community for new and expectant parents while offering quality, easy-to-use products.
Though located in the same shopping area as two major baby and toy retailers, competing for shoppers hasn’t been an issue, she said.
That’s partly due, she said, to staff expertise. Customers may be able, for instance, to purchase the same wooden-knob puzzle at Bellani Maternity they could at a large discount store, but at LaChance-Guertin’s shop they also will learn how to talk to their children while playing with the puzzle to build color recognition. “People really value that we are going to give them a lot of information about the products,” she said.
Then there are the things customers can’t get anywhere else.
Bellani Maternity offers classes in childbirth, breastfeeding, baby yoga, prenatal yoga, baby-food making, first aid, art, music and more. Instructors often are found through customer referrals. Workers are regularly educated on products and child-rearing techniques.
LaChance-Guertin still teaches the childbirth classes and also focuses on community outreach.
She volunteers across the state at public car-seat-check events through Safe Kids Rhode Island, with Big Sisters of Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island Breastfeeding Coalition.
She also leads cross-marketing efforts with Whole Foods in baby-food-making classes to follow one of her passions in creating healthier children.
“You can really feed your children what you’re eating, just with a few edits. We need to create healthier eaters and it starts with the baby,” she said.
Continued growth is essential and the store regularly develops new classes. This year, LaChance-Guertin will offer some classes outside the home store around Smithfield and in South County. She’s also working on partnering with other small businesses.
The greatest success is measured by repeat customers who, as their children outgrow the store that LaChance-Guertin said will remain dedicated to the early child years, introduce other new families to Bellani Maternity.
She credits her ability to do all this to a supportive husband and a staff she says loves her business as much as she does.
“We live in the cliché that it takes a village,” she said. “Bellani signifies that these are the great years of life and we try to help people make that happen.” •

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