Hello my name is Erin!
I started Imprinted Legacy over the past year but the true beginning started many years before. Some of you who know me remember how the seed was planted but many of you don’t. I feel it is only fair to share the full story behind Imprinted Legacy now that it is in full motion.
You see I have always been very intrigued by pregnancy since I was young. Wondering what is truly going on that we cannot see outside of a mom’s growing belly or an ultra sound? How much does the mother know about her baby’s personality before birth? Does the baby really recognize their father’s voice and touch after birth? What kind of life will this baby have? Can a foundation of mental and physical health be influenced during pregnancy or does that come later?
As far back as I can remember pregnancy was a giant mystery. Knowing there was much more than meets the eye. I saw the womb as a whole different world which is intricately influenced by the world just on the other side.
Looking back it seems it was only too obvious that I was meant to work with families during pregnancy. It seemed no matter what job I had I was gravitating to people during this time of their life or they were gravitating to me. To save you time we won’t keep reminiscing about my past. I will just share the main influences.
I was a new employee at the Buckley Air Force Base in the recreation center. The woman who was leaving was giving me the run-down of the daily tasks and what I will be picking up during the rest of the year. She told me I would have to go to the Family Readiness Center once a quarter to give a talk about exercise during pregnancy and what we have at the recreation center. Well as you guessed it, the presentation was just a few weeks away so I pulled up the presentation. Thankfully it was already created and all I had to do was present the information (much easier said than done, public speaking makes me nauseous). As I went through it I felt the information was helpful but I had more questions. I felt these women have been told plenty of times why exercise is good for them; but have they been told why it is good for the baby? Interesting enough that day I was waiting in my apartment office complex to pay my rent and there was a Time Magazine on the table titled How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Your Life. (find this in “research articles”)
From then on I never stopped researching! It was like my eyes had been opened for the first time and I had to learn more!!
I reached out to the Colorado Department of Public Health Maternal and Child Health office to see if anyone would give me some guidance on a career in Public Health focusing on Maternal Health and Fetal Development. That is how I met a Mandy :-). Mandy explained all the different fields to look into and how to get into the world of Maternal Wellness. I soon became part of the collaborative research committee for preconception health. Here we focused our efforts to reach young women and help them understand the magnitude of health prior to having a baby.
After this committee ended Mandy met with me over lunch and asked me “If you could have any job in the world what would it be?” No one ever asked me that including myself (weird right?), and the flood gates opened without a single thought! “I want to educated men and women about the influences health has on their developing baby before the baby is even a thought, during pregnancy, and health after, I want to travel the world to help those who need it most, I want to help our next generations have a better chance at a healthier life, I want to shout to the world that preventive health begins here more than any other time and we can do something about it no matter what genetics we have!!” Mandy smiled, told me of companies to look into and at the end said “You know if you can’t ever find the position you want you can always make one”. Soon after that my husband said the same thing “Erin, you love to read about this on your free time and love to talk about it. Why not focus on a career in this field?” I have had nothing but phenomenal support from my family and friends and they all seemed interested in learning more.
So, about a year ago I came to the realization that this is what I am meant to do and there is nothing else in the world I would rather be a part of. There is so much information out there in research but very little exists to the public. Something is wrong with this picture! But I am just the girl to change this
Starting today you will have more information, you will have a place to find research articles, you will have someone to ask these questions, and most of all you will have someone to go to and work with to make better health a legacy you pass down to your future generations!