Mom is expectant daughter’s go-to during pregnancy

Even though she raised a child on her own, Cathy DiFranco wasn’t thrilled when she discovered that her daughter, Amy Perroni, was about to do the same.

“For the first two or three weeks, I was really ticked,” DiFranco said. “But then I gave it more thought and realized that she’s 28, and she felt the clock was ticking.”

Perroni is due in June, and with the child’s father out of the picture, DiFranco is pitching in as coach and a one-woman support staff.

“I’m taking the daddy classes and gaining the daddy weight, everything,” she said. “It’s been overwhelming. They teach so much so fast, but Amy soaks it up like a sponge. I’ve got to learn everything from scratch, because apparently, everything I knew was antiquated, but we’ve got a handle on this. We’re going to be all right.”

DiFranco works third shift as an operator and dispatcher for a transportation company, and Perroni stopped working after Christmas to prepare for the baby. She turned to social services for help and found out that the social safety net is in good shape when it comes to expectant mothers.

“I went to (the Nevada Division of Welfare & Supportive Services) and they got us into a whole bunch of programs and classes,” Perroni said. “I‘m having the baby at UMC, and they have the Baby Steps Program, and through them, we got hooked up with HELP of Southern Nevada.”

Baby Steps is a comprehensive program that provides health care for mothers and their babies, including obstetrician and pediatrician visits.

Perroni and her mother have discovered that each entity helps connect them with other entities. They are participating in the Parenting Project, a series of free Clark County programs to help parents be more effective in raising their children, childbirth classes at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, nutrition classes at HELP of Southern Nevada and several other classes and programs. The two have become a resource for their classmates, suggesting other classes and programs that may prove useful.

“All the girls in class ask a lot of questions, which really makes me happy,” DiFranco said. “It means they’re concerned and they’re paying attention.”

Some of the help comes with stipulations, and Perroni is ready to fulfill her end of the contract. After the baby is born, she must have a job within three months. She is lining up possibilities.

“They insist that if you sign up for temporary aid that you have an education,” DiFranco said. “Amy doesn’t have her diploma, so she’s going to get her GED (certificate).”

“Then I’m going to go to school and become a vet tech,” Perroni added.

When she was a 15-year-old high school junior, Perroni was hit by a car while crossing a street, she said. The accident put her in a coma for a week, broke her collarbone, pelvis and femur and gave her a traumatic brain injury. She never returned to school.

“It happened on Mother’s Day of 2001,” Perroni said. “The driver was eight months’ pregnant.”

“There’s a girl in one of our classes who is only 15 and has a 10-month-old baby,” DiFranco said. “Babies are raising babies. Fortunately, we have these organizations providing them with enough information that they can become decent parents.”

Contact East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 702-380-4532.