This is from my c-section poem
This is from my vbac poem
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
On Laundry and Birthin'
Leslie made a comment on Robyn's blog this afternoon. The comment itself is about hand-washing laundry, but as I was reading I was amazed by how perfectly the same comment could have been written about unmedicated and home birthing. Take out the words laundry and clothes and insert birth and birthing, and you have a beautiful commentary on birth the way it can be.
Increased consciousness, properly managed, leads to increased gratitude. Increased gratitude, clearly seen and properly attributed, leads to God. It is a grave mistake to assume that the so-called modern way of doing things is necessarily the better way. Deeper analysis, observation and mostly honest to goodness personal experience is required to really assess even these seemingly simple activities.
It is all in the subtleties."
Monday, September 8, 2008
What's a "Womb Pod"?
Someone asked me today, "what is a womb pod"? Have you heard of BirthTrack? It's fascinating new technology! You can read all about it here. See the picture? That, dear mama, is a "womb pod".
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
When they came for me, there was no one left
CONTACT: Steff Hedenkamp, (816) 506-4630, steff@thebigpushformidwives.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, September 1, 2008
Number Two With a Bullet
Critical Women’s Health Issues Neglected as Physician Group Yet Again Sets its Sites on Midwives
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 1, 2008)—In the newest phase of its ongoing effort to deny women the right to choose their maternity care providers and birth settings, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has announced that eliminating access to midwives who specialize in out-of-hospital birth is now the second most important issue on its state legislative agenda. This move puts restricting access to trained midwives ahead of such critical issues as contraceptive equity, ensuring access to emergency contraception, and the prevention and treatment of perinatal HIV/AIDS.
“ACOG claims to be an advocate of women’s health and choice, but when it comes to the right to choose to deliver your baby in the privacy of your own home with a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) who is specifically trained to provide the safest care possible, ACOG’s paternalistic colors bleed through,” said Susan M. Jenkins, Legal Counsel for the Big Push for Midwives Campaign. “It is astonishing that an organization that purports to be a champion of women’s healthcare would put a petty turf battle that affects less than one percent of the nation’s childbearing women ahead of pressing issues that have an impact on nearly every woman in this country. If this is not dereliction of duty, I can’t imagine what is.”
In recent years, ACOG has led a well-financed campaign to fight legislative reforms that would license and regulate CPMs and has now teamed up with the American Medical Association (AMA) to promote legislation that would prevent families from choosing to give birth at home. Despite these joint efforts, the groups have not been successful in defeating the groundswell of grassroots activism in support of full access to a comprehensive range of maternity care options that meet the needs of all families.
“Wisconsin is a good example of what ACOG and the AMA are up against,” said Jane Crawford Peterson, CPM, Advocacy Trainer for The Big Push. “Our bipartisan grassroots coalition of everyday people from across the state managed to defeat the most powerful and well-financed special interest groups in Wisconsin, all on an expenses-only budget of $3000 during a legislative session in which $47 million was spent on lobbying. When you try to deny women the fundamental and very personal right to choose where and how to give birth, they will get organized and they will let their elected officials know that restrictions on those rights cannot stand.”
Noting these successes, ACOG has recently launched its own grassroots organizing effort, calling on member physicians to recruit their patients to participate in its “Who Will Deliver My Baby?” medical liability reform campaign.
“ACOG itself admits that we’re facing a critical shortage of maternity care providers,” said Steff Hedenkamp, Communications Coordinator for the Big Push. “They certainly realize that medical liability reform is nothing more than a band aid and that increasing access to midwives and birth settings is critical to fixing our maternity care system and ensuring that rural, low-income and uninsured women don’t fall through the cracks. Midwives represent an essential growth segment of the U.S. pool of maternity care providers, but instead of putting the healthcare needs of women first, ACOG would rather devote its considerable lobbying budget to a last-ditch attempt to protect its own bottom line. This is not a happy Labor Day for our nation’s mothers and babies.”
The Big Push for Midwives (http://www.
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The Big Push for Midwives Campaign is fiscally sponsored by Sustainable Markets Foundation, a not-for-profit organization recognized as tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3). The mission of the Big Push for Midwives is to build winning, state-level advocacy campaigns towards successful regulation and licensure of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Visit the Big Push for Midwives Campaign on the Web at www.TheBigPushforMidwives.org.
Sustainable Markets Foundation | 80 Broad Street, Suite 1600 | New York, NY 10004-2248
The Big Push for Midwives Campaign | 2300 M Street, N.W., Suite 800 | Washington, D.C. 20037-1434
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