Art Installment for the Day of the Midwife

Throughout time, trees have been symbols of strength, tradition, and sage wisdom.  This year, as part of the International Day of the Midwife celebrations happening at the Birth & Baby Fair, on May 5, 2012 in Mission Plaza, we are creating a participatory art installment to present to our midwives, and shed light on just how strong our local midwifery community really is!
We are creating a large tree, and each leaf on the tree is to represent a baby that has been born into the hands of a midwife.  To make it even more real, each leaf will have a baby's name written on it, along with the midwife who caught him/her. 

For the next month we will be collecting babies' names to include on the tree, and we need your help!  Please, if you would like your baby to be represented on our tree, submit your information in the comment section below.  Please include your names (parents), your baby's name (please include all of your children that have been born with midwives), and the name of the midwife that attended your birth. 

You can also come by the Midwifery Appreciation booth on the day of the fair, and fill out your own leaf/leaves in person and add it to the tree yourself. 

On the day of the fair, the completed tree will be presented to the midwives of our community.  After the fair it will go on display to serve as a powerful visual tool for depicting the strength and support of local midwifery.

Write Your Midwife A Thank You Note!

Who deserves more thanks than the woman that kept you safe and strong during your pregnancy and labor, and caught your baby?

Midwives continue to give even beyond our postpartum period.  We see them for our whole woman checks, and most of us know how willingly our midwives will answer our questions and concerns about our babies even months after they are born.  Even if you gave your midwife a thank you note after your baby was born, please take a moment to reiterate your appreciation for her care, love, and devotion to your and your family's health.

We would love it if you left a note of appreciation, written to your midwife, in the comment section below.  You can also come by the Midwife Appreciation booth and the Birth and Baby Fair in San Luis Obispo, CA on May 5, 2012, at Mission Plaza to fill out a thank you note to your midwife in person. 

All notes will be delivered to the midwives of our community after the Birth and Baby Fair!

Local Commentary: This is a women's issue, a global issue

Here is another beautifully written commentary by the BBRN's current president, Jennifer Stover.  The original published version can be found on the New Time's website: Click here 
Midwifery and a women's right to choose her care provider during pregnancy and beyond is being threatened every day in California.  Please read on...

This is a women's issue, a global issue

How has a midwife impacted your life?

BY JENNIFER STOVER

In many cultures around the world, midwives are revered members of the community. Working
 autonomously, they are respected as important health care practitioners. Sadly, this is not the case in the United States. As the male-dominated medical profession rose in power, it systematically stamped out women being cared for by women. First they didn’t allow women access to medical schools, and then came a propaganda campaign slandering midwives and the profession—essentially wiping midwifery care off the United States map.

What they failed to realize is that women will always gravitate toward women during the intensity of the birth process. At this vulnerable time, they yearn for an intangible quality of caring that a woman provides. This is true all around the world. Also, they hadn’t understood that women are called to midwifery in much the same way as a religious calling. Hearing the call, they began to serve the rural and urban poor in inner-city slums and the mountains of Kentucky. Some of these women went to nursing school and began the Association of Certified Nurse Midwives. In order to practice legally, they gave up their autonomy and agreed to practice under the supervision of doctors. SLO’s first Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs) began practicing in the early ’80s at General Hospital: Rhea Liama, Marilyn Rice, Rosanna Meyers, and Pennie Hall. At times, they caught as many as 100 babies a month!

Hearing the call, they began to support birthing women in their hippie communes or faith-based communities, risking imprisonment. In our community, some of these early rebels were Marianne Doshi, Cynthia Muther, Toni Torrey, Surja Johnson, Fawn Gilbride, and Harvest Steadman. Some of the women who heard the call spearheaded the political fight to legalize direct entry midwives or non-nurse midwives. Los Osos resident Sue O’Connor was chairwoman of the California Association of Midwives during this struggle. Finally, in 1993, the California Association of Midwives got legislation passed in California, which created a path to legalization. In 1996, a SLO County midwife, Brenda Ramler, was in the first group of women to sit for the exam and became the eighth woman licensed to practice midwifery in the state of California. These legal midwives are still fighting. They are fighting to receive reimbursement for their services from the insurance industry for their clients. Many are unable to purchase the life-saving tools of their trade, such as sutures, anti-hemorrhagic medication, or antibiotics. They can’t order life-saving tests such as blood work or prenatal ultra sounds. Because of malpractice fears, most doctors are unwilling to be connected in any professional way with them, and yet the regulations call for doctor “supervision.” Recently, Edana Hall of Holistic Midwifery Care traveled to Sacramento to attend a California Medical Board Interested Parties Workshop where all of these issues were discussed. And so the fight for recognition and autonomy goes on.

This is a women’s issue. This is a trade infringement issue. This is an individual’s rights issue. This is an American issue, the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. This is a world health issue. The World Health Organization’s Millennium Development Goals call for 350,000 more midwives worldwide as an essential part of the solution to lowering the infant and maternal mortality rate around the globe.

Since 1991, from the Sudan to Switzerland, Haiti to Afghanistan, May 5 has been celebrated as the International Day of the Midwife. Now, for the first time in San Luis Obispo history, we will celebrate this important day. The international theme for 2012’s celebration is Midwives Save Lives. In this spirit, the Birth & Baby Resource Network has united with these providers of healthy births: Community Health Centers, French Family Birthing Center, Sierra Vista Birth Center, and General Hospital and Family Care Clinics Charitable Foundation. The goal is to create a real and virtual interactive midwifery project highlighting the midwives of our community, past and present.

Did you know that more than 40 midwives have served the women and families of this county? The midwives will gather during the Birth and Baby Fair in Mission Plaza’s amphitheater at 10:30 a.m. on May 5, where we will pay them the respect they have earned for 40 years of quality care. At the Birth and Baby Resource Network’s midwifery booth, families can register their babies’ names for the Midwifery Tree art installation, write thank-you cards, or have photos taken with their midwives. They can learn about the history of midwifery, and the skills the modern midwife has for guiding moms and babies safely through pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period—or participate in an oral history project answering the question, “How has a midwife impacted your life?” The Midwifery Tree will continue to grow throughout the day with each baby in this county born into the hands of a midwife being represented by a leaf on the tree. To get started, go to bbrn.org.

Gratitude For Our Sponsorship

We are very pleased to announce that we have received a very generous contribution from the General Hospital & Family Care Clinics Charitable Foundation for the Midwifery Project!

On Tuesday night, members from the Foundation met with BBRN president, Jennifer Stover, and other BBRN members, to present us with a check.  This extremely appreciated donation is making our project possible, and we are sending a huge wave of gratitude!

Midwifery; a David and Goliath Tale

The following article was written by Jennifer Stover, current president and founding member of the Birth and Baby Resource Network, for the Women's Press.  The original online published version can be found here.  The history of American midwifery is a long one.  Please take a moment to read on, and learn a little about the road our midwives have traveled.

Midwifery; a David and Goliath Tale

By Jennifer Stover

The story of midwifery in America is a classic power struggle for women’s rights, respect and choice; a tale of the clash of women’s culture and values with the male dominated spheres of science, medicine and finance. It is an ugly story laced with racism and class war fare. This struggle continues to walk the halls of political power and sits in insurance industry board rooms today.

It began as the eighteenth century was drawing to a close and the science of medicine was on the rise. Men for the first time began to move deeply into the privacy of the birth room, a place that in most cultures around the world is traditionally populated almost exclusively by women. This slow and determined encroachment into what had previously always been a woman’s world began the battle.

Did You Miss Our Radio Interview?

The interview went famously!

If you missed the show on radio you can go here to listen to the podcast!

BBRN on the Radio!!!!

A couple of us at the BBRN will be on local station KCBX to talk about Midwifery and our Day of the Midwife project!

We will be speaking during their "Issues and Ideas" segment which airs at 4:00PM TOMORROW!

The show will air on station 90.1 FM in San Luis Obispo.

 Here are the other stations it airs on by location:

89.5 Santa Barbara
91.7 Paso Robles to Salinas
90.9 Santa Ynez, Avila Beach, Cambria
91.1 Cayucos
95.1 Lompoc

Check back here soon for un update on how the show went!

Don't forget to tune in tomorrow, 4/18/2012, at 4:00PM on your local KCBX station!!!!