Wikis tagged with midwives-and-doulas

The International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC) continues their unique Full Circle Doula Training Program nationwide.  This program is grounded in the legacy of the African America midwife and public health, and its’ commitment to empower women of color in an increased effort to reduce maternal and infant mortality and increase positive birth outcomes in the black community. Since 2007 ICTC has trained over 300 doulas, 85% being women of color. They have continued their trainings since; strengthening the number of black doulas and doulas of color around the...

On May 5th, in celebration of the International Day of the Midwife and just days before Mother’s Day, thousands of people from around the world will come together for the Global March for Midwives. No matter where you are, you can help bring attention to the needless death of mothers and their babies, and the heroes working to save their lives. You’ll be part of the International Confederation of Midwives’ call to action, joining a coaltion of supporters working to improve maternal and newborn health. Join us, and commit to walking 5 kilometers on May 5th to support these...

We’d like to share with you a  new book, “Dancing with the Midwives: A Memoir of Art and Grief,” from Ann Faison. Read more about the book here. About the Book: “Dancing with the Midwives: A Memoir of Art and Grief,” takes you through an intimate experience of grief that leaves you with a sense of the profound changes inherent in that process.  It is a personal story that carries a universal message:  That grief is difficult and challenging,  but ultimately good. The book is both art piece and memoir, in which Faison embraces the grieving process after her child dies in utero. ...

Thank you to the International Rescue Committee for providing this guest post. Photos and text by Peter Biro/The IRC. Please find more information, and opportunities to help, here. Nestled deep in the hills of Western Thailand, the Tham Hin refugee camp is a patchwork of bamboo huts housing nearly 8,000 people. Most of the camp’s residents are refugees from Myanmar who have fled war and upheaval in their homeland and have lived in the camp for years, or in some cases, decades. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is the camp’s sole provider of health care, including the vital...

Miles for Midwives brings together runners, families and midwifery supporters for a fun day devoted to maternity care improvement and community wellness. Proceeds from this event benefit the work of NYC Midwives and CiC to improve maternity care in our community. Your participation will support our efforts to promote the Midwives Model of Care and healthy maternity care options. By participating in this event, your raised dollars directly enable the education and empowerment of women and families in our community! Event Date: Saturday, October 1 Participant Check-in: 8:30am 5K...

For newly arrived refugee women, giving birth in a new country can be terrifying. The IRC’s pregnancy support program helps make the experience easier – and joyful. Baltimore, MD – After surviving a treacherous journey out of Myanmar to Malaysia, Hlawn Kim and her husband, Van Run Sang, were thrilled to arrive in the United States as part of the International Rescue Committee’s resettlement program. But just as they were getting used to their new life in Baltimore, Kim became pregnant with their first child. For newly arrived refugee women, the prospect of having a baby in an...

The Right Livelihood Awards, which gives four awards every year to put the spotlight on solutions to global wrongs, recognizes Ina May Gaskin (USA) “for her whole-life’s work teaching and advocating safe, woman-centred childbirth methods that best promote the physical and mental health of mother and child.” From Right Livelihood’s site: Ina May Gaskin has been called “the most famous midwife in the world.” A pioneer in a millennium-old profession on the brink of extinction in her country, she combines scientific evidence and analysis with her own broad experience in exercising...

Thank you to Jennifer Margulis for this excerpt. Read the full story here.  When a car pulled up to her house a little after 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 31st, Ireena Keeslar was still in her pajamas. Ireena and her husband, who keep the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, were just finishing up a late breakfast. They weren’t expecting any visitors. They certainly weren’t expecting the police. But Keeslar, who is 49 years old and lives in Howe, Indiana, was put into handcuffs and taken to jail. She was arrested for practicing midwifery. Read the rest of the...

She’s curled up on the couch, waiting, a ball of baby and emotions. A scrambled pile of books on pregnancy, labor, baby names, breastfeeding…not one more word can be absorbed. The birth supplies are loaded in a laundry basket, ready for action. The freezer is filled with meals, the car seat installed, the camera charged. It’s time to hurry up and wait. Not a comfortable place to be, but wholly necessary. The last days of pregnancy— sometimes stretching to agonizing weeks—are a distinct place, time, event, stage. It is a time of in between. Neither here nor there. Your old self and your...

ABC News reported yesterday that Michael Hawthorne, a New Jersey truck driver and the son/grandson of midwives, just helped deliver his third baby on the side of the road. With blaring car horns in the background, and frantic fathers desperately trying to reach 911, Hawthorne said he tries to remain calm for the births, just how his grandmother and mother taught him. Not only has Hawthorne helped three moms in emergency delivery situations–a random occurrence so common in his life that he now carries around a birth kit–he has also helped save a child from a tornado and a man during...

Thank you to Jennifer Margulis for this update on last week’s coverage of Ireena Keeslar, the Indiana midwife who was arrested for practicing midwifery. Read the full post on Jennifer’s blog. (April 13, 2012) Ireena Keeslar, 49, a certified professional midwife (CPM) announced today that she will no longer attend homebirths in Indiana. In Indiana it is a felony for certified professional midwives, like Keeslar, to attend homebirths. “We have defined the delivery of babies as the practice of medicine,” said Representative Tim Brown, M.D., 56, an emergency room doctor who is chair...

The debut video from I am a Midwife, the new free online video series from Midwives Alliance of North America all about midwives and what they do! In Midwifery Care:  What’s in it for Women? eight different “real life” midwives describe the safe, supportive and satisfying care that midwives in all settings–home, hospital and birth center–provide to women and their families. To see more videos in this free series, subscribe to IAAM on Youtube And show some “Like” at Midwives Alliance Facebook Co-produced by MANA and Woman in the Moon Films Happy International Midwives...

The "Woman" in Woman in the Moon Films I’m a filmmaker, educator, activist and mother.  My work with Woman in the Moon Films centers on social change around birth options–from “the local” and my own backyard to the national and global.  I am passionate about birth, women, mothers and midwives. Here’s why I do what I do: In December of 2004 I had a homebirth with my son in an antique farmhouse in a rural community in mid-coast Maine.   My professional midwives, Donna Broderick and Ellie Daniels, both CPMs with Morningstar Midwifery lived a mile down the road.  It was like...

In Midwives Know Birth Matters twelve different midwives, practicing in all settings, speak about the importance of birth for babies, mothers and birth partners.  The quality care midwives provide can make all the difference in facilitating a safe, supportive and satisfying experience.  Midwives know how we are born and how a woman becomes a mother matters! I am a Midwife is a new online video series about midwives and what they do.  A new video will be released weekly throughout May and June.  Subscribe to I am a Midwife on Youtube From the Midwives Alliance of North America...

A new plan to reduce postpartum depression in the UK will grant every pregnant woman a midwife, The Guardian reported yesterday. …the government has pledged to improve maternity care by ensuring women have one named midwife to oversee their care during pregnancy and after they have their baby, making sure every women has one-to-one midwife care and giving parents-to-be the choice over where and how they give birth. The NHS will also be judged on how well it looks after parents who have miscarried, suffered a stillbirth or cot death, with patients asked to rate their...

Thank you to Sarah Kraft, President of Midwife International, for this guest post.   Even in the 21st century, a woman might still find herself walking alone in the dark left to deliver her baby unassisted on the side of a road. It is difficult to fathom, and yet it happens frequently. For every 31 mothers in sub-Saharan Africa, 1 will die from a pregnancy-related cause, compared with 1 in every 4,300 mothers in developed regions. But there is a solution to these horrific realities and statistics–midwives. A recent study by the United Nations Population Fund found that “across...

  “It’s not acceptable that African-American women and babies, regardless of their economic and educational backgrounds still have a 3-4 times greater chance of dying in childbirth (and postpartum) than their white counterparts.” “It’s not acceptable that women of every race and every ethnicity who are marginalized and vulnerable and poor do not have access to good care, affordable care and satisfying care.” –Geradine Simkins, CNM, MSN, DEM and President and Interim Executive Director of the Midwives Alliance of North America Why do more women and infants of color die in the US...

From “Mommy Wars: The Prequel, Ina May Gaskin and the Battle for at-Home Births,” Samantha M. Shapiro, New York Times Magazine, May 23rd, 2012 One Monday morning last spring, Ina May Gaskin got into her golf cart and drove it down the dirt road away from her home on the Farm, a community of 175 residents on a former commune in rural Tennessee that her husband started in the 1970s. She pulled up to the community center, where she would be teaching a class on delivering breech babies. The class was part of a weeklong seminar Gaskin and her fellow midwives were offering to an eclectic...

This is a guest blog by Marinah Farrell, Certified Professional Midwife and Licensed Midwife, and one of the women featured in Midwives Address Health Disparities—the latest video from the new online series I am a Midwife all about midwives and what they do.  From the Midwives Alliance of North America. Marinah Farrell (far left) and other community activists Currently, in this country, the statistics are abysmal when it comes to maternal health care for communities of color and, correlated, educating maternal health care experts from those same communities. According to...

When you’ve finished watching this video view I am a Midwife Part II. Why do women (and yes, some men) become midwives? In the latest video from the new series, I am a Midwife, eight midwives with diverse backgrounds and practicing in different settings in the US and Canada–home, hospital and birth centers–share their stories of what led them to midwifery. For some, it started with their own birth; for others it was a deeply felt “calling,” a way to be part of the “solution” of improving birth outcomes and experiences for women and their babies.  Inspiring, moving and at times hilarious, I...