H.3731

I am very late to the party on this one, but I'm going to share the information and post the petition because it is sooooo important that the *powers that be* see that birthing women, husbands, families, and their children DEMAND that educated, experienced and TREASURED midwives be available for homebirths in our state. Midwives shouldn't be suffocated out by new restrictions and made underlings to the obstetricians who (although necessary in certain situations) represent a complete opposite approach when it comes to pregnancy and birth.

Handing over birth to the medical and managed model of care is not good for our women and babies and families, or future. It is unnecessary and it is not an approach that is supported by:

documented

repeated

scientific evidence

If I have learned anything from this amazing Lamaze training, it is that the information is out there, and it supports a simple, normalized birthing method. Flat out, the more interventions, the greater the complications, the lower the resulting birth satisfaction.

Midwives are the protectors of normal birth. The women of South Carolina deserve access to licensed midwives. But our representatives are currently reviewing a bill that (I'm told by those much more knowledgeable than I) would essentially kill homebirth midwifery in our state. 

Bill 3731, the South Carolina Lay Midwife Act

It is insane to characterize licensed midwives as "lay" i.e. "not of a particular profession. lacking extensive knowledge on a particular subject."  

Don't let this happen. As of today, over 5,000 people have signed the petition against this bill.

Petition Against Bill 3731

This blog explains it beautifully. 

"Calling Licensed Midwives "lay" would be the equivalent of suddenly calling all Licensed Builders in the state "lay" and requiring citizens to hire structural engineers to build their deck."

She also details the current licensing requirements for midwives under SCDHEC. With all required of them, I cannot believe someone can call these professionals "lay" with a straight face.

This site has the most current information on what is happening with the bill.

www.supportscmidwives.com

What is Midwifery?

(snatched from naturalchildbirth.org)

"…most of the women who go to OBs do not know - or at least believe popular misconceptions - about what midwives do. Every woman would want midwifery care for herself and baby if they knew what it truly was…. All the women I know who used midwives were women who wanted individualized care and somebody to be there to support them through their whole birth experience. Somebody who knew them and who they trusted; rather than a practice where you rotate through providers and get whoever is on call. Some had natural births, some with epidurals, etc. but the most important aspect was that relationship and better care."

Cinco de Mayo

The fifth of May is also known as INTERNATIONAL MIDWIVES DAY!!!

This site has some great ideas about how to celebrate.

http://mana.org/IntMidDay.html

I intend to submit a request to the state of South Carolina to issue a proclamation to recognize International Midwives Day. YAY!

Midwives are some of the few citizens fighting daily to maintain a women's right to a natural, low-tech birth experience. Thank you Midwives for your faith in women and our innate ability to nurture and birth our children without the help of a scapel.

The Most Beautiful Thing

Cullen Peter Gerace
November 16, 2008
4:02am
6 pounds 10 ounces
19" long
13.5" head

Strength

"Yet, in all my years of doing home births, I never once took a woman to the hospital because of unmanageable pain. Not once. And time after time I had the honor and privilege of looking into the astonished faces of first-time moms as I laid slippery newborns in their arms. They gazed back at me, awed by the intensity of this thing called childbirth, this rite of passage they had just completed. Having made that journey, having tapped depths of strength they never knew they possessed, they crossed a line and never looked back."

More from the book, Baby Catcher

(Yes, I'm a little obsessed with this book recently...everyone needs to buy it and pass it on!!)

I'm going to have to type out that line again, this time in caps:

I NEVER ONCE TOOK A WOMAN TO THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE OF UNMANAGEABLE PAIN.

That's because, *There's a secret in our societey, and its not that childbirth is painful, its that women are strong.*

These Women...

"I lived for these occasional women, the ones who were different, who thrived on the challenge and the passion. The women who wanted to sigh and moan and deep-breathe through their labors, to move around in the bed, to squeeze my hands and look into my eyes. They pressed their sweaty forehead into mine as they hissed in and out between clenched teeth - and I hissed along with them, pulling the curtains to keep the world away. I shut the doors and tried to keep them quiet, to shield them until it was too late for intervention. Too late for anyone to steal their births from them. These were the ones who touched my heart and fed my fire."

An excerpt from Baby Catcher, Chronicles of a Modern Midwife
by Peggy Vincent

A beautiful book found me this weekend. I happened to be half-browsing the childbirth/parenting section of Barnes and Noble while trying to corral a very quick and inquisitive toddler from ridding the shelves of their books, when I glimpsed the title "Baby Catcher". A peek to the cover revealed a quote from Ms. Anne Lamott, a talented author and dear motherhood connection. That was all the motivation I needed for a purchase decision as I continued to follow BabyBoy through the maze of shelves and around book store patrons. I've made it through the first chapter, with tears and veins full of adrenoline, and I cannot WAIT to experience the rest. I already have so much from it that I want to share here.

Economics of Midwifery

Since, as they say, "money talks"...

1. Percent of countries providing universal prenatal care that have lower infant mortality rates than the United States: 100%

2. Percent of US births attended by midwives: 4%

3. Percent of European births attended by midwives: 75%

4. Number of European countries (Great Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland) with higher perinatal mortality rates than the US: 0

5. Average cost of midwife-attended birth in the US: $1,200

6. Average cost of physician-attended birth in US: $4,200

7. Health care cost savings if midwifery care were utilized for 75% of US births: $8.5 billion/year

8. Health care cost savings by bringing US cesarean section rate into compliance with WHO recommendations: $1.5 billion/year

9. Health care cost savings by extending midwifery care and de-medicalizing births in the US: $13-20 billion/year

Compiled by Marsden Wagner, MD, Consultant for World Health Organization
reprinted in "Baby Catcher" by Peggy Vincent with permission

Essentially...midwives are one of this country's great untapped resources. They are skilled in the beautiful, normal, and natural process of childbirth. They know, that of all the ways they can assist in birth, the most important is to allow a mother to be free to follow and express their own primitive rhythms during the process. Midwives facilitate SAFE and PURE childbirth.

Of course there is so much more to say, but this blog will be an advocate for CHOICE in CHILDBIRTH and educating men and women about the true possibility for gentle, peaceful, un-interfered-with birth.