Debra Pascali-Bonaro

Awaken Your Inner Wisdom

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Childbirth Connection Press Release

Screen Shot 2014-01-23 at 10.14.31 AMToday I want to share this Press Release from Childbirth Connection. I have been a board member of Childbirth Connection for years and always cite their website in my workshops and classes, as well as share their herstory in my Introduction to Childbirth.

 

News Release
Contact: Ashley Schapitl
January 23, 2014                                                                                                                          202/986-2600

Two Organizations Dedicated to Improving Women’s Health Join Forces

Childbirth Connection Becomes Program of National Partnership for Women & Families

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two powerhouses that have been working for decades to improve the health of women, moms and families announced today that they have joined forces, with Childbirth Connection becoming a core program of the National Partnership for Women & Families. Childbirth Connection was founded in 1918 as the Maternity Center Association; its mission is to improve the quality, value and outcomes of maternity care through consumer engagement and health system transformation. The organization has pioneered strategies to promote safe, effective and satisfying evidence-based maternity care and is a powerful voice for childbearing families. The National Partnership is a 41-year old organization that has played a role in winning every major advance for women during the last four decades. Its mission is to improve health for women and families, and make the nation’s workplaces more fair and family friendly.

“We are thrilled to be joining forces with Childbirth Connection, and convinced that, together, we will be able to do even more to improve maternal and child health in this country,” said Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership. “These two organizations have been close allies for years. We look forward to working even more closely in the years ahead to transform our country’s health care system in order to improve women’s reproductive health, strengthen the quality and outcomes of maternity care, and give all children in the United States the safe and healthy start they deserve.”

“Childbirth Connection has been breaking new ground for women’s health since 1918, improving the quality and outcomes of maternity care,” agreed Maureen Corry, executive director of Childbirth Connection. “We have worked hand-in-hand with the National Partnership to reform our health care system, make care more affordable, improve women’s access to high-quality reproductive health and maternity care, help women navigate our health care system, prohibit insurers from considering pregnancy a pre-existing condition, promote public reporting of quality measures, and more. Combining the National Partnership’s track record of advocacy for reproductive and women’s health with Childbirth Connection’s advocacy for high-quality maternity care and maternity care shared decision making will allow us to do even more to improve women’s health. We see this as a perfect match and are excited about expanding our collective impact and reach together.”

The National Partnership has strong relationships with policymakers at all levels. Childbirth Connection has deep roots in the clinical and research communities. Both organizations work directly with women and families to advance the goals of better access, better care, and better outcomes.

“This is a time of great opportunity,” Ness added. “Our health care delivery system is changing and there is broad awareness among policy makers, health care providers, payers and consumers that improving outcomes for moms and babies must be a priority. Together, we will be more effective in promoting high quality, affordable, accessible health care for women and their families throughout the lifespan.”

Next week, the National Partnership will release “Listening to Mothers: The Experiences of Pregnant Women in the Workplace” – an issue brief reporting findings from the Childbirth Connection 2013 survey, Listening to Mothers III: New Mothers Speak Out.  It looks at pregnant women’s experiences with discrimination in the workplace – an issue the National Partnership has worked on for decades.

This spring, the organization will issue a new version of “The Rights of Childbearing Women.”

 

To learn more about Debra’s online childbirth classes please sign-up for her enews.

 

Pleasurable Birth Tips from Debra

NettieBirth-3What is the first thing you think of when you think of childbirth?  Sacred, Natural, Blissful and Orgasmic full of love and orgasms?  Or do you feel your body tighten as you think of tension, contraction, pain, and feel a sense of fear come over you?  If you said the latter, you are in good company as that is what we have been told again and again about childbirth- that women’s bodies don’t work!

What were the first stories that you heard about birth?  Do you know your birth story? What was your own birth like?  There are so many influences that shape our beliefs about birth and our bodies.  I love to ask women what they were told as young girls about their bodies and childbirth.  What did you call your breasts, your vagina, and your uterus?  Were you told that your body was beautiful, magnificent and amazing?  Were you celebrated when you had your first period?

For many of us, we grew up in a time when women’s bodies have often been shrouded in shame or seen as some type of dysfunctional machine and a feeling of “let’s not talk about menstruation and certainly not celebrate it.” It is possible to change these thoughts and beliefs but first we must look at where our beliefs came from and be willing to look at them in new ways, or sometimes old ways where women’s bodies and childbirth were considered sacred and powerful!

I am reading Eve Agee, PhD book “The Uterine Health Companion.”  As a medical anthropologist she looks at how some traditional cultures have appreciated the feminine body.  “Instead of dreading their menses, early humans cherished the uterus and women’s cycle of menstruation, pregnancy, birth, and menopause. The uterus was considered sacred in much of early Africa, Asia, Native America, and Europe.  Many prehistoric societies celebrated the uterus as the body center of female power and creativity.”  How did we get to where we are today where in most Western cultures we have the drugs and means to stop our bodies from menstruating, stopping it from its natural cycle, and disconnecting us from our moon cycle of fertility?

I am sure you have heard of the placebo effect. The placebo effect is an example of the mind-body connection and the understanding that what the mind sees the body feels. With all that we’re learning about mind-body medicine we must question what the effect is on women (and I would add on babies, men and families) when we don’t value and celebrate women’s bodies and their life-giving ability?

I love the saying “we birth the way we live!” I believe that all we’ve been told about our bodies sets the foundation for how we feel about childbirth, such as: if we had to hide our menstrual cycles, if we feel ashamed about our bodies, if we don’t believe our bodies are sacred, natural and pleasurable. These negative beliefs make it challenging to move into our power and see childbirth as a healthy part of our sexuality. That is why childbirth is a wonderful opportunity to tap into our bodies’ amazing abilities and energy at its peak, feeling our power, facing the challenge, and knowing that the body that grew the baby can birth the baby.  It’s your body, it’s your baby, it’s your birth!  It is time to reclaim the sacred feminine and celebrate each phase of our body’s cycle of life.

To find pleasure in childbirth

  1. Begin by taking an inventory of the messages you have been given about your body and birth.  Strengthen the messages and intentions you hold about your body.
  2. Create a new language for birth that includes words and phrases that encourage opening, pleasure, release, bliss and sacredness such as; riding the waves, releasing into the sensations, opening, hugging your baby into the world. Create your list of words that will redefine how you feel about your body and birth.
  3. Explore the ways that you can stimulate pleasurable sensations in your body. When you feel pleasure, you flood your body with oxytocin; the hormone of love, and endorphins, that produce a feeling of well-being- together they will help you create a safe, satisfying birth, and enhance sensations of pleasure. Find time to connect with your sensuality and create a list of ways you can bring these feelings into childbirth.
  4.  Three key elements for birth are being where you feel safe, private and undisturbed.  What do these words mean to you?  Where and with whom can you give birth and meet these three essential criteria?
  5. Even with all the above birth can be challenging. How have you worked through challenges in your life?  Create a list of techniques and strategies that you can use if you have challenging moments in birth and life.

Please share your tips, strategies and birth stories with us at http://www.debrapascalibonaro.com/share-your-birth-story/

 

Doula Program Advocates for Refugees Experiencing Racism at Birth

Expectant mother with Montreal Birth Companions shares her beautiful belly with the camera.
Expectant mother with Montreal Birth Companions shares her beautiful belly with the camera.

“The purpose of the Montreal Birth Companions is twofold: to provide low-income or otherwise disadvantaged women with free doula services and to train “peer doulas” within the ethnically or culturally isolated areas of our city to provide doula support for the women in their communities.” – MBC

Community doula programs are very close to my heart and that is why I am so grateful for the work Montreal Birth Companions is doing. In Montréal, Quebec, recently “changes to refugee health care put women and babies at risk.” In this blog, Chesley Walsh shares a little about those challenges. To read more on the topic, please read Rivka’s full article: Undocumented Labor.  Join Rivka and I co-teaching in Montréal (you can be local or travel in) by please visiting the events page. 

Submitted by Chesley Walsh
Meet Rivka Cymbalist and the Montréal Birth Companions

Birth can be a daunting and solitary experience for many women. Navigating medical systems, choosing your birth experience and learning about the miracles of change can both edify and overwhelm us. But imagine experiencing all of this in a new and foreign country, without family, without friends and without adequate knowledge of the systems that surround you. These women, refugees and new immigrants, are often fleeing their home countries under duress, leaving behind the familiar in exchange for the safety of their little ones.

Refused refugee with her doula. Photo by Rivka Cymbalist.

The Montréal Birth Companions is a volunteer doula service, organized and operated by Rivka Cymbalist in Montréal. Rivka began her practice as a doula some twenty years ago, attending hundreds of births along the way and bringing her deep knowledge and calming presence to every delivery room. Over time she saw a sharp difference in services for the less fortunate members of her community, and she decided to begin a volunteer doula service of her own.

Nearly ten years ago, some innovative doula students and their mentor Rivka Cymbalist started offering their services to women's agencies in the Montreal region.
Montreal Birth Companions: Nearly ten years ago, some innovative doula students and their mentor Rivka Cymbalist started offering their services to women’s agencies in the Montreal region.

The volunteer doulas of the Montréal Birth Companions hail from diverse backgrounds, some trained by Rivka and others with training elsewhere; however, every volunteer doula comes with a passion to empower and nurture mothers through their birth experience, regardless of class or origin.

The results can be wonderful to behold, but there are frightening realities to face. Often, within the closed walls of a hospital birth, the question of refugee insurance or lack thereof becomes a barrier to adequate service. Racism, classism and xenophobia play a role in services rendered, particularly with regard to bedside manner. In situations like this, the role of the “advocate” doula can be extremely helpful and important for the mother.

Did racism, classism and xenophobia play a role in services you received at the birth of your baby, particularly with regard to bedside manner?  Please share your story with us here.

 

To join Debra and Rivka at the workshop please visit the events page.

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In 2013, Ibu Robin Lim of Bumi Sehat Bali visited Montreal Birth Companion. Here is a great little skit she improvised with Montreal Birth Companions on different birth scenarios, doctor or midwife assisted. It is entertaining and informative. Cayenne Pepper comments: “Great little skit… education is so powerful when entertaining.” Enjoy!

Rivka Cymbalist is author of The Birth Conspiracy written for doulas and pregnant women. “She brings an awareness of labor and birth as a process that cannot be separated into parts and is unique for each individual into the framework of modern obstetrics, which creates stages and phases and demands that all women labor in the same way.”

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Montreal Birth Companions’ Rivka Cymbalist finally meets Ina May Gaskin at the 2013 Birth and Beyond Conference.

 

To join Debra and Rivka at the workshop please visit the events page.

Nelson Mandela Quotes for Birth

Many of Nelson Mandela’s quotes can apply to birth, as they do to life.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

This is so true in childbirth; How many people are afraid of childbirth? We must address and release our fears for birth to unfold as easily and safely as possible. Are you afraid to speak up? Let’s be inspired by Nelson Mandela and each speak up for injustice in life and sadly often in hospital birth.

“When people are determined they can overcome anything.”

Oftentimes I will hear a mother say she was determined and committed to a pleasurable birth. This dedication alone sets the stage for research, planning, and tools helpful for aiding an orgasmic birth.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

Did you feel this way about childbirth?  About having a natural birth?  An Orgasmic Birth?  And then you did it!  What gave you the strength to go on?

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

And to change your birth! If you know the options available, your birth can have a different outcome than if you are not educated about all the options.

“Social equality is the only basis of human happiness.”

(A letter written on August 1, 1970)

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” (From Long Walk to Freedom, 1995)

 “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.” (From Long Walk to Freedom, 1995)

 

If we want to find peace in the world we must apply the same love, respect, and equality that Nelson Mandela fought for, because peace on earth begins at birth.

 

Learn tips how to go from: impossible to possible with pleasure in Debra’s Orgasmic Birth Online Childbirth Classes coming in 2014 sign up here for updates.

Birth Rooms that Make My Heart Sing

by Debra

“Why have so many hospitals set up the room with the smallest bed one has ever had when you are the biggest in your life?”

photo
A birthing bed made from a combination of circles and colorful shapes.

As I wake early to prepare for my visit to our International MotherBaby (IMBCI) Demonstration site in Feldbach, Austria, my morning gratitude is focused on the great model that is the foundation of their hospital: IMBCI step #1) To treat every women with respect dignity and fully involved in informed decision-making. This philosophy is at the core of their care and contributes to their providing elements of comfort and intimacy with Optimal MotherBaby Maternity Care.

I feel the anticipation of seeing their labor and birth rooms for my return visit- rooms that give you a feeling of activity, freedom and choice. As we tour the rooms we see elements of comfort; a bed made from a combination of circles and colorful shapes; a ladder to hold, squat, or rock; a thick mat to use on the floor to be more comfortable on hands and knees, or to rest; a beautiful free flowing shape tub; a soft, silky colored rope to hold, swing, and squat from; a swing called the wheel; a birth stool; colored balls; music; aromatherapy; homeopathy; acupuncture as well the option of epidural, and cesarean when needed. There is a midwife available for every woman and a back-up obstetrician, who finds pleasure in working in this evidenced-based practice. After a peaceful ride thru the rolling hills and forest on this sunny, crisp, fall day, the colors of the leaves glistening and filling my heart with bliss as nature in all her eloquence was shining her beauty, as if to say- “trust nature, birth is beautiful, sacred and within all the pleasures are available to you look at what is before you. Each season holding it’s own secret treasure to unlock and behold.”

Drs Feldbach
Drs. Hoffman and Huber at Feldbach Hospital show off one of their co-sleepers.

The smiling face of Dr. Hans Hoffman, chief OB, greets Angelika and I. He is happy to see us. It is such a pleasure to work with such diverse colleagues around the world who all share a passion for childbirth. I always remind people who attend my workshops, that whenever we are working to make change, we must honor that all who are called to the sacred gateway of birth, do it with the same passion and fire in our hearts, yet depending on our own experiences with birth and for nurses, midwives and physicians often their training indoctrinated them into different models. The challenge today is to look at our training; our longs held beliefs about childbirth, scientific knowledge and with a human rights lens, combine quality care with heart and compassion. This is what our demo sites and many information sites we call MotherBaby Networks, or MBNets, are doing. Some like Feldbach Hospital are further along than others, but it doesn’t matter where you start, it’s just one step at a time to create Optimal MotherBaby Maternity Care!

Soon Dr. Alexander Huber comes smiling along as well. His joy to see us is apparent in his whole body, I can tell they have some news to share that they are proud of. We go into the family room to have coffee and talk. This cozy room is where women and their families can gather in labor to eat, drink, relax and even sit outside on the beautiful patio overlooking the city of Feldbach. We walk outside today, enjoying a little heat wave in autumn, and together dream of women being able to have a waterbirth here, outside in nature. We smile, as when a physician can share this dream, we know we are in a very special place. We share how so many places find so many small barriers to stop such simple pleasures from being available to women, yet how easy it would be to set up a portable tub today, Angelika and I each as doulas know we could do this in 20 minutes, a woman could enjoy the water to labor and/or birth and should she choose to get out and go inside, or for a medical reason should this be a joint decision how easy it is to just move inside… maybe we will hear of this happening one day soon here. We all smile in acknowledgment that this simple act is pushing outside common hospital procedures, yet makes so much sense!

2ExM+phr
We are greeted by beautiful photographs of babies that line the wall.

We sit to enjoy our coffee and the discussion prompted be me sharing my news of my amazing son and daughter-in-laws vaginal twin birth with a double footling breech just this past September. I am so grateful for my son and daughter-in-laws strength to trust birth and for an amazing skilled midwives and physician who can safely offer these skills. I know they share my joy. Dr. Hoffman begins to share of the 7 breech births he has caught this year and how it is a declining practice and how he wants to pass along to his staff before he retires in 2015. Dr. Huber eagerly says how he would like to travel to attend more breeches and learn more. I am humbled by their desire to keep a full range of options available to women and in doing so to continue to pass along essential skills that are being lost with so many cesarean births. As Ina May Gaskin shares- we are deskilling our midwives and physicians since the option to birth twins and breeches vaginally are no longer being taught in many places. My heart is warmed by their sincere desire to keep these skills and options for MotherBaby safe. We talk about many other issues in birth in Austria today and specifically Feldbach Hospital, as the sounds of a woman pushing her baby naturally into the world are music to our ears from the next room. It is beautiful to feel and embrace these natural sounds that go missing from too many labor rooms today as women are encouraged to silence and to bed with machines, drugs and surgery.

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This nice co-sleeper can be wheeled when needed, and has the capacity to slide up the side of the bed and keep MotherBaby together as nature intended.

Here women truly have options and the support they need with continuous midwifery care and in some cases doulas as our discussion includes too. It’s time for the new surprise. Their eyes light again and we walk to the postpartum wing. Here we are greeted by beautiful photographs of babies that line the wall, most of them all born here. We enter a postpartum room and their brand new wooden beds glisten in the sun. The side pulls down so that MotherBaby can safely stay together in bed around the clock. This nice co-sleeper can be wheeled when needed, and has the capacity to slide up the side of the bed and keep MotherBaby together as nature intended. Wow! Why didn’t we think of this before? I am always struck in the U.S that we put our babies in a plastic box. When babies are so sensitive to smells, touch, feel, why do we use plastic to bond them to the artificial worlds instead of natural materials and fibers and of course the skin to skin of their parents? I wish every woman and care-giver could have the chance to meet Drs. Hoffman and Huber and their many midwives.

To experience these rooms and options is incredibly inspiring. I feel deeply moved at seeing what is possible when you have providers who embrace these new, yet old models of care that allow women all the options and comfort measures they need to birth their babies, trusting their inner wisdom, and provided with a full range of options for a safe, satisfying and pleasurable birth!

What options are available at your hospital for a safe, satisfying and pleasurable birth? Each time I enter Fedlbach Hospital and see their amazing birthing suites I have to ask myself why can’t other hospitals do this? Why have so many hospitals set up the room with the smallest bed one has ever had when you are the biggest in your life? When you are welcoming a new baby, why is there not room for your partner, husband, children or newborn to cuddle with you? Why are we creating so much separation at a time that we crave connection? Please share your thoughts in our comment section.

Read the latest from Debra in her weekly enews.Birthing Chair Feldbach

Orange blanket photoblue tub photo

Donations of Love, Peace and Caring

523502_664467216916869_1867953166_nWe are One World.  I am filled with gratitude that my dear friends and colleagues are offering their heart, hands and midwifery skills to save and improve lives of MotherBaby’s and families in the Philippines.

As chair of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization, two of our MotherBaby Networks are now on the front lines of saving precious lives in the Philippines and welcoming new life in with peace and love. Join me in supporting them. This Thanksgiving if you are having a family dinner, consider providing the cost of one portion to either of our MBNet’s, so they can serve the people of the Philippines. During the holiday season, I am asking instead of gifts that my friends and family donate to one or both of these important, life saving and life enhancing missions.

Robin Lim, Katherine Bramhall, and team Bumi Sehat invite YOU to make a difference for mothers and young children in the Philippines by donating to Bumi Sehat. Robin is now in Cebu in the Philippines to deliver midwifery and medical relief for the most vulnerable of its victims: pregnant women and young children. When pregnant women cease to have food, water and shelter, blood pressure rises, babies are born too soon or are stillborn.  The only way to prevent this is to feed and care for them. Join  A Million Mother’s on Facebook.

Ways you can help Bumi Sehat:
– Share http://www.amillionmothers.org/ link with your friends and associates
– Donate to A Million Mothers
– Send Protein Bars (you ship, pls. check address with Bumi)
– Send Solar Suitcases Water Purifiers (you ship, pls. check address with Bumi)
– Send Gift Donation in honor of a Mother you know to Million Mothers
– Send $1 and ask all the mothers you know to send $1

The suffering in the Philippines has only just begun.

Mercy in Action is our other MBNet in the Philippines. Vicki and Scott Penwell, Ian and Rose Penwell of Mercy in Action write, “In the aftermath, experts are calling for help from Midwives and Doctors to deliver the traumatized pregnant women and care for the babies, (many being born prematurely) and that is what we are specialist in. We also teach disaster preparedness and we know how to conduct deliveries at home, and how to help premature babies with Kangaroo Care who have no incubators. Plus, we are Alaskans, as well as long time missionaries in a third world context…able to do hard things and function without running water and electricity… We were born for such a time as this….We need to go…”

Ways to help Mercy in Action:

– Donate to Mercy in Action

– Send vitamins to help survivors build up their immune systems

– Send medical supplies (especially GLOVES) to:

Mercy Midwives Birthing Home, 1835 Bennet Road, Old Cabalan, Olongapo, 2200 Philippines.

To see more about the Typhoon babies and needs for MotherBaby’s of the Philippines visit  http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/16/world/asia/phillippines-baby-clinic/

Mercy in Action writes, “So please send a cash donation in any amount you can afford, or an amount you can’t afford but you will do by faith. Or ask your family to help save babies this Christmas instead of extra presents.” www.mercyinaction.com

Thank you for holding these amazing midwives in your heart, thoughts and prayers.

Love Heals,

With gratitude and love,

Debra

One World- Love, Peace and Wisdom by Bliss

Heal the World Lyrics by Michael Jackson

 

Please donate to Mercy in Action Relief Efforts

Please donate to Bumi Sehat Relief Efforts

 

Personal Becomes Political thru Birth Stories

Hermine Introducing Panel
Hermine Hayes Klein introducing panel at Human Rights in Childbirth Conference, Belgium 2013.

While in Belgium for Midwifery Today I visited a IMBCO Demo site and attended the Human Rights in Childbirth Conference (HRiC). All the events and conferences reignited my passion and dedication to ensure every MotherBaby has the right to respect, dignity and informed decision making in childbirth as well as every midwife and doula has the right to practice autonomously. The language of birth is changing as we bring a much needed human rights frame-work to quality maternity care, as well as release our current fear and pain language to replace it of one of possibilities, health and pleasure.

Attending HRiC also made me feel a huge sadness- the weight of all the stories and the pain combined with the hope that they were all coming together.  Speaking-out and seeking change in a legal and medical system, one can’t help but wonder if the current system looked in the mirror and saw the pain it is causing, would it really continue in this model?  I hope No, I always believe we have good people, but a broken system- a dysfunctional system.  I have faith that change is coming if we can peel away the veil of silence and build a system of respectful care (see whiteribbonalliance.org/respectfulcare for more on respectful care).

Hermine Hayes Klein of HRiC framed the day, “It is through stories that the personal becomes political.”  Here is a snapshot of some of the stories that came together at the conference:

ANA
My heart ached as doula, Ana Raposeira from Portugal, shared her story. Imagine how it feels to be with a family for a birth where the baby dies 8 hours later, and then to be charged with murder of that baby? Ana’s love and caring provided them with precious skin-to-skin time for a baby with multiple anomalies, that were undetected by ultrasounds and the medical professionals, and were most likely incompatible with life.  Ana’s intuition had her stay longer and then to call the midwife to return, which lead to them seeking more care.  She did all she could and remained within her role as a doula- within her scope of practice and code of ethics.  I have faith she will be proven innocent.  Soon we will be sharing her video statement with a link to donate to her legal defense fund. At that time, I hope you will join me in supporting her with our love, nurturing, and if you can to help, with her legal defense fund, as every dollar makes a difference! Thank you in advance!

DANIELA
In Italy Daniela is taking her physician to court for doing an episiotomy after repeated refusal.  She suffered PTSD, and the Facebook group facebook.com/humanrightsinchildbirth inspired her to take a stand and appeal her case to determine what is “admittable” consent as consent is not often sought in Italy for episiotomy, induction, and amniotomy.

Hermine Hayes-Klein writes in her blog for O Birth Courage & Insanity, from Suffrage to Childbirth: “I think of Daniela in Italy, who sought far and wide during pregnancy for a provider who wouldn’t cut an episiotomy.  She was promised that the hospital where she would deliver would respect her insistence that an episiotomy not be cut. She told every single provider that she spoke with, during pregnancy and then during her labor at the hospital, that under no circumstances did she want an episiotomy.  She told this more than once to the doctor who ended up between her legs while her baby came out.  When the baby was crowning, that doctor reached for scissors and started cutting an episiotomy.  Daniela screamed “No!” from the depths of her soul.  The doctor looked up, hesitated, and then cut a long, deep episiotomy.

“When medical staff visited her bed after the birth, Daniela was deeply upset.  She felt profoundly violated and traumatized.  She spoke up, loudly, about what had happened and stated that her legal and human rights had been violated.  The obstetricians called the psychiatrists, who came to suggest that, in her state, she might pose a danger to her newborn child.  After she left the hospital, Daniela was visited twice at her home by psychiatrists, without an invitation.  On top of the trauma of the episiotomy was added this violation of her safe space, her home, and the need to then convince these psychiatrists that they need not involve child protective services and take away her new baby.”

KRYSIA
Dutch Midwife Krysia Lynch and the homebirth of twins case…. One thing I learned is we tend to make things difficult but it is not that hard, the question should not be “Should a woman under any circumstance have the right to give birth at home?” The question should be “Who will assist her?”  A woman can exercise her right alone.  We should never use coercion or force women to what others see as the civilized choice.  There will always be homebirth, who has the expertise, what area of expertise is essential?  Midwives are the experts here, and the expertise of the birthing women we need to trust.  We can learn.  We need to be held accountable, transparent, open and honest.

AJA
Teehan v Health Service Executive and Minister for Health, Ireland May 2013.  Aja was an expectant mother who exercised her choice to have an assisted birth at home. Aja took steps to have her homebirth by providing the HSE with the following information; a detailed letter with research on VBAC safety; details of her personal circumstances including good health, yoga, and gymnastics; and the OB report indicating she was lowest risk and should be granted home birth. Aja’s request was refused and she took action. Aja writes in her blog, Aja Teehan vs HSE and Minister for Health: “I have brought this case because of the HSE’s refusal to allow me to have a home birth with the assistance of a midwife. HSE policy along with changes in the law mean that it is no longer possible for any expectant mother to have a home birth unless they fit within a rigid criteria; I cannot access one publicly, or privately. When the HSE refused my application for home birth, they did not assess me as an individual mother and imposed a blanket policy. I have right to autonomy and family rights, which are guaranteed by the European Convention of Human Rights and our Constitution. I am seeking to vindicate my rights.”

And from, “To All Those Who Do Not Understand, I Will Defend You.”  Aja writes, “Many aspects of this complex case have been misunderstood; some people even think I want to force everyone to have a home-birth.  This is not about my homebirth, this is about every birth:  I am defending you in your birth; I am defending your mothers, your daughters, your sisters and cousins – and more than that, I am defending us all, as people.” Read more.

KRISTINA
In Slovakia, physical abuse, cutting women without consent, in cesarean and episiotomies is standard.  “Some hospitals women have no chance to leave the hospital without a cut.”  And the problem is this is all considered normal. Mothers know something isn’t right, they feel something is not right but they must just go on and focus on their baby.  Kristina had her first baby by c/sec. She wanted  a VBAC  and arrived to the hospital in active labor  at 8 cm, labor slowed  and she agreed to allow them to rupture  her membranes and give her synthetic oxytocin/pitocin, at 2:45 she felt the urge to push, with the mother tied down, Kristina said, “during the second stage two nurses jumped on chairs and pushed on my belly, that left bruises, was painful and I could not breathe, it felt like I would suffocate.”  (Kristeller Maneuver or Kristeller Pressure is strong pressure applied to the Uterus- see video).  Is it ok to receive an episiotomy that I did not consent to?

It is clear more and more women are suffering abuse, and post traumatic stress disorder and effect after childbirth and more and more women and men are speaking out and not only speaking but bringing cases to the courts to change the system and defend their human right to respect, dignity and decision making for themselves and their baby.  Some are also using Article 3 of European Convention on Human Rights (torture).  They are feeling that forced procedures in childbirth need stronger language than human rights.

Hermine concludes: “Why are we here to share them?  What is the value of sharing these stories? Consciousness raising has always been women talking, sharing their stories with each other.  There have been times and places where women’s talking has been considered a dangerous thing.  Any maybe it is, to some.  Because it is through sharing our stories that we understand how the very personal, private thing that happened to us fits into a bigger picture, one that invokes money, power and injustice.  It is through stories that the personal becomes political.  And so, if we want to see clarity around the basic autonomy rights of birthing women, their maternal rights to make decision on their babies’ behalf, and their reproductive right to pursue a physiological home birth, with a midwife, we can do nothing better than come together an talk about these legal proceedings, the people involved, and the legal arguments being made.”

To lift my spirits and to meet my long time hero Kerstin Uvnas-Moberg I attended the round table The Right to your own oxytocin!  Yes oxytocin and this lively informative new look at oxytocin both our own and synthetic lifting my spirit as did talking with Kerstin Uvnas-Moberg after about Orgasmic Birth! I will be sharing this discussion with you in an upcoming blog- easy sign up here to stay posted on future news and blogs.

MT Belgium Brings Orgasmic Birth Power!

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My heart! So wide open with women, midwives, doulas, physicians, educators and all who share a passion for respectful, quality care with heart.

I feel a glow with the love of an extended family that accepts me for who I am, who listens, shares, nurtures, challenges and debates with compassion and love. With my dear friends and many new friends, I have danced, sung, enjoyed skits, fire, water, air and earth, laughed and cried.  I am have felt creative energy flowing in young and old as together we vision a world of gentle, peaceful, sacred birth and how the ecology of birth, effects the ecology of our planet.

These are all feelings I am full of as I fly across the Atlantic back home after an incredible week at the Midwifery Today Conference in Blankenberge, Belgium.  Huge visions and grand dreams fill me whenever we gather at Midwifery Today conferences.  We are always reminded of Margaret Mead’s great quote:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”.

Jan Tritten, our mother of Midwifery Today brings together many wise and inspiring speakers and sessions, I honor them all and want to share just a few with you….

Verena Schmid, a midwife who practices in Italy, and whom I co-taught with at our doula workshop this year in Bassano de Grappa, speaks so eloquently about the eco-system of birth, the ecology of birth.  Her words, always take me deeper in our need to reframe our perspectives of childbirth globally.  Being busy teaching and facilitating sessions myself I could not attend all her sessions but I trust I arrived at the right moment as in her session on the physiology of second stage, I entered the room as she was saying:

DSCN4101“Orgasmic power is the capacity of abandoning oneself to the flux of biologic energies, and of being able to unload the accumulated tension of labor pain through involuntary rhythmical contractions of body and vagina, giving the baby to the world and welcoming with satisfaction and tenderness”

There are no coincidences she continues: Childbirth is sexual. Childbirth is an opening process. Childbirth and integrity. All spoken over evocative images of beauty, history, and symbolism.

Verena recommends this 80s video to show spontaneous birth when women are upright and ease their baby’s into the world.

Verena explained all the harmful (yes harmful!) aspects for the pelvic floor in 2nd stage:

Recumbent or reclining positions (also in water), Imposed position by caregiver, not instinctively assumed by women, Pushing efforts in apnea (holding breathe), fundal pressure, Episiotomy, Vacuum/forceps, Disturbed environment, Lack of empathy and affective support, and Fear.

What a contrast to what is possible, and yet with all the scientific knowledge, why are we not improving care to make birth safer and easier for women?  We have the knowledge.

Betty Anne-Davis a midwife from Canada said it well at the Human Rights in Childbirth Conference that followed, “Doctors don’t know Squat!”  (The position of course as she and I both agree we value and honor doctor’s and their role, we just need more midwives to have a healthy maternity care system in balance)

We must stand, kneel and squat to deliver and not take it lying down!

I also had the chance to speak with Michelle, Marta‘s daughter, who was so inspired by helping to catch her sister that she too attended sessions and shared her growing passion for childbirth as a natural part of a woman’s life and sexuality.

Katerina, a midwife from Russia also shared her Orgasmic Birth story with me as her children played nearby, so many women from around the world, 42 countries in total representing our diversity and desire to reclaim childbirth and strengthen midwifery care around the world.

Gail Tully midwife of SpinningBabies.com gave many sessions, and I was sad many were at the same time as mine, but thrilled when over dinner Gail offered a demo to Ricardo Jones, a physician from Brazil, and his wife and midwife, Zeza, as well as midwife Elizabeth Davis, my friend and co-author for Orgasmic Birth: Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying and Pleasurable Birth Experience.  Gail shared her techniques to create balance to create the space to turn a posterior baby, a baby’s whose back is in line with mother’s back.  Those who have taken a workshop with me know how much I value and appreciate Gail and her teachings and book on Belly Mapping.  I am so grateful for the learning and sharing at every waking moment even at dinner the sharing and learning continued.
If you attended the conference or past Midwifery Today conference I would love to have you share some key lessons learned.  I hope to see you in April at Midwifery Today in Harrisburg, PA as we continue to dance, laugh, learn, nurture and inspire each other.