NIH VBAC Conference

The NIH Conference on VBAC is currently in progress. Citizens for Midwifery's new president, Willa, is attending the conference and has been able to pose questions about VBAC bans and also to make a statement about the lack of feasibility of conducting double-blind trials in VBAC study as well as to encourage the inclusion of a homebirth cohort as a control group in studies.

If you haven’t been able to watch the conference, here some some other resources:

Abstracts PDF

Live Twitter coverage on Feminist Breeder

Those will at least give you a flavor for how things are going!

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Molly

CfM Blogger

Birth Survey at CIMS Forum

Results of The Birth Survey to be featured prominently at the 2010 CIMS Forum!

Plus... Don’t Miss Ricki Lake , Judy Norsigian, Rima Jolivet, Penny Simkin, and many more!

Where do we begin? We have a spectacular line-up planned for the 2010 Mother-Friendly Childbirth Forum and Annual Meeting, Feb. 26-27, in Austin , Texas . Start planning now to attend this important conference--learn more at www.motherfriendly.org.

CIMS proudly announces that acclaimed actress, filmmaker, family advocate and author Ricki Lake , along with 15 distinguished faculty, will address attendees at the 2010 Mother-Friendly Childbirth Forum and Annual Meeting. Lake, an integral figure in the birthing community since the 2007 debut of the documentary The Business of Being Born and subsequent projects that encourage childbearing women to become informed maternity care consumers, has traveled tirelessly around the United States to discuss the state of the birthing “industry” in an effort to demonstrate how all parents-to-be can benefit from taking a more active role in their birth experiences.

CIMS' [and CfM's] own Nasima Pfaffl will present an important session titled "Thank You for Listening to Me: Trends and Patterns in the Results of The Birth Survey." As you know, The Birth Survey has been collecting national data on women’s birth experiences for the last 18 months. This presentation will provide information on the patterns and trends in the data captured through The Birth Survey. Questions such as, how do different provider types compare; do women who had a c-section or an induction report feeling pressure to have these procedures; patterns of responses about midwifery care; and how women have reported they feel about the quality of the care they have received. Data will be presented that is not available via the public website!!

Online registration to open soon. Please visit www.motherfriendly.org for additional program details, travel/lodging information, and to sign-up for our electronic newsletter.

Hope to see you there!

ICAN Conference

I know a lot of people who are getting ready for the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) international birth conference in Atlanta, GA on April 24-26 this year. I just checked out the website and it looks like it is going to be an amazing conference. There are many sessions of interest to any birth advocate/activist. Sarah Buckley and Pam England are two of the keynote speakers--both women I'd love to hear speak in person some day. CfM's President, Susan Hodges, is also one of the breakout session speakers!
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Molly Remer
CfM Blogger

MANA Conference

Back in July, I posted briefly about the MANA conference this year (I was commenting on their great logo!). However, when I posted about conferences I've received emails about recently, I should have mentioned MANA again, since it is coming right up! The Midwives Alliance of North America is holding its 2008 conference in Traverse City, MI on October 16-19. Two of the CfM Board members will be attending.

The conference features Jennifer Block, Suzanne Arms, and many other dynamic speakers. It also has CEUs available from ACNM, MEAC, MI Nurses Association, and DONA. Of interest also is the MotherBaby Film Festival that will take place October 15th-17th with Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein in attendance. You can read more on the event's interesting blog. (and, of course, don't forget to make note of the conference's super cool logo. I'm especially fond of it :-)

Conferences

I've received a lot of conference news recently as well as information about BOLD performances going on across the country and I wanted to link to some interesting events. I wanted to make sure to remind conference organizers, BOLD planners, and event table staffers, that Citizens for Midwifery has tons of fact sheets/handouts available as pdfs online for free. Though we do not have the person-power or financial wherewithal to provide packets of print information for free, you can access our materials online and create your own packets! The fact sheets are great for printing off and having on your conference table, or to place on dining tables during a fundraising events, etc. You can also order Midwives Model of Care brochures affordably in CfM's online store. We do have two-color fliers about CfM available for free via the store as well.

Okay, so on to some of the conferences I've heard about recently! In Ventura, CA, the Birth Action Coalition is holding an event called "Speaking Out for Birth Choices" on October 4th.

In Milwaukee, WI, on October 12th the CARE Network of Milwaukee and the Well-Rounded Maternity Center are bringing a portion of the Safe Motherhood Quilt Project to Milwaukee as part of a program on the Causes, Prevention and Treatment of Postpartum Depression.

Then speaking of Milwaukee, I also learned that ICEA and Lamaze are teaming up for a joint conference there in 2010 (Sept 20-Oct 3) to honor both of their 50th anniversaries. I think that is incredibly neat and is sure to be a not-to-be-missed conference!

Coming up much more rapidly, on Oct. 10-12 of this year, the International Center for Traditional Childbearing will hold their 6th annual Black Midwives & Healers Conference in New York, NY. I like the motto on the conference annoucement: "healthy babies are everyone's business."

I'm sure there are also many other exciting things going on around the country (and the world!). This was just a snapshot. It is exciting to me to look at how much action is going on all over the place in support of birthing women.

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Free Webinars! CIMS Grassroots Advocates Committee Ambassador Trainings

"Interested in gathering obstetric intervention rates for the hospitals and birth centers in your area?"

Become a GAC STATS Ambassador and work with us to collect obstetric intervention data at the facility level for all 50 states. The public has the right to know what is happening in our hospitals. Pregnant women have the right to know what to expect from the hospitals and birth centers in their communities in order to determine which health care facility will best service their needs. You can help us get this vital information out to the public by becoming a GAC STAT Ambassador. We will provide you with the support, tools and guidance you will need to connect with the right people in your state, access the data and get the data out to the public. Join a GAC STAT Training and help increase women’s access to this important information.

"Want to help spread the word in your community about the national launch of The Birth Survey?"

Join the GAC Marketing Ambassadors and help us to make The Birth Survey a success in your area. We’ll provide you with marketing tools and materials designed to engage the public and generate excitement around The Birth Survey. Learn about grassroots marketing efforts, creative community based initiatives, and internet based strategies that will help you get the word out and insure that The Birth Survey will thrive in your area.

Click on a link below to register for a free webinar training. It’s easy and only requires a phone and a computer with internet connection. Please note the “Marketing” Trainings are only a single training. The GACSTAT series has a Part 1 and a Part 2 below. Please register for both parts if possible.

Trainings:

“Get the Word Out About The Birth Survey” GAC Marketing Training
Saturday July 19thth , 2008 1:00 pm- 2:30 pm EDT

GACSTAT Training Part 1- Intro and Collecting the Data
Saturday August 2nd, 2008 1:00 pm- 2:30 pm EDT

GACSTAT Training Part 2- Demystifying the Data
Saturday August 9th, 2008 1:00 pm- 2:30 pm EDT

"Get The Word Out About The Birth Survey": GAC Marketing Training
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 9:00 PM - 10:30 PM EDT

If you have further questions please e-mail.

Thank you,

CIMS GAC

LLL of MO Conference

Last weekend I attended the LLL of MO conference (the lovely conference logo to the right was designed by the talented Summer Hill). I was thrilled to attend several presentations by Diane Wiessinger. Diane is a gifted speaker with lots of powerful insights about birth and breastfeeding (or, as the other headline speaker, Dia Michels, said "we should have a new word--birthandbreastfeeding"). The two are inextricably linked and it DOES matter how and where you give birth. As Diane said, "It's the birth, silly!"

With regard to birth and the impact of birthing practices on breastfeeding Diane makes comparisons to other mammals. Human mother and baby pairs are also mammal pairs and are biological primed to expect certain things and to thrive in some circumstances and not in others. One of her analogies is of moving a mother dog to another setting to give birth:

"Your pet dog is in labor. Instead of leaving her in the quiet corner she has chosen, you bundle her into the car and take her to a strange, brightly lit house bustling with strangers who keep poking and peering at her. As each puppy is born, it is positioned at one of her teats for a few minutes to see if it will latch on. If it doesn't latch immediately, it's washed, wrapped, and put in a separate box until later."

Would we expect this dog mother to have an easy labor and birth? Would we expect her well-wrapped baby to suckle well when returned to her after several hours of separation? Would we be the best people suited to determining when and how often the puppies needed to nurse and how often their mother should be with them? NO! The mother's biology and the puppies' biology are what facilitates smoothness in birth and breastfeeding, NOT the things that are done to them by others.

Diane also shared the following description of why your baby's birth matters:

"A trip to a strange place with strange smells. Bright lights, busy people. Numbness. A carefully cleaned and wrapped baby who doesn't stay with Mama. Any other mammal would reject her baby after a beginning like that. Which means that most American mothers have to welcome their newborns with their heads and not their hearts. Not the best start for confident mothering. Not the best start for breastfeeding. Not the best start for love."

She also says, "Don't be fooled by the Birth Channel. A normal birth is not a medical event or a source of horrible pain. It happens on its own, with the woman moving in whatever way feels right to her, feeling the labor and feeling--being--in charge. Find someone who will support this." (Hint: A provider who practices The Midwives Model of Care supports normal birth like this!)

An interesting new website called Conscious Woman has recently been launched. This site is a source for interactive online workshops. If you are interested in hearing and seeing Diane Wiessinger speak for yourself, her session "What Would Mammals Do?" is one of the upcoming workshops available from Conscious Woman! How neat to have a site available like this to bring important speakers and sessions right into the comfort of your own home.

MANA Conference

Susan & Nasima recently attended the MANA conference in Florida. They found the plenary panel on racism important and consciousness raising and were glad to attend. Attending conferences and networking with other childbirth-related organizations is an important element of our aim of "getting the word out" about midwives and the Midwives Model of Care.