Regional Notes.

MOUNTAIN REGION

Report submitted by Deanna Finney, Regional Director.

On September 9-10 the Idaho Childbirth & Parenting Educators organization sponsored a workshop featuring a few local practitioners and, on a national level, Penny Simkin. The emphasis of the workshop was "More Than the Birth of a Baby!" and part of Penny's talk was on just that. She has a wonderful outline regarding how giving birth touches our whole lives and the lives of those closest to us. Birth involves the birth of a baby, a mother, a father, and grandparents, and more.

The other part of her talk was on The Three Rs of Childbirth. She stresses in her teachings that the three Rs that are essential to birth are: relaxation, rhythm, and ritual. And she states that while women rely heavily on the coping measures they learned in CE classes, those that cope the best do more than that, they usually discover their own coping measures in active labor. So she doesn't teach a particular coping mechanism, but encourages parents to find "their best" coping strategies. I encourage anyone that gets a chance to hear her talk not pass it up, she is wonderful.

If you would like more information on the workshop, please contact me. I would like to hear more from folks in the region. Contact me by mail or by e-mail at [e-mail].

NORTHEAST

Report submitted by Kathy Watson, State Coordinator, New Jersey.

On September 25 and 26, I attended "Strategies in Motion: A Legislative Conference for Midwifery Advocates" in Washington, DC, which was sponsored by Citizens for Midwifery (CFM) and the Midwives' Alliance of North America (MANA). The purpose of this conference was to teach participants effective advocacy skills, including strategy and materials development.

The goals of the conference were to expose midwives and consumer advocates to a broader spectrum of opinion on midwifery issues; to introduce the community of midwifery advocates to well known and successful advocates on other issues; to teach participants how to conduct local training sessions; and to provide a voice for midwifery at the national level.

It seemed to me that nearly every participant at this conference had written a book or two and/or had been very involved in her state's political arena. I met Ina May Gaskin, Marsden Wagner, Susan Hodges, Karen Webster, other representatives of MANA, CFM, NARM (North American Registry of Midwives), and other important national organizations. I even met a midwifery student who flew from the conference in DC to a birth center in the country of Colombia to help catch babies and to learn about alternative midwifery practices.

Most of the information from the conference is on the CFM website at www.cfmidwifery.org. The site includes the NOW (National Organization for Women) resolution to include midwifery, which was just adopted in July 1999. The resolution was written by several MANA representatives including Cordelia Hanna, a midwifery student from California, who attended the conference.

The NOW resolution includes some of the following: "Whereas, reproductive freedom includes ... the right to devise a birth plan with a medical provider of their choice in either a hospital or an alternative setting such as a freestanding birth center or private residence." Please look at the whole resolution on the CFM website (and in this issue of Special Delivery); it is really an important step for childbearing women's rights.

The participants at the conference spoke about the recent rise of unattended homebirth due to the fact that in many states (about half in the United States), Certified Professional Midwives (CFM) are not legally permitted to attend births at the woman's residence.

These CPMS have already been scrutinized and tested over and over again by their peers on the NARM and MEAC boards. These CPMS have already been deemed knowledgeable and safe to attend births, but some of the states haven't taken the time to look at the credentials and the certifying process and therefore have disallowed many midwives from practicing in their own states. Consequently, pregnant consumers suffer. Many women, therefore, choose to birth their babies without any expert on normal birth (midwife) in attendance.

This group also spoke at length about the need for the bill HR 2360 to pass. This bill will guarantee that all federal employees have the opportunity for their insurance pay for midwives to attend their births. This is another important issue for childbearing women's rights.

You can help put this bill through by calling the Capital switchboard at 202-224-3121 or you can write your congressperson at The Honorable --, US House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515. The group discussed the right of all women to have the choice of having a homebirth. They said they were "not pushing your daughter to have a homebirth. Just The choice should be available."

The Coalition for Improving Maternal Services (CIMS, pronounced "kims") was also discussed. After two years of meetings, approximately 25 prominent education organizations and other consumer advocates created the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative. CIMS has grown to represent more than 90,000 birth professionals via such organizations as ALACE, MANA, ACNM, La Leche League, ICEA, DONA, the Bradley Method, and others.

Their Mission Statement reads, "The Coalition for Improving Maternal Services (CIMS) is a coalition of individuals and national organizations with concern for the care and well-being of mothers, babies, and families. Our mission is to promote a wellness model of maternity care that will improve birth outcomes and substantially reduce costs. This evidence-based mother-, baby-, and family-friendly model focuses on prevention and wellness as the alternatives to high-cost screening, diagnosis, and treatment programs."

The ten steps to Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative for Mother-Friendly Hospitals, Birth Centers, and Home Birth Services can be found at www.motherfriendly.org. You can also reach CIMS at 202-478-6138 or write CIMS National Office, 2120 L St., NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20037. You could show these ten steps to your local Public Health Officials or to your local hospital to see if they are in compliance.

A new video entitled, "Born in the USA, a Documentary about Childbirth in America" was screened at this conference. This particular film will soon be broadcast on PBS and shows what maternity care in this country is like firsthand. The video will be available at the MANA conference in November in Nevada. You can reach the creators at [e-mail] or you can call them at 415-626-9902. I really enjoyed the film and intend to purchase it for educational use.

While at the conference, I met one of the authors of the Pew Report on The Future of Midwifery, a joint report with the University of California, San Francisco Center for the Health Professions, and the Pew Health Professions Commission. I had already discovered this important document at the MANA conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in May; so when I met one of the authors, Jo Anne Myers-Ciecko, MPH and Executive Director of the Seattle Midwifery School, I was very excited.

The Pew Report is powerful by way of its scientific evidence of the need for midwives and of the role of midwives now and into the twenty-first century. This report includes the Midwifery Model for Pregnancy and Maternity Care, which states, "Whereas medicine focuses on the pathologic Potential of pregnancy and birth, midwifery focuses on its normalcy and potential for health. Pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding are normal bodily and family functions. That they are susceptible to pathology does not negate their essential normalcy and the importance of the nonmedical aspects of these critical processes and events in people's lives.

Midwives know about the medical risks, identify complications early, and collaborate with physicians to assure medical care for serious problems. But attention to the medical aspects of these complex processes, while essential, is not sufficient. Midwives focus on each woman as a unique person, in the context of her family and her life. The midwife strives to support the woman in ways that empower her to achieve her own goals and hopes for her pregnancy, birth and baby, and for her role as mother. Midwives believe that women's bodies are well designed for birth and try to protect, support, and avoid interfering with the normal processes of labor, delivery, and the reuniting of the mother and newborn after their separation at birth." For more information about the Pew Report contact The Center for the Health Professions at www.futurehealth.ucsf.edu or call 415-476-8181.

I had a wonderful time at this conference and I hope to see you at next year's event.

WESTERN CANADA 

Report submitted by Connie Banack, Regional Director.

No local report other than I am pregnant. This will be a planned HBA2C (homebirth after two cesareans) and a waterbirth to boot and I am so excited! I am due March 21.

UPPER MIDWEST 

Report submitted by Annmarie Klyzub Kalmar, Editor.

I'm happy to report that the labor assistant training workshop, taught by Ilana Stein this summer here in Racine, WI, was a success. This was the second ALACE seminar that I have attended and, quite honestly, I wasn't sure how it was going to go for me this time. My first seminar was led by Mayri Sagady and I will never forget everything I learned from her. I didn't know Ilana at this point and I was wondering how it was going to work out. Well, I was concerned for nothing. Ilana is a wealth of information and I have made a great friend.

I was also really worried about the turnout. As you've probably all figured out by now, this area of the states is not the most progressive--at least not Southeastern Wisconsin. I was trying to make change, empower women, and educate the staff at the one maternity hospital in Racine about women's reproductive and birthing rights all by myself. I am so happy to report that now I have two new local associates who are working to educate, empower, and enlighten everyone we encounter.

The result of this effort? The three of us, plus a Bradley instructor and a postpartum nurse/breastfeeding intructor have formed a group called Birth Partners. We are meeting on a regular basis, have created a booklet listing who we are and what our services are, and are attending all the birthing events that we can find.

Not only does our group serve to educate women and medical professionals in our area, but it helps us market as a whole, and therefore, we reach more people at far less cost than if we we're doing it ourselves.

I'll keep you posted on any marketing ideas we come up with.

For now, I've included the art that we've used for our logo, the cover of our booklets, and for our scrub shirts (which we'll wear both to births and to the store!).