Birth Matters Virginia

Birth Matters Tidewater will be screening the film DOULA!

You are cordially invited!

 

Birth Matters Tidewater will be screening the film DOULA! 

 

This screening will be held at

Virginia Wesleyan College on June 18, 2011.

 

 

 

 

 

DOULA!

 

June 18, 2011

 

6:30 p.m. Doors Open

7:00-8:00 p.m. Movie

8:00-9:30 p.m. Meet the Local Doulas, Mix-n-Mingle, Etc....

 

 

 

Tickets will be $5.00 for members, and $7.00 for non-members.  If you would like to join as an individual, you can purchase a ticket with your membership for $20.00 and save $2.00!  If you would like to join as a business member and have your services featured on our Local Resource Page, you will be given a token of recognition during the event, as well as an opportunity to connect with potential clients.  Business memberships are $50.00 per year and can be purchased here.   

 

 

Seating is limited, so be sure to purchase your ticket soon!  We hope to see you there!

 

 

For more about the film, click here.

 Sincerely,

 Birth Matters Tidewater

 

 

For more information about Birth Matters Virginia, click here.

International Day of the Midwife 2011

Today, on the International Day of the Midwife, the World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledges the significant impact of midwives on the health of women and newborns. Midwives are essential to the delivery of quality services before, during, and after childbirth for women and newborns. A key approach of the midwifery profession is to create the conditions for women and their newborn to go through a safe, humanized and respectful childbirth experience.

The State of the World’s Midwifery report, the role of midwives is acknowledged as being crucial to addressing maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity, to promoting women’s and children’s health. Midwives should be key partners in making health services more responsive to the needs of women and communities

http://www.who.int/making_pregnancy_safer/events/news/05_05_2011/en/

Mapping Maternity Care and Birth Outcomes

High quality maternity care saves the lives of millions of women in pregnancy and childbirth. The improvements in outcomes for women over the last two centuries make clear the benefits of surgical expertise.

Even now maternal mortality ranges by over 1000 times between countries with the poorest and best outcomes further indicating the benefits of medical interventions. Within the US however there are significant variations in the delivery of surgical care without any clear differences in outcomes as measured by either maternal or infant mortality. Over the last two decades the rates of cesarean section have dropped in the mid 1990's, when effort was paid to reduce their rates, and have subsequently risen dramatically. Over the same period there have been no corresponding reductions in maternal-infant mortality outcomes. The costs of these procedures can be measured in dollars and cents.

Within this site we present publically available data to highlight this process and to bring awareness to this issue. While there is controversy as to the optimal cesarean rate, there is evidence that the current rate is higher than necessary for maternal or perinatal safety and that geographic variation does not reflect differences in women's risks, values, or preferences. We hope that this information is found to be...... 

Please proceed through the four screens on the link provided:

http://www.mappinghealth.com/maternitycare

 

International Midwifery Day on May 5th, 2011

It's that time of year again. Birth Matters Tidewater is gearing up to celebrate International Midwifery Day on May 5th, 2011, all month long with our library display project. We want to thank you for participating last year. We were able to have a large and diverse presence in the Tidewater area. We are currently ...looking for people to sponsor a library display for $25. It’s a great way to show off your business or family name at a library near you.
The donations help fund our professional looking display and help defray the cost of printing for the many informative hand outs we make available for the displays. 
If you are interested in sponsorship please contact Kathy Hubbard by emailing her your electronic logo at [email protected] and mailing your business cards to 1208 Advance Rd., Virginia Beach, VA. 23452. Payment can be made by check to the above address or you can send her a request for a paypal invoice. The deadline is April 29th. If you have any questions please contact Kathy Hubbard by email or phone at (757) 631-0952. Help spread the word about midwifery! Thank you again for helping us as we strive to create a more positive and informed birth culture. 
Sincerely, 

The Birth Matters Tidewater Team

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Birth Summit 2011

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Birth Summit 2011

Our 2011 summit calls together physicians, researchers, midwives, childbirth professionals, and advocacy groups to examine the rising maternal mortality rate in the US. Setting aside all cultural, personal, and professional bias, this extraordinary group of professionals and lay people will tackle an almost silent epidemic in the United States. The result will be a formal white paper recommendation that will be distributed widely across the country.

There is limited seating this year, so be sure to sign up early!

Join us on Sunday, April 10th as we walk the Safe Motherhood Quilt down the National Mall in Washington D.C.!

http://www.healthymothershealthybirth.com/

2010 Annual Awards Event (Reminder)

Just a reminder that our 2010 Annual Awards Event takes place this coming Sunday, November 7th from 1-5 p.m. at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond. Member ticket prices are $25 and well worth the investment. This is one of the best ways to support our state organization! The silent auction includes: a homebirth, family game night basket, photography sessions, handmade items, jewelry, crafts, and other wonderful items!

Dr. Stacey Marie Kerr, author of "Homebirth in the Hospital" will be present to speak about birth, families, and encouraging words.

Please come out and spend a lovely day among the gardens and with fellow birth supporters in the state of Virginia.

Visit www.birthmattersva.org to purchase your ticket now.

2010 Birth Matters Virginia Award Recipients

We Are Pleased to Announce the
2010 Birth Matters Virginia Award Recipients -----

Jessica Jordan, CNM and Dr Christine Isaacs 
Congratulations! 

As a reminder, please purchase your tickets now  
 for our 9^th Annual Awards and Fundraiser event,

Sunday November 7th, 2010 1PM -5PM

Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens

1800 Lakeside Ave.

 Richmond, VA  23228 

Join us in celebrating our award recipients, listen to Dr Stacey Marie Kerr speak, participate in our silent auction full of excellent items & services.  Come to enjoy the Gardens (free pass to gardens with purchase of event ticket!), fabulous food, as well as giving your support to Birth Matters Virginia

We would like to acknowledge our other nominees who are recognized and greatly appreciated by their communities for the excellent work and services that they provide. Birth Matters Virginia supports your efforts and continued commitment to evidence-based care practices.

Thank You

*     Diane Sampson, Education Director at UVA Medical Center, Charlottesville

*     Jennifer Kyzer, Facilitator Birth Talk, Richmond

*     Shirley Dodson-McAdoo, Executive Director Family Maternity Center of the Northern Neck

*     Margie Rickell, CNM, Richmond

*     Jean-Gilles Tchabo, MD, Arlington

 

 

Jessica Jordan, CNM, Richmond/Kilmarnock
Jessica has had a long history of working with women as an educator, nurse, midwife and advocate. She has spent most of her years in Richmond where she attended births in the hospital and working towards expanding birth options for women as the facilitator for a pilot program birth center in Emporia, VA. She has been a main force in recent years behind the Virginia Chapter of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, legislative efforts in Virginia to "free" midwives (both CPMs and CNMs), and the establishment of birth centers under the Virginia Pilot Program for Obstetrical Care in Medically Underserved Areas. She has worked tirelessly to keep midwifery alive and expanding in Virginia at great personal cost. She has taken every possible opportunity to meet with legislators and policy makers to educate them about the needs of women and newborns and the barriers that CNMs face in order to practice. As a member of the OB task force formed in 2004 she was apart of the development and passing of HB 2656. She initiated Centering Pregnancy group prenatal care in two outreach locations in the Northern Neck in 2007. She was involved in the program development and design of the Family Maternity Center and now holds the title of clinical director. Jessica was paramount in establishing collaborative protocols with physicians and receiving OB pilot project approval from the Board of Health. Because of her leadership and dedication, the Birth Center became accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Birth Centers in May  2010, and the center opened its doors June 1, 2010. Through, the Family Maternity Center Northern Neck, she has worked to restore prenatal and delivery services to the area which had lost delivery services in 2004 causing all women to travel 85 miles to the nearest hospital. She is credited with reducing fears surrounding birth, promoting an optimal birth experience, reducing premature births and promoting healthy mothers and healthy babies. I can't think of anyone else who has been more of an encouragement to me to "stay the course" for midwifery than Jessica Jordan.

Christine Isaacs, MD Richmond
Christine is an OB/Gyn MD is on the faculty at VCU Medical Center in the OB/Gyn Residency Program. She left private practice after the birth of her first baby to return to the public sector so she could be involved in the education of residents and to be able to offer a voice to those women who were not only wanting quality care but perhaps a more natural way of birth.. 
Her presence on the staff has done so much to help facilitate physiological childbirth at VCU. She encourages the residents to flow with birth in what ever position the mom might be comfortable, she supported and helped to facilitate Robbie Davis Floyd's lecture to the residents after the Birth Matters VA event last year and also the one for this year. Christine is the liaison doctor for the CNM's and is totally supportive of what they do at VCU. On a personal level, she chose to have a home birth with her second baby despite intense resistance from the powers that be at VCU. One of the most important actions she has created and pioneered is an incredible family centered Cesarean Section. One mother's experience follows: "The lights were dimmed.  A CD mix my husband and I had made to welcome my daughter into the world which included songs as varied as Ani DiFranco, Neil Diamond and A Tribe Called Quest blared out of the CD player.  My husband and my midwife were present for nearly everything.  And most importantly, when my daughter was taken out of my uterus, she was handed directly to ME. And I was already breast feeding before Christine finished sewing me up. I had an amazing and spiritual experience in that OR." Birth clearly matters to her, not only in providing excellent medical care but making sure that the mother, the baby and the entire family has an experience that they feel empowered by. It takes quite a bit of work to push the edges of all involved and make the changes happen.

Video Contest Winners Announced!!!

As a step toward our goal of educating women about their choices and options during the childbearing years, Birth Matters Virginia solicited short videos about evidence-based maternity and delivery care. With our nation ranking 41st in maternal mortality and our cesarean rate surpassing 30%, it is more important than ever for women to be educated about their options.
 
We were pleased to have received nearly 40 informative and thoughtful videos on topics ranging from personal birth journeys, the role a doula plays, midwifery care, cesarean sections, birthing in the Amish culture, birth in Ireland, and more. Each video carried a message of the understanding that change needs to occur in our culture related to pregnancy and birth for the well-being of both mothers and babies.
 
The choice was not easy for our panel of judges (which included women from varied backgrounds, all mothers, all interested in change, some working in the field of birth professionally and some not). We also were honored to have Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein from the Business of Being Born and internationally recognized and respected author and doctor, Sarah Buckley join us in the judging. Each film had so much heart and all contest entries were obviously made with wonderful intentions as well as good information backing the spirit of the project. However, in the end, we choose with confidence.

First Place: Prevent Cesarean Surgery by Ragan Cohen (California)

Second Place: The Nature of Natural Birth by Laura Alvarez (Wisconsin)

Honorable Mention: Misconception by Becky Carey (Virginia)

To see a list of other finalists, click here. 

To all of those of you who made a film and submitted it to us, we are extremely grateful for your time and effort. Each film was unique and as has been said, made with the best of intentions. The films are a part of the necessary and ongoing discussion we must have in order for pregnancy and birth to be viewed and treated as the normal process of a woman’s life that it is.
 
The goal of Birth Matters Virginia is to encourage and support evidence based maternity care in order to educate not just women who are considering pregnancy or already are pregnant but all people, young, old, female and male. We feel by sponsoring this video contest, we have exposed an enormously diverse population of people by flooding YouTube with positive and informative birth documentaries. We encourage everyone to watch the videos, tell your friends, your family, all of your connections about the films and encourage them to go to YouTube to view them. Refer women, professionals who work with pregnant women and mothers to the Birth Matters Virginia website www.birthmattersva.org  for excellent resources and research to support the healthiest and safest way of birth.
 
We believe that all of our efforts, yours and ours are making a difference in this world and we are grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the change.
 
With gratitude

Thérèse Hak-Kuhn

Executive Director BMV

Thérèse Hak-Kuhn

Symposium on Birth Practices and Reproductive Rights

CALL FOR PAPERS

Submission Deadline: July 13, 2009

PERINATAL

A Symposium on Birth Practices and Reproductive Rights

Wednesday 7th October 2009 (tentative)

at

George Mason University,

Fairfax, Virginia

Forty years ago, the feminist movement advocated for reproductive rights. Over the years, childbirth was dropped from the agenda. Why? What has this meant for women? How are women organizing for change?

We welcome submissions from scholars, students, activists, artists, mothers and others who work or research in this area. Comparative and interdisciplinary work is encouraged. Feminist inquiries are explicitly sought, although all submissions will be considered. We encourage a variety of types of submissions including academic papers from all disciplines, workshops, creative submissions, performances, storytelling, visual arts, and other alternative formats.

This symposium is interdisciplinary. Possible topics include:

• Cultural myths and expectations around birth (written, verbal, or visual culture)
• Rethinking maternal-fetal conflict
• The psychological impact of contemporary birth practices
• Developments in midwifery, homebirth, and unassisted birth
• The symbolic significance of birth practices as socialization
• The evolution of contemporary birth practices and taboos
• Maternal resistance to birth practices
• The feminist movement and birth

If you are interested in being a presenter, please send a 250-500 word abstract and a 50 word bio by July 13, 2009 to: Jessica Clements ([email protected]). Late abstracts will be considered and accepted if possible.

Please send the abstract as an attachment, not in the body of an email, in either PDF or Word DOC format. Include Title, Abstract (250-500 words), Name, Institutional Affiliation, Address, Phone, Email Address, Brief Bio (50 words).

HB 2163 is Officially the Law

On March 30, 2009 Governer Kaine signed HB 2163, setting standards for informed choices in maternity care a law.  HB 2163 will go into effect on July 1, 2009.  It will require regulations for Certified Professional Midwives (CPM's) to disclose to their clients “evidenced based information” about the risks associated with vbac, breech, and twin deliveries occuring at home or birth centers. 

Midwives and home birth consumers originally opposed the bill as it was introduced by Delegate Matt Lohr (R), Harrisonburg, because it showed a lack of understanding that the hallmark of midwifery care is already education and informed choice.  Another injustice was that it’s wording implies that only the risks associated with home birth, and not hospital birth, need to be addressed by the Commonwealth as priority issues. Many opponents of the bill wondered why women receiving care in medical practices aren’t being told of the risks associated for current and future pregnancies,  with elective repeat cesearean section.  In fact, they aren’t even being given the opportunity to choose between relative risks because many hospitals have VBAC bans that are not official, or de facto bans. 

When the midwives asked Delegate Lohr to add the qualifier “evidence based” to the language of the bill, they found themselves more able to accept the redundant legislation in the hopes that it will not only provide some measure of education and reassurance about the Midwives Model of Care to the medical community but it will also create a legislative model for a standard for informed choice for all other health professionals.

Another great result of this unexpected drama at the General Assembly was a renewal of energy for the midwifery grassroots network in Virginia.  It was pretty amazing to see how quickly forces can be mustered to fight back against any efforts to restrict access to midwifery care in Virginia.  Connections were renewed through the Virginia Birth Politcal Action Committee (VA Birth PAC) listserv and also saw the new technologies of blogs, Facebook, and even Twitter giving much needed connections to all of the people who care about birth.  Perhaps most important, the supporters showed the legislators and the medical community that their community remains a powerful force and that respectful communication and open dialogue will bring the most success in the ongoing struggle to understand how to integrate midwifery care into the existing healthcare system.

Submitted by Brynne Potter