Day(s) at the Capitol

The past several weeks, the boys and I have made several trips down to our State Capitol in an effort to get our Midwifery Safety Bill passed. 

The update is coming, but long-story short, the bill is dead for this session, but we'll return next year with a new bill.

Anyways, if you've never been to the Capitol or have never been a part of the Legislative Process, I urge you to just go. 

Go and watch what takes place in our government. 

It's really quite fascinating and I dare say, I was addicted to the environment.

It was invigorating.

No one was there other than paid lobbyists and to be the only ones actively involved in OUR democratic process was quite rewarding despite the outcome.

I had quite the "zen" moment one day. 

I was on the 3rd floor and it was lunch time. 

During lunch, you can hear crickets in the Capitol. 

It's very quiet for the most part.

Charlie wanted to nurse, so he and I sat down on a bench in the center of this beautiful building.

So, I'm looking around at this intricately carved marble and all these beautiful details surrounded by walls that have housed our state government for over 100 years. 

Think of what has gone on here in this past century?!

And here I am, nursing my baby, working with other women to make a mostly male legislative body listen to us (instead of the medical lobbyists) and do the right thing.

I had an overwhelming sense of power.

Kind of that sense of femininity that overtook me after giving birth to my children,naturally,  in my home. 

And the same one as I breastfed them and watched them grow and thrive on my milk.

 I knew my outlook on things would be forever changed by this experience.

Now, I had been involved in the process. 

I can't go back to the way it was before...that's not the way our country was meant to be run.

 We shouldn't sit idly by while others decide our fate.

Remember that we have a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

 If we don't participate in our government, then we have NO say!
We will slowly give up on right after another and sadly, we already have let this happen.

So, get out there!

Pay attention!
If you can't go, then spend some time watching the live webcast.

Just be informed.
Be involved.
Otherwise, I don't want to hear you whining and complaining about what is going on in our state or in our country!

Oh, wait! I know you wanted to see cute pics of my kiddos at the Capitol...
Don't worry.
I won't disappoint!

 Tripp was evidently worn out from all his advocacy work and decided to rest with another one of our supporter's kiddos on the lawn in front of the Capitol.

 My cutie patootie

 Mississippi Friends of Midwives representing

Tripp and Henry enjoyed feeding each other pretzel chips during the entire press conference.

 Good looking bunch :)

We hit up LeFleur's Bluff State Park for a lunch break.
Charlie didn't hesitate to climb up a new set of slides.

 I wonder what Hen is telling him?

Stinker.
Flat out, Stinker!

“Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people."- Thomas Jefferson

Midwifery Advocates...We Need YOU!

Mississippi Friends of Midwives is pushing you to go to Jackson and you might be wondering why.

 Aren’t the calls and emails enough?

 Aren’t other people going and talking to the legislators?

Before we answer those questions, let's have a mini history lesson...

Last year, a bill was introduced that would have restricted childbirth attendants to OBs and CNMs (Certified Nurse Midwives) in hospitals. This would have made the Direct Entry Midwives (DEMs) that attend home births in MS illegal. The bill went right through the House of Representatives and over to the Senate without hesitation. Just then, word spread to the home birthing families in MS about the legislation and there was a strong outcry against the bill. Senators let the bill “die in committee” by not bringing it up for a vote by the deadline.

Fast forward exactly one year….After a lot of hard work by MS Friends of Midwives and the MS Midwives Alliance, House Bill (HB) 207 has been passed by the house and now sits in the hands of the very same, Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee with that same deadline approaching, March 1^st. (Learn more about the bill and why it is important here: http://biancawooden.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-do-we-need-hb207.html

So, to answer those questions,

Yes, there are a handful of the same people that have been to the Capitol repeatedly to speak with Legislators.

And, NO, at this point in the process, calls and emails are NOT enough!!

Let me tell you why.

The Medical community is at the Capitol every day lobbying AGAINST our bill. Women in Mississippi have enjoyed the right to birth at home with the care provider of their choice since the beginning of time. However, there are organizations in our state (such as the Mississippi State Medical Association and the Mississippi Nursing Association) that are working to see that right taken away and limited to their services in their hospitals. The organizations that tried to make home birth illegal last year did not and will not give up. They are working to kill our “pro-homebirth” bill and rest assured, they will take another shot at eradicating it next year.



We need your help to make a change.

 The legislators of MS are somewhat supportive of home birth and are willing to consider a law to recognize midwives and their role in the maternity care system.

We have some momentum, but we need to keep it going and gain the favor of the Senators.

The deadline for the bill to come out of committee and be voted upon by the Senate is March 1^st.

If we can’t convince the Senators in the Public Health and Welfare committee to bring this bill up for a vote, it dies.

All of our hard work and money is lost.

And, our opposition will be poised to make direct entry midwives illegal next year.

The future of midwifery care is in your hands.

I know you are busy and taking care of a hundred responsibilities.

So are we.

But, this is your chance to make a real difference in our state.

 It is the consumers that have the power to make this change, not the midwives.

The Senators are asking  to speak with their own constituents on the Midwife Safety Bill.

Lobbyists are at the Capitol EVERY DAY trying to kill this bill with faulty information and telling our Legislators that home birth in unsafe and should not be "approved" by the State by allowing this bill to pass.

 Are you going to let them stamp down families that support the right to birth at home?

We KNOW the system of maternity care needs to move forward and accept women who choose to birth at home and that by providing these minimum standards for midwives, we make that choice more credible to the consumer.

 Do something about it!

You may be saying to yourself, "I want to go. I want to help, but I just can't".

Well, we are here to help!

Let us know your reasons for not being able to go...

financial reasons, transportation, childcare, uncomfortable talking to Senators, have more questions about the bill...whatever your dilemma, Mississippi Friends of Midwives Board Members are available to help.

Contact us via email, facebook or by phone (on our Contact Us page).

Let us help you get to Jackson!

Our state legislature is in session for 12 weeks.

We are halfway through with a SPRINT to the finish line.

THIS WEEK IS THE MOST CRITICAL TIME TO BE AT THE CAPITOL.

Our opposition will be there, will you???

RSVP HERE

Tripp's Home Birth

Since midwifery and home birth have been the main focus of my life lately working to get Mississippi HB207 passed with my fellow board members and supporters of Mississippi Friends of Midwives, it came to my attention that I haven't written Tripp's birth story here.

I am copying and pasting from when I wrote it, shortly after he was born, because one benefit of natural childbirth and the plethora of hormones and brain chemicals involved, is that afterwards, it all becomes foggy and generally, the not-so-good details are forgotten. Only those good ones are left.

Afterall, if childbirth were SO horrible and these body reactions didn't happen, would the human race have multiplied as it has over the past thousands and thousands of years?!?!

I don't think so.

So anyways, on with the show...

We welcomed our first baby into our hearts on Sunday July 8, at 9:29 pm. I had some early signs of his arrival the Thursday night before as I was folding laundry and listening to music and felt some contractions that were different from all the Braxton-Hicks ones I had been feeling. So, I did some yoga and belly dancing (well, kinda) to stretch through it. Of course, I wasn't thinking that these were real contractions. They continued Friday and Saturday off and on. Will decided not to go to work Saturday night just in case and he cooked a wonderful dinner with a salad fresh from the garden and pasta full of yummies from the garden as well. We enjoyed spending what we knew were likely our last moments as just the 2 of us.

I woke up Sunday morning around 8 a.m hungry, of course. He made me some scrambled eggs and toast, my usual. Then, I went back to sleep and didn't wake until 11 am. That was the latest I had slept in ages!! Little did I realize that I needed to for all the work that was in store for me later in the day... 

I woke up because I had awful upset stomach. I went to the bathroom and realized that I was having some contractions as well. So, I asked Will to time them as I sat on the toilet. They were pretty regular for an hour or two, but I was stuck on the toilet. I decided around 1 pm to call the midwives as they had a good 90 minute drive. My midwife pretty much confirmed my thoughts that I was indeed in labor, but we all figured I had a ways to go with this being my first. We called my mom and she, my dad and my sis all headed over. I decided to put on some clothes and put on this awesome green earthy printed wrap cloth that I have had forever and really wanted to wear during labor. And then, back to the toilet where I pretty much worked through every contraction. I was getting up to walk around and chit chat in between. Early labor was actually no big deal for me- just having a contraction and sitting on the toilet. It was SO comfy for some reason!! 

Everyone had arrived by 4:00 pm and after the midwives had settled in, she asked if she could check my progress. I was about 4 cm and 90% effaced. They (my midwife, her mw assistant and their apprentice) decided to go into town and eat some dinner,  in order to give Will and I some time together and get things going. 

They had been gone about 20 minutes which is just enough time to almost get into town. Then, my water broke at 6:45pm. First,  a lovely trickle down my leg in the hallway (on my way to sit on the my porcelain throne) and my sweet black lab so kindly cleaned me off! Then, the next contraction I thought I would try to find a new spot to labor and with a gush, the rest of the fluid rushed onto the bed. Luckily, my midwife had already covered it with one of the sets of sheets and plastic drop cloths. So, my mom called them to let them know that they should probably turn around. Next thing I know I am completely in active labor- full force. Melissa, my midwife's asst.,  suggests that I sit in the shower on the birthing ball because my throne was losing its appeal. As I stepped in,  I felt the urge to push and you could hear it in my voice. I heard my midwife, Kim, say "ok lets get you to where you want to be- its time to have a baby!"

The next hour or so is blurry as everything was so intense and unknown to me, all happening so quickly. I recall puking on Corinne, my midwife's apprentice, as I stepped out of the shower and began walking to my bed. Melissa and Will supported me as I needed to squat through contractions at that point. She kept whispering kind and encouraging words in ear. I recall them checking me to see that my cervix is not quite there. I had about a half a centimenter to go. However, my body was eagerly pushing.

I tried many different positions to get comfortable. I end up in an usual sideways position on the bed pushing with Will behind me as my chair, holding his & Kim's hands. After several good pushes, I feel the ring o' fire and Kim is telling me to touch his head. For some reason, I could not at first. I just could not reach down there.

And, then I did.

  It totally re-energized me to push his head on out. Next, the body is getting ready to come out. He doesn't restitute and I am pushing him out football shoulders style. Luckily, no tearing at all (thanks to my midwives supporting my perineum with warm washcloths). It was the absolute best feeling in the world to push him out- Ah the relief!

It was no orgasmic labor, but the actual birth definitely was! 

My mom caught him as Melissa unwrapped the umbilical cord from around his neck.

  Will looked at me through the tears in his eyes and whispered, "it's a boy!!" 

All I could come up with was "I was right!" 

He was perfect!

Tripp cried and then, he cried some more and finally after 30 minutes of him crying, he decided to latch on and our babymoon began... 

SO, less than 3 hours, I went from active labor, to transition to pushing to Heaven!! 

Wow!! I couldn't believe it happened so fast!

We all celebrated with some homemade strawberry cake my dad had been working on, along with a roasted herb chicken, brown rice and veggies.

I was starving!

My belly was even growling during the last couple of pushes and I told myself not to get distracted by it. 

Afterwards, Will and I laid there in our bed just looking at this beautiful little human we created.

We were in awe for quite sometime, until we finally could wind down and sleep.

 Proud Papa

Sweet baby boy. Very Alert and WIDE Awake!

 This might possibly be the best perk of a homebirth. Sleeping in MY bed afterwards :)

 Snuggled in the sling a few days later

Midwifery on My Mind

Lately, I've been working to get a bill passed through the Mississippi State Legislature that would allow for licensed Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) to serve women in our state. 

Most of you know that my 2 children were born at home with CPMs.

We made this decision after MUCH research..

We read and read and read.

We met with OBs and Women's Hospitals across the entire region.

It wasn't until we met our midwives that we KNEW this is who our care provider would be.

There are many, many reasons I chose to give birth at home with a midwife.
Safety was obviously the biggest factor.
Research shows that for normal, healthy women with normal, healthy pregnancies that midwife-attended homebirth is just as safe if not SAFER than a hospital birth.
Globally, midwives care for the vast majority of women.
Only high-risk women are cared for by obstetricians.
And to be clear, I'm very grateful to live in a period in history when the option of a hospital, an OB and all the technology that is available for better outcomes for a high-risk pregnancy.
But also, this technology should only be used sparingly in such cases as a high risk pregnancy.
It should NOT be the norm.

I digress.
This is my soap box.
 But, the point is midwives are highly-specialized care providers in natural, normal child birth and pregnancy.
The level of care I received was superb.

So, this leads to my passion for midwifery and protecting women's right to have that option if they so choose.
Last year, a bill made it through the House of Representatives in Mississippi that would have made any midwife that was not a Certified Nurse Midwife illegal. Thus, home birth would have been illegal as CNM may only practice in a hospital under a physician in Mississippi (and most other places as well).
In response, we formed the Mississippi Friends of Midwives and the Mississippi Midwives Alliance formed as well. I am currently a board member of the MFOM which is the consumer representative for midwifery in Mississippi. We also decided that based on the national trend of midwifery regulation, that we should be proactive and draft our own bill.

Long story, short, HB207 was born.
 Fellow board member, Bianca Wooden put it so well in her description, that I'm going to quote her recent blog post.
This is the essence of our bill and of our motivation.

• Women give birth at home and hire direct entry midwives, the women of MS deserve a system that will allow them to verify the competency of a midwife and file a grievance against incompetent midwives.

• MS needs direct entry midwives , but we need to define what a direct entry midwife is exactly, and it makes sense to use the NARM (North American Registry of Midwives) recommended CPM (Certified Professional Midwife). We didn’t want this law to eliminate the midwives currently practicing, but we do want to move forward to improving our standards.

• Currently practicing midwives are vulnerable to prosecution under our current legal situation. In other states similar to our, midwives have been arrested and jailed.

• By having a law that defines a direct entry midwife, our state will be more protected against opposing forces introducing a law to restrict births to hospital only.


The thing is that it doesn't matter why *I* chose a homebirth with a midwife.

What matters is that the option was available to me.

By Supporting Midwifery in Mississippi, that option to make an educated decision and choose my own health care provider is preserved. No one should tell you how, where and with whom you should give birth. House Bill 207 needs to be passed so that women have confidence in the safety and qualifications of their care provider just as in any other branch of the health care field.

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Charlie's Home Birth Story

 nothing is sweeter than a newborn

As I shed a little tear thinking about the fact that my sweet baby is going to be one tomorrow, I have been thinking back to all the events leading up to his birth this time last year.

One year ago today, we were packing up our house to move from Randolph, MS to Starkville, MS. 

And yes, I know I was 40+ weeks pregnant, planning a home birth and packing up said home.

I never said anything about being sane.

Will had to drive about an hour away to go pick up our UHaul truck and while he was gone, I was starting up some pretty intense back labor. 

But, I'd been doing this off and on for awhile.

Heck, I'd been a good 6 cm dilated for WEEKS!

So, I was still not ready to admit I was in labor.

He got home and we put Tripp to bed. 

I told Will we'd be having a baby soon, but I was going to try to sleep for a little while.

An hour later, I got up out of bed since I couldn't sleep through the contractions and decided to call in the troops.

Oh, my comfy couch! 

This was my spot for most of the night working on birthing my baby boy.

Within the next few hours, my mom,dad and sister all arrived. The midwives arrived as well. 

I asked them to check me and I was 7cm dilated.

I was a little disappointed because that back labor was not fun and seemed like I should have done more work than just 1 measly centimeter.

My awesome midwives: Melissa Stallings, Martina Benson and their apprentice Missy Padgett

For the most part, labor was pretty mellow. I just relaxed on the couch and took each contraction as it came.

We were all tired as I labored throughout the night. So, we all took turns snoozing in between contractions.

Tripp woke up around 6 New Years' Eve morning to all the excitement of baby's impending arrival.

Nana and Poppie were there to tend to him and his needs which I'm so, so grateful for as things were really picking up in the birthing department.

Will and I moved back into our bedroom as the really intense contractions of transition hit.

I was at 9 cm with a lip, fully effaced and my waters were still intact.

I was tired, tired at this point after being up all night. 

But, alas, here we are.

It's too close to the end to give up.

Plus, I wouldn't give up.

That's just not me.

I recall drifting off during these intense final contractions.

It was really a beautiful, yet deep and dark place within in me. 

Tripp's labor was so fast and intense that I never had the time to really feel and experience this transition part of labor.

It was like the ocean at night.

Dark, mysteriously beautiful with waves coming and going and crashing onto the shore

I also recall being quite irritated at my husband's snoring. 

I was practically lying on top of him in an interesting upright, sideways position as his snoozing wasn't disturbed by my contractions.

I don't know HOW because I'm certainly NOT a quiet mama during the end of labor.

There I was peaking atop the crests of these intense ocean waves and he was just snoring away.

It would take more than that to mess with my mojo, though.

I recall my midwife coming in to check me and I remember clearly not wanting her to until the current contraction was over.

She waited, but while she was poised and watching what was going on down there,

Splash!
My waters broke with a mighty gush.

A few minutes later I felt that massive urge to push.

And boy, did I!

Charlie was out with only a couple pushes and before I realized it actually.

He came out so quickly and was on my chest before it all sunk in that my baby was finally earthside.

If you know us, then you know we LOVE the surprise of waiting to find out our babies' gender once they're born. Will and I were in such awe at this perfect angel that several minutes went by before we even looked to see if we had a new son or daughter.

Everyone was saying "Yall look!"

Through our tears we picked him up and saw, "He's a BOY!"

We had known all along, but here he was, son number two.

Charlie was born at 9:27 a.m. New Years Eve 2009.

And here's a weird coincidence, Tripp was born at 9:27 p.m.

After we snuggled for awhile, the midwives measured and did all their little assessments right beside us on the bed. He was perfect (of course!) and weight 6 lbs 13 oz and was 20" long.

And here's weird coincidence number 2...

Yep, That was Tripp's exact size at birth.

Craziness.

Especially looking back on the past year, because these 2 couldn't be more opposite if they tried.

Auntie and Nana taking their turn at snuggling.

All my boys :)

The first of MANY brother hugs

And yes, for those of you wondering, we finished loading up and moved the next day.

We were crazy.