Raleigh yesterday: It was great to be there, and I think it was even a good homeschooling lesson! We talked with Naomi a lot about 'government' and how in the US we are free to say what we don't like and try to get things changed (however sometimes our freeness seems just a bit stifled).
But, we spoke with the aide to our Senate representative and hope that that will help bring this issue to attention. We can't expect change if we don't help make the people who represent us aware of the situation.
thank you friends and family, who came to support!
Over 600 people showed to support the cause, and it was a BEAUTIFUL day. Upper 60s, sunshine, and everyone was upbeat. Great, great day. Now...no, not wait. Now, get busy! If you're NC and can take a minute to call, email, write or stop by your representatives office, please do! (find out who represents you here).
We had an opportunity to visit our friends' bakery and Leviah pointed out the beauty of the day.
If you know me in person, one of the advocacy roles I play is for Homebirth. Many women live in places where homebirth midwives and the services they provide are readily and legally available. NC is not one of those places. It's a complicated issue, I'm going to break it down as best and as concisely as I can.
There are 2 kinds of certified midwives. CNM (certified nurse midwives who began with a nursing degree) & CPM (certified professional midwives who are trained in the field, however pass the same tests & often graduate from the same schools). Now, one is not better than the other, however most CNMs are found in hospitals and healthcare offices--CPM's do just homebirths.
CNM's can be licensed to attend homebirths in NC as long as they have a Doctor back-up.
So, why don't all midwives simply go the route of CNM? well, there are not a lot of Docs jumping at opportunities to back homebirthing midwives for several reasons:
1. Insurance
2. Politics
3. Loss of business
4. General Inconvenience
This leaves the waters in which homebirthing mamas swim very low on options, CNM's can't find backers, backers don't want to support homebirth, blah.
Why am I bringing all these political hot topics out to air? Because I just lost my midwife. My sister just lost hers. Many friends as well. The state we live in arrested the most experienced CPM in the area, disgraced her and has left her to shut her practice's doors. What is my option? To find the one CNM in the area & pay her higher fees (perhaps a cut goes to the back-up doc) or search for another CPM willing to risk her own dignity to provide a woman with what should be an unalienable right. Or to count on the wits of my husband. Or to go to the hospital and go into years worth of debt. Or go to a birth center 45 minutes away and do the same. These are not great options.
More ironic? Had my midwife been 20 minutes south, in a bordering state, her services as a midwife would be respected and completely legal. As it would have been in any of our bordering states. This is a travesty beyond measure and we must make it stop!
I'm not here to lay a claim that all women ought to homebirth, I won't even plug what a marvelous and comfortable and natural experience it can be ;) I simply want to point out that this challenge is one FREE people shouldn't face. FREE people should get to choose their healthcare providers. Licensure programs would suffice at weeding out the frauds. What I am here to say? Well, really I'm here to vent--but are you aware of the situation where you are?
When it comes to birthing, I AM a hippie, not just a naturalist--I'm too emotional about it. I believe that every woman is entitled to the birth of her choice AND that she's powerful enough to do it the old-fashioned way (if she so chooses). You rarely find an OB that agrees in the heat of the moment. Don't take my word for it, see the statistics below.
Someone posted this link in a forum & I cried a bit & became enraged because it's a whole other facet I haven't yet come to terms with.
I can just imagine how difficult it is for a man to come to terms with the notion that he cannot protect a woman from the pains of childbirth, then add the powers he does have--of supporting her, defending her wishes, caring for the infant--are stripped from him, tragic. How does he recover from that?
Before all that there's the years of entrenched fears to deal with. Mis-education is nearly impossible to penetrate when it's foundation is fear. Across the board. Here is what that mis-education & fear is achieving locally:
The numbers below show the Maternity Care Statistics for North Carolina for 2007:
Category
Number
Percentage of Total Births
Total Births
130,886
Cesarean Births
Primary Cesareans
24,221
18.5%
Repeat Cesareans
16,579
12.7%
Overall Cesarean Rate
40,800
31.2%
Vaginal Births
Vaginal Births
88,794
67.8%
VBAC Births
1,253
1.0%
Other Births
39
0.0%
Interventions
Labor Inductions
26,346
20.1%
Labor Augmentations
21,480
16.4%
Non-Induced or Augmented Births
83,060
63.5%
The World Health Organization recommends cesarean rates for any region not exceed 10 to 15 percent and induction rates not to exceed 10 percent. It is the expectation that when the 2008 numbers are released later this year that the cesarean and intervention rates will both increase in North Carolina hospitals.
I just had to post this. It is very important to me & I don't want families to not make educated decisions. I don't know a mother who doesn't remember the day her child was born--no matter how old. It's one of those things worth the research since no one wants to be upfront about it.
