http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/25/midwife-mania-more-u-s-babies-than-ever-are-delivered-by-midwives/#

As you all may have realized, we have been a little quiet over here at My Friend the Midwife.  It is because we have a new baby to welcome!!  Eamon Eugene McCracken was born to our Becky and her loving husband Andy.  Eamon was born on 10/10/12 at 11:10pm weighing 8lbs 10 oz.  He is the calmest, sweetest baby I have ever seen — which is welcome compliment to his ball-of-energy brother Donovan.  The duo really make the McCracken Home complete.

I am sure that Becky will want to tell you all about her birth story all in her own words and time.  I certainly don’t want to take that opportunity away from her.  As many of you have experienced on blogs and forums not unlike our own, sharing a birth story is cathartic at times — not to mention Becky is a hell of a story teller — so I know you’ll love to hear all about it from her.  However watching my best friend go through this experience has taught me something about the type of midwife I am.  But the vastly more important lesson I learned is the kind of women the person I call my best friend is.

Becky decided she was going to VBAC the day she left the hospital after Donovan’s birth.  Just like  two good midwives, and good friends, we understood each other’s philosophy.  And it was that a vaginal birth is best — unless you’re part of that 10-15% (not 33%) that will honestly need a C/Section to ensure safety.  I don’t want to make this a VBAC discussion — My Friend the Midwife believes in a woman’s right to choose — I’m just saying I knew what choice My Becky was going to make.  She can tell you all about why she chose it when she’s ready.

All through her pregnancy she was grounded.  She chose a trusted midwife to attend her in the hospital and knew all the risks and benefits.  She giggled when the practioners gazed up at her very tall husband, she smiled through sonograms all while taking her evening primrose and doing her acupuncture.  She did exactly what she would encourage other women to do — because this is what she has made her life’s passion.  I knew My Becky and she as going to give it her all.  Becky has mastered walking the line between midwifery philosophy and strong clinical knowledge base, both as a person and a clinician, and I so admire that in her.  She applied all of her knowledge and belief in good birth to herself through her whole pregnancy.  We got so excited when her labor started all on its own.  When she texted me to tell me she was admitted and 5cm, I couldn’t even think straight all day.  I kept thinking back to her blessingway where her favorite women wished her strength, confidence and an empowering birth.  I kept replaying my own wish for my friend in my head the whole day — A healthy birth.  Let me reassure everyone that  she did have strength and confidence in her labor.  She was empowered as her midwife made her and her husband a part of her decision making.  She had what I wished for her most of all — a healthy birth.

It was through this story and through my own clinical experience that I have learned a great lesson.  However your birth story ends . . . it is the beginning of your baby’s life story.  So, with that I say Welcome to the World, Eamon.  You have an amazing mother, a grounded father and a brilliant brother — its gonna be a great ride!

Call the Midwife a new program on PBS is nothing short of spectacular!! Even if you are not in the profession you will enjoy this colorful and intimate portrayal of midwifery and family life in 1950s East London. From the memoirs of Jennifer Worth of what it meant to be a nurse and midwife on the East End of London, the story is portrayed through the eyes of young Jenny Lee…making beautiful quotes ranging from “Why did I start this….” to “Midwifery and love is the STUFF of life…” You can download and view the first episode from the site above, it will air every Sunday on PBS at 8pm till 11/4.

http://lmphotography.typepad.com/lasting_memories_captured/2012/09/baby-on-the-way.html

One of the nicest experiences I’ve had during my second pregnancy is a Blessingway ceremony thrown by one of my best girlfriends/business partner Melissa, my mother and my sister. A Blessingway by definition is a ceremony focusing on the spiritual, emotional and physical well being of the mother. The practice of a Blessingway was thought to have originated with the Navajo tribe of Native Americans. There are many different traditions that have developed among varying cultures, but all are in celebration of the mother and her expectant child. The Blessingway is thought to be a more spiritual experience than the traditional Baby Shower we have all come to know and love, but both are intended to help prepare the mother and reduce anxiety about her labor and birth by surrounding her with the women in her life who love and support her. The Blessingway ceremony adds the aspect of restoring the expectant mother’s spiritual and emotional balance, allowing her to process the challenges and joys that lie before her as she approaches birth and motherhood. A wonderful resource to help you discover the different aspects and traditions of blessingways is a book called “Mother Rising” by Yana Cortland, Barb Lucke and Donna Miller Watelet. Link: http://www.blessingwaybook.com/

My Blessingway consisted of a small group of close family and friends in Melissa’s apartment building in Manhattan. We originally had it planned outdoors on her rooftop but the weather had other plans for us. The cozy and comfortable indoor room in her building ended up being just perfect, decorated beautifully with blue and white hydrangeas and pink roses. The countertop was loaded with delicious salads, hors d’oeuvres, quiche and cupcakes all exquisitely prepared by my mother, sister and Melissa. There were pitchers of ice cold water with lemon and cucumbers, mimosas, and fancy fruit ice cubes prepared with sparkling water. A beautiful journal was lying by the door for the women in attendance to sign and write messages for me, along with a bowl full of beads. The beads were there so each woman could choose one from herself to place on my birth necklace with her blessing. The bead ceremony is also a common tradition at the Blessingway and is a heart warming and spiritual experience for both the expectant mother and the women around her. The amount of love and emotion that radiated from each woman in my life when she gave me her blessing for my birth and journey into motherhood is one of the most joyous and strengthening experiences I’ve had as a woman. Without a doubt providing a love, strength and balance that I will now bring with me to my birth. What a beautiful way to carry the women you love and cherish with you through your labor and birth.

There are no real words to explain what a lovely and strengthening experience a Blessingway ceremony is for a mother-to-be, but as a midwife and mother expecting my second child, I must strongly advise each and every woman to do their research on this ceremony and provide some version of it for a woman she loves. As much as we need our husband and family surrounding us during this precious and fragile time, we also need to call on the strength of the women in our life to help provide a very important emotional and spiritual balance as we enter our journey into motherhood.

Supporting Healthy and Normal Physiologic Childbirth: A Consensus Statement by ACNM, MANA, and NACPM

            One of the greatest things about being a new blogger is meeting so many new people in the birth community.  You hear so many opinions and facts on so many different issues.  Undertones from women in America and in other countries constantly reminds us to always be open minded and remember woman come from all different places, both in mind and geography.

One of the great contacts “My Friend the Midwife” has made is with some great friends over at the Royal College of Midwives.  Manuela DaCosta Fernandes and I started tweeting and realized she once lived where Becky and I worked.  It is a great part of New York City where the culture is as thick as the coffee.  No Starbucks would dare enter the 5 block radius.  The people get their care in a well trusted community clinic where women have a great sense of relief that they can walk to a place where they can get good care and no one is judged.  Manuela and I, while staying within our 140 character limit, had fun discussing this as well as issues that have sprouted approximately 3470 miles due north east of this little New York neighborhood.  She ended one of our conversations with about serving the underserved and underinsured with, “Hey! Did you hear about the midwife with the rap?”

Becky and I were immediately intrigued!  A midwife with a rap?  A sense of relief came over us that someone has made midwifery cool, as we tend to spend a lot of time fending off bad stereotypes with the swiftness of something out of the Hunger Games.  We looked the video up on You Tube and immediately tears were streaming down our faces.  Who is this amazing midwife and who is this equally accomplished man who wrote this beautiful rap about her?  Their names are Ruth Lubic and Chad Harper and we recently had the pleasure of meeting them one beautiful Sunday morning.

Nervous and a bit tense, muffins in hand, Becky and I knocked on the basement apartment door.  Two of the warmest blue eyes answered.  About 3 inches below those warm eyes was a smile that was half mentor, half grandmother.  Our nerves were immediately put to ease as Ruth welcomed us into her home and gave us a warm hug.  She walked us around, showed us her garden and astutely reviewed the CV’s she asked for prior to agreeing to meet us.  Not bad for an 85 year old!

In walked Chad Harper, founder of Hip Hop Saves Lives.  This young, attractive African-American gentleman wore jeans, a sport coat and the friendliest smile you could ever see.  He hugged and kissed Ruth as if they were kindred spirits.  He immediately made a bee-line for Becky and I and embraced us with the same warm nature Ruth had when we entered.  They’re spirit and desire to do good was clearly made of the same stuff, although it was packaged very differently!   “Chad’s a hugger”, Ruth said with a smile as she invited us all to sit down to breakfast.

Ruth has spent the better part of her professional life building birth centers and serving the underserved.  In 1993, the MacArthur Foundation bestowed the “Genius” award upon Ruth.  She was given $375,000 dollars over 5 years to do whatever she deemed to be a worthy cause.  With these monies, the Developing Families Center was launched.  Ruth shared her most recent statistics with us that were more than inspirational! In 2006, preterm birth, low birth weight and cesarean section rates were decreased in the poorest neighborhood of Washington, D.C.  The total savings equaled $1,635,248!  Remember we mentioned she is 85!!  Genius award??  Sounds more like a miracle fund to me!  Not to mention, these statistics are probably one of the greatest ads for The Midwifery Care Model I’ve ever seen!

Chad is the founder of “Hip Hop Saves Lives”.  By writing songs with good messages, he is able raise money that is then donated for clean water in Africa and Haiti.  With his “Song a Day” program he goes into schools and helps children write raps about every day heroes.  This is how the rap about Ruth was born.  Chad and “Song a Day” are teaching children how to be an “everyday hero” not to mention providing language lessons in a way that is so very cool.  It’s clear from the way he talks about the project that it gives him great pleasure.  He speaks humbly about how he has gained “role model” status among these youngsters.

As midwives, when we listen to this rap, it’s truly inspiring how beautifully he encapsulates the tone of midwifery.  He talks about “being born out of love” and “setting women free”; themes that midwives try to bring to every woman.  When we asked him what he did to obtain these ideas about Ruth and Midwives, thinking for sure he spent at least a month at the Developing Families Center, he just smiled and said “I did a little internet research”.

After spending this morning with Ruth and Chad so many themes seemed to jump out at us.  Every woman deserves midwifery care, no matter if they choose to deliver at home, in the hospital or in a birth center.  They deserve the “with women” approach despite their socio-economic background.  Midwives can function in many different health-care venues to ensure the incredible statistics that we mentioned before are seen on a national level.  Chad has done something bigger than write a song, he has introduced midwifery to a group of women and children who possibly could have gone their entire lives without knowing about us.  He has educated women about an option they have for good care in an artistic medium that speaks to them and makes them feel safe.  Many midwives accept Medicaid managed-care plans and function in clinic settings.  We are infused into neighborhoods and care for woman in an environment where they feel comfortable.  Thank you, Chad for bringing that to light!

As for Ruth, how can you thank someone for actually materializing something you believe so deeply in and then giving you the strength to keep going down your own road.  We certainly hope the tone of this piece portrays her in the warm, loving light she deserves.

Thank you Chad and Ruth – for breakfast – for songs – for spirit – and for paving the way!

To view Hip Hop Saves Lives’ amazing rap – click the link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syJHSaJota0

Please also check out Chad Harper and http://hiphopsaveslives.org/