Unfortunately, the role of obstetrics has never been to help women give birth. There is a big difference between the medical discipline we call "obstetrics' and something completely different, the art of midwifery. If we want to find safe alternatives to obstetrics, we must rediscover midwifery. To rediscover midwifery is the same as giving back childbirth to women. And imagine the future if surgical teams were at the service of the midwives and the women instead of controlling them.

Michel Odent, MD

June 5, 2008
I was watching one of those ridiculous birth shows on TLC ~ AND I GOT SO ANGRY!!!
A beautiful, obviously healthy, obviously well-educated woman just blindly went forth with her pregnancy - never questioned her care provider, never asked ANY questions about her pregnancy - because, of course, the doctor is taking care of everything.

So she goes in for her induction - why was she induced??????  Because the doctor said she should be.

Then she has an epidural - why???? Because at 3cm her contractions are coming EVERY minute because the Pit was too high - but now the Anesthesiologist is her BEST friend, her gift from God - instead of her husband.

Then she is making no progress 5 hours later - well she has been in one spot in the bed - THE SAME SPOT for 5 hours what do you expect???  A c-section?  Well, you are correct - off she goes to get fixed because obviously her body can't do what it was made to do!

This frustrates me so much!

A local hospital recently did a piece about how they did 24 births in 24 hours - 14 of those were c-sections!  SO what you are trying to convince me of is that 14 of 24 women were DEFECTIVE!  They were not able to give birth vaginally just because their bodies weren't made right????? THAT IS ABSURD!

WHY do women not think - not question - not believe in themselves?

How can women have brilliant minds, master's degrees, run businesses AND NOT QUESTION what is going on with their own healthcare?

Have we raised up a generation of women SO concerned about hurting someone else's feelings that they are scared to say - HOLD ON THERE BUDDY - give me a GOOOOOOD reason why I need to be cut open and fileted like a fish!

WHY DO WE GO ALONG WITH THIS???????

HOW DO WE CHANGE IT????

“The church is not made up of spiritual giants; only broken men can lead others to the cross.” 
David J. Bosch, A Spirituality of the Road

April 25, 2008
I spent the day with Jenny yesterday. 

We did about 300 retakes (ok, it felt like 300) of the video that we are doing with the EMS of Virginia about homebirth midwifery.  We had fun - a great day actually.

The weather was gorgeous, we were able to watch homebirth videos (over and over) and then we were able to talk about what we do and who we are! This is going to touch so many lives!  I am really excited about this project but today, I AM EXHAUSTED!

And when I was born, I began to breathe the common air,
and fell upon the kindred earth;
my first sound was a cry, as is true of all.
- Bible, Wisdom of Solomon (Apocrypha)
(ch. VII, v. 3)

April 3, 2008
Two births in ten hours!  We are so blessed to have two midwives who can help each other out...
While I was helping one family, Jenny was helping another.
WHAT A BLESSING IT IS TO HAVE TWO MIDWIVES!
We were not sleep deprived, hungry or grouchy –we were both well rested and showed up with all of our neurons firing.

Before Jenny, this would have been the scenario:

I would have helped deliver baby A,
been dealing with some issues,
gotten paged,
started stressing about finishing at birth A so that I could get to birth B, gone to birth B (while making a pitstop at 7-11 for Diet Dr Pepper and a hotdog),
gotten to birth B which is 27 miles from Birth A (still worrying about birth A and thinking through all the things I need to do for Birth A on the next day – when am I going to get that tub drained and cleaned and packed, when am I going to do a postpartum visit on the other family, I wonder if my own kids have eaten and knowing that I REALLY shouldn’t have eaten that hotdog!)…
by that point it is early morning of the next day and I am completely exhausted and running on pure caffeine and going as hard as I can to be everything the second family needs, my brain has to keep firing at top speed, my mind has to think ahead 3 steps and I still have to remain a nurturer and comforter.
Baby B comes a little before 3 am – I have now been awake for 24 solid hours, I am beat.
I take care of the mom and baby
Examine mom and baby
Start the second tub draining (wondering if the first tub has finished)
Declare everyone well and fit
Pack my bags to head home
It is now around 7 am of the second day…I have been awake for 28 hours, I am beyond beat.
Face the rush hour traffic
Stay awake on the drive home…caffeine is no longer working..Thank God it is a cold day because shivering works!
Get home just in time for my six kids to roll out of bed and want breakfast.
Fall asleep at 10 am…for one hour because then it is lunchtime and the tribe wants to eat again..I have been awake for 31 hours…
Do a postpartum appointment on family A around 4pm
Come home, call for Chinese food, pass out
I have been awake for 40 hours with one hour of sleep.
That is what the world before Jenny was like!  I am so THANKFUL for her and you all should be too!!!

 “Birth is the sudden opening of a window, through which you look out upon a stupendous prospect. For what has happened? A miracle. You have exchanged nothing for the possibility of everything.” - William MacNeile Dixon

March 18, 2008
I got up too early this morning...there was nothing on TV - of course I could have done the ironing but WHY would i want to do that????
SOOOOO I watched the History Channel.  Did you know that 16 women qualified for the Mercury Astronaut program...BUT they didn't get to participate because they were WOMEN!  They actually tested better in some categories than the men did but, alas...they had vaginas.
ARGH!
jeni

March 17, 2008
We Irish Danced at CHKD today.  After all the fuss, the makeup, the hour of doing hair and wigs...it was WORTH every moment to see the look on the little girl who was wheeled to the lobby to watch.  (there were other kids but this one little girl was just caught up in it).  She had burns on her hands, face and torso.  She was so uncomfortable and kept having her nurse reposition her pillows and her body.  She finally had the nurses move her to the sofa to lay down...then move her to sit up...then move her back to her chair.  BUT she didn't want to leave.  She kept asking us to dance one more dance.  The kids had been dancing for half an hour and they were tired but they never even blinked an eye.  They would have danced all day long for this little girl.  We finally told her goodbye after MANY "one more dances" and the kids talked about her all the way home - how they would pray for her and make her a card.  I am so proud of our kids.  From the 16 year olds down to the 3 year olds...THEY GOT IT!  THEY REALLY GOT IT - what we do on this Earth is NOT about us!  They made life better for a little girl yesterday and it was worth everything we went through to get there and we will all do it again!
jeni

"Medical birthing knowledge is based on absurd observations of women attempting to give birth in cages."
- Leilah McCracken

March 4, 2008
It makes me crazy the way women are treated in this day and age!! Isn't this 2008?  WHY do women ALLOW themselves to be treated this way?