The Witch hunt is Gathering Steam and $$$

CONTACT: Steff Hedenkamp, (816) 506-4630, RedQuill@kc. rr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Monday, June 16, 2008

Father Knows Best Meets Big Brother Is Watching

Physician Group Seeks to Outlaw Home Birth—Is Jail for Moms Next?
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 16, 2008)—Just in time for Father's Day, at its annual meeting last weekend, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted a resolution to introduce legislation outlawing home birth, and potentially making criminals of the mothers who choose home birth with the help of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) for their families.

"It's unclear what penalties the AMA will seek to impose on women who choose to give birth at home, either for religious, cultural or financial reasons—or just because they didn't make it to the hospital in time," said Susan Jenkins, Legal Counsel for The Big Push for Midwives 2008 campaign. "What we do know, however, is that any state that enacts such a law will immediately find itself in court, since a law dictating where a woman must give birth would be a clear violation of fundamental rights to privacy and other freedoms currently protected by the U.S. Constitution.

"Until the AMA proposed 'Resolution 205 on Home Deliveries,' no state had considered legislation forcing women to deliver their babies in the hospital or limiting the choice of birth setting. Instead, states have regulated the types of midwives that may legally provide care. Currently, 22 states already license and regulate CPMs, who specialize in out-of-hospital maternity care and have received extensive training to qualify as experts in the types of risk assessment and preventive care necessary for safe and high-quality care for women who choose give birth at home. Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs), who are trained primarily as hospital-based providers, are licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The resolution did not offer any science-based information for the AMA's anti-midwife or anti-home birth position.

"Maternity care is a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States," said Steff Hedenkamp, communications Coordinator for The Big Push for Midwives. "So it's no surprise to see the AMA join the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in its ongoing fight to corner the market and ensure that the only midwives able to practice legally are hospital-based midwives forced to practice under physician control. I will say, though, that I'm shocked to learn that the AMA is taking this turf battle to the next level by setting the stage for outlawing home birth itself—a direct attack on those families who choose home birth, who could be subject to criminal prosecution if the AMA has its way."

The Big Push for Midwives (
http://www.TheBigPushforMidwives. org) is a nationally coordinated campaign organized to advocate for regulation and licensure of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and to push back against the attempts of the American Medical Association to deny American families access to safe and legal midwifery care.


Media inquiries should be directed to Steff Hedenkamp (816) 506-4630
RedQuill@kc. rr.com

© 2008 The Big Push for Midwives Campaign. All rights reserved. The Big Push for Midwives is fiscally sponsored by Sustainable Markets Foundation, a not-for-profit organization recognized as tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3). Our mission is to build winning, state-of-the- art advocacy campaigns towards successful regulation and licensure of Certified Professional
Midwives (CPMs).

The Big Push for Midwives Campaign | www.TheBigPushforMidwives.org
80 Broad Street, Suite 1600, New York, NY 10004-2248 | 2300 M
Street, N.W., Suite 800,Washington, D.C. 20037-1434

Where is my bed?

This was the last week of school for my daughter and I had every intention of being a good parent and getting her great teacher a parting gift, so to speak. But here it is Thursday, and the last day of school and I haven't been able to even get my daughter to school, let alone get a present.

Something happened with the weather this week. I know a lot of people say that babies come with full moons, but it's always been my experience that babies come in droves when there's a big switch in weather. It had been hot and steamy for the last few weeks. Then we had a night of big thunderstorms Monday, followed by a cold front.

Tuesday morning I got a call from one client who was in early labor. I found a ride for my daughter to get to school and went to this woman's house. Hung out for a few hours but determined that it really was early labor and I couldn't spend the day watching movies with her kids while she slept and labored. Had a fairly normal afternoon. Got called back to the client's house just as I was sitting down to dinner around 6pm. Wolfed down my food and drove to her house to find her in a good active labor. Around 8pm I got a call from another client due at the end of the month telling me she was having mild, but regular contractions. I told her to call back if things picked up,etc.
At any rate, the original laborer had her baby just before midnight. A lovely, sweet waterbirth to a mama who had two previous cesareans. It was the most straight-forward, natural progressing labor I've seen in a while. We finished up with postpartum stuff and were just about to walk out the door around 3:45am when I got a call from a different client (never did hear back from the mild contractions lady that night).
This woman had a questionable ultrasound of July 7th and she was calling to tell me her water just broke. She also had huge scare tactics from her OB about her borderline gestational diabetes (from a stupid glucose test that put her 8 points past the norm) the day before. We had been spending a lot of time for the past 2 weeks discussing what she needed to "do" (nothing but eat well like she did anyway) about this diagnosis. And here she was calling me to tell me her water broke the same morning the OB wanted a second GTT. (Her Ob told her she'd grow a huge baby and that they should just plan a cesarean.)
So I went from one birth to another woman just as I was dreaming of going to bed. The broken water lady was having a few mild contractions and baby sounded great so I told her to sleep and call me if things changed. I got home, showered and was in bed by 4:30am with my alarm set for 7am. Thankfully my husband got to opt out of work so he was able to get my daughter and her friend to school so I could sleep a little more. My client called me at 8am so I could listen to the baby again. So up and at em. At her house by 8:45. A few more contractions, but early labor.
Came home and slept one more hour.
Got up and did various household stuff. Had a prenatal that evening and then went back to check on the broken water woman. Arrived around 7:30pm to find her contracting every 5-6 minutes. So I stayed. She didn't need much in the way of labor support, but also didn't want me to leave her side. So I did a lot of sitting up on the floor with my eyes closed in between contractions, having my head flop forward as I fell asleep and caught myself before a fall!
Another beautiful, straight-forward labor. Baby born this morning at 8am. I got home by 12:30pm, went out to lunch with my family, and then went to bed at 2pm. Just woke up at 7pm feeling a lot less loopy.
I'm feeling old. I used to be able to miss a night of sleep and be pretty darn good. Two nights in a row kicks my butt. I'm sure there's some adrenal gland fun adding to the stress of not sleeping. Good thing I bought all that liquid gold Arbonne products to help me look a little less like a shrunken apple head doll.

That's it from me tonight. I've got a stack of emails to reply to, the deadline for the next Birth Project is Saturday and there's a lot of things I've not done for that. Oh, and isn't it Father's Day this weekend? Crap. I need to make it to the Farmer's Market Saturday. I'm getting my dad various frozen meats from local farmers. That's my answer to what to get the carnivore who has everything. Need to figure out a nice gift for my husband. He's been so awesome this week. Totally stepped up and took over all my mama duties with no fuss whatsoever. I love that man.

Now off to put children and self to bed.