Cincinatti, San Francisco, Flagstaff, Gainsville, Omaha, Phoenix...

BOLD kicks off this weekend in all of these cities!!

I thought I'd share with you a letter I wrote this week to the BOLD 2008 communities.

As Labor Day approaches I am getting yet again that BOLD feeling in my hands, feet and stomach. It's not always comfortable – actually some days I feel like I want it to go away, that groundless feeling of going into the unknown – and then suddenly I realize why I'm doing this BOLD work, why I'm feeding my kids too much pizza this summer, not listening to my husband when he's talking to me because I'm in "BOLD mode. It's because of a dream. (And how appropriate to dream this week, the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream Speech").

After I gave birth to my son in 1999 I couldn't believe the number of mothers – low risk like me and educated – who had bad birth
experiences. Not just bad – I'm talking traumatic. It made no sense to me. The character Lisa in the play was a woman I met through a
playgroup friend who had just moved to Little Rock with her husband
and young son back in 2001. Lisa was quiet and reserved around the
playgroup moms at first, her eyes tired and dark. Every day I'd see
her and we'd talk about mom things and I discovered how funny and
confident she was, but deep down I could see her sadness and knew she had a story to tell. We became friends for two years and only as she was leaving Little Rock with her family one evening at her farewell party she had heard I was interviewing mothers about their birth stories and she cornered me in a room and said, "I need to talk with you." She didn't want to do it in person so several months later I called her on the phone and she told me her birth story…she wept, I wept; she said she was still so angry and didn't know if she'd have another baby and I understood. I understood – after I had interviewed 118 new mothers – that she is not alone. And that in order for maternity care to change we had to start telling the birth stories of mothers to tell the truth about childbirth.

My dream was that all people would know this truth and get so fired
up – not angry but inspired – to make childbirth center around the
woman, not the insurance companies or drug companies or hospitals.
Birth today is a justice issue, human rights issue, women's rights
issue…whatever you want to call it. And you are all a part of it. A
part of my dream – now our dream. And I thank you. I thank you for
being BOLD, for doing something that puts you, your kids and your
families over the edge for a few months this year because you know
deep down that it's right. It's a dream we must make happen.

On the eve of over 100 BOLD performances next month I encourage all of you to take a deep breath, remember the dream and then go for it – for mothers, babies and future generations.

The time is now to be BOLD.

Warmly,
Karen

I hope you'll come dream with us!!

Mein Körper ROCKT!

Just got the German translation of the play for a production in Vienna next year. What were the first lines I searched for? Amanda's passionate "My Body ROCKS!" mantra at the end of Act One.

Here it is...My Body ROCKS in German...

Mein Körper ROCKT!

Syvia, the BOLD organizer in Austria, wrote to me in an email that she stayed up every night for several months translating the play each night after her one and four year old went to bed. That's how badly she wants to bring this play - this movement of change in maternity care - to Austrian women.

Now that's BOLD!

Trickle up

While I don't get into publically endorsing candidates for president, after I watched Barack Obama's speech last night there was something he said that directly related to the BOLD movement that I feel is important - no, critical - for people to get.

Now, I'm paraphrasing here...

He said for real effective change to happen it MUST come from the ground up. From the people. Not the top down.

This is what BOLD is all about. It's about the notion that people can effect change, that people can say "I want safe birth choices available in every part of the globe that work for mothers - not just in some place - and I won't stop making noise until I see it happen",that every person in the community matters, has a story, and that their story should be heard.

This is the way towards long term, effective change. This is the kind of BOLDness I'm talking about!

Feeling the love...

Yes, MORE praise from Dr. Christiane Northrup. In her newsletter this month this is what she said about BOLD"

BOLD (formerly Birth On Labor Day) is entering into their third season for the play Birth, written by Karen Brody, with performances throughout the month of September. I had the pleasure of seeing Birth on Labor Day in New York City a few years ago. It’s funny, moving, inspiring, and eye-opening. Birth does for childbirth what the Vagina Monologues did for pelvic health.

That last line is my favorite!

"Birth" Labor of Love

I just arrived in San Francisco yesterday to attend their performance this weekend and was greeted with this piece in the San Francisco Examiner:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/Birth_a_labor_of_love.html

BOLD Greensboro...waahoo!

BOLD organizer Lacey Grim just sent me this photo of the BOLD Greensboro, North Carolina cast. I just love it that more and more productions are bringing in BOLD men to play parts in the play. Waa-hoo!

Their performances are taking play September 6 and 7th.

My friend Mary

In a few days I'm about to fly out to San Francisco for BOLD San Francisco's performance of my play on Labor Day weekend. A special friend of mine, Mary Kroeger, has a daughter who is involved in the BOLD San Francisco production and that got me thinking about Mary...a midwife, mother, grandmother, and birth champion.

When I wrote BIRTH I would drop my children at school in the mornings, write for 2-3 hours, take a walk with Mary, and then go pick my children up and go to the park (sometimes the park across the street from Mary and she'd join us). Mary, a woman who was always busy and traveling around the world helping mothers and training midwives, had just received news that she had ovarian cancer. Suddenly, a woman bustling with energy and life, with a deep passionate commitment to mothers and babies globally, was confined to her home for chemo treatments. Many days she had little energy to go much further than a 15 minute walk.

The irony of life is that while Mary's life was ending and she couldn't physically be attending births she was very much still being a midwife, assisting me in giving birth to the play. Mary used the word "jazzed" alot. She was so jazzed about the play and the themes in each woman's story that during our brief walks she seems to forget about her daily pain. Instead she was filled with the passion that lead her for most of her life - breastfeeding, activism, women's issues, and, of course, birth. We'd walk and I'd read her what I had wrote that morning. She was a tough critic, many times telling me, "Get rid of that - pregnant women never say that," or (about the first poster of the play) "No, Karen, you've got it all wrong - why not show a woman's entire body, not just her pregnant belly? Her whole body matters - not just the baby!" These are the moments I remember and cherished most about Mary.

We actually shared a similar profession in a way - she too had just become a published writer. Her book, a true labor of love and enormous contribution to the fields of birth and breastfeeding called, Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding, had just been published. Like everything Mary did, the book shows what a cutting edge thinker she was.

I had always hoped Mary would be able to see the play, but when December 13, 2004 rolled around - the play's first staged reading - Mary was too sick. She couldn't talk, instead blowing me a kiss. The next day she went into a coma and the day after she died. Birth...and death.

So today I want to remember and honor Mary Kroeger. The play was written in memory of her...and as it is done in so many communities in the coming month I know she'd be jazzed.

BOLD Phoenix...

BOLD Phoenix sent me their poster and I wanted to share it with you.

Love it!

Countdown to BOLD 2008: BOLD Gainsville, Florida

BOLD Gainsville in Florida is rockin' along.. here's an update BOLD organizer Heddy Vernon sent to me today:

BOLD Gainesville recently adopted the motto "Empower, Support, Educate!". It was a slow beginning for us. There were numerous times when we were tempted to throw our hands up and say, 'We'll try again next year'. We lost countless hours of sleep, cast members, couldn't find a director, had no idea what we were doing and felt like we had no qualifications, aside from being super-moms, to pull off an event like this. But, we decided that even if we had a read-through of the script at a coffeehouse that would be okay. We let go of the outcome. Our families and friends were our first great supporters. Our beneficiary, ICAN of Gainesville, took over our fundrasing and sponsorship committee and has rocked! Since then we have developed support from the local midwives, alternative health services, practitioners and believers. We have also been trying to integrate the more traditional medical practitioners in our area to attend and support our BOLD event. That was one of our main objectives at the beginning, but it's funny how things are supposed to be if you let them. People have been connecting through the planning of our event and we have seen a network of support and education spreading through our community. It's a really magical feeling. We have secured Jennie Joseph, Shannon Mitchell and other local professionals for our talkback panel. We have musicians, services, belly dancers and food vendors scheduled for our birth fair. The BOLD red tent is set to be a nurturing place for women to gather, support, and share. With only 10 days until our event we really feel the 'snowball' effect happening. We now walk into a place and they have already heard of the event. We are getting amazing support from the local community and have gained confidence that this event is going to rock!



For more info on BOLD Gainesville - please visit www.gainesvillecreativekids.com/bold



First photo - rehearsal of Act 2, Scene 12 in the play

Second photo:- BOLD Gainesville cast!

Back row: Janese Nix 'Janet', Mary Rainer 'Jillian', Heddy Vernon 'Director', Katie Kirkpatrick 'Sandy', Naomi Whiteley 'Amanda'

Front row: L'Tanya Van Hamersveld 'Lisa', Jenny Hill 'Natalie', Joy Steiner 'Vanessa', Jessica Charapata 'Beth

The Big Push for Midwives

I just received the "PushAlert" from The Big Push for Midwives and all I can say is if we gave out BOLD awards they'd get one this year!

Check them out! http://www.thebigpushformidwives.org/

Countdown to BOLD 2008: The New Jersey Delivery Team!

Check out the cast and crew from BOLD New Jersey! And read an interview below with BOLD New Jersey director/producer Vivian Taormina - she's not a mother and felt compelled to be BOLD!

BACK row Left to Right:
LISA (Lorraine Stone, Eatontown), BETH (Marina Vrahnos, Plainsboro), JANET
(Randi Kervick, Ocean), SANDY (Donna Panarello, Red Bank), JILLIAN (Madelyne
Ryterband, Rumson), NATALIE (Patrice London, Plainfield)

FRONT row Left to Right:
Director and Producer Vivian Taormina (Long Branch), VANESSA (Anna Oleinik,
Asbury Park), AMANDA (Judy Osman, Fair Haven)


You decided to organize a BOLD performance in your community and you're not a mother. Why?

After seeing the New York City performance in 2007 I felt so moved and compelled to be able to bring this information to New Jersey. I had just finished performing in The Vagina Monologues and was all fired up. This was the next logical step - bring BIRTH!

BIRTH, to me, not being a mother and never having experienced childbirth, is about making choices, being informed and empowered. That's what moved me about BIRTH and I think will move others like myself after seeing the performance.

Being able to feel and be part of something real that IS making change! I feel like I am part of history in the making!


What fact has surprised you the most about childbirth today?
How, in my experience, it seems that few women get involved with their births and take responsibility for themselves during this time of their lives.

What rocks about your performance of the play Birth? What twists are you giving it?
At this very moment I am creating a "soundtrack", if you will, to be played over the post script that will hopefully leave the audience in a warm relaxed peaceful positive abyss, followed by some ROCKing music to get them motivated to be CHANGE, think CHANGE and act CHANGE setting up the TalkBack.

Favorite thing about being a BOLD organizer?
Am amazing online network of other BOLD organizers from all over the country that I have never met! Community is number one for me! And I feel like I have an extended family out there!! Support from those who believe in me to put this word out there - and finding those who want to do the same thereby extending my immediate community of wonderful people I would not have met otherwise!

Least favorite things about being a BOLD organizer?
WOW! If you are BOLD aren't even the "worst" things supposed to be awesome!? Putting pressure on myself, and FEELING it like I'm about to explode, to make it the best possible and feeling totally overwhelmed as both director and producer!

What book(s) are you reading now?
Am I supposed to be reading a book? Other than the Birth script over and over again?!?! Well Sometimes I get my feet up and am starting at the beginning of "Healing Love Through the Tao: Cultivating Female Sexual Energy" & "Iron Shirt Chi Kung", both by Mantak Chia

Do you want to have a baby some day?
BIRTH is my baby!

What kind of birth do you think you'd chose?
Water birth sounds amazing! I love the water to begin with - especially the sea. I have always wanted to "breathe" underwater, so to be able to pass that opportunity to a baby would be my choice.


BOLD New Jersey performances will take place September 5,6,7 at the Middletown Cultural Arts Center. For more info click here.

Nowhere to escape

I’m reading a lot of Pema Chodron right now and I’m finding so much of what she says relevant to the emotional lives of birthing women today. She says:

“If we commit ourselves to staying right where we are, then our experience becomes very vivid. Things become very clear when there is nowhere to escape.”

This is the BOLDness I'm hoping mothers get. If you commit yourself to staying right where you are throughout your birth your experience will become very vivid (your whole body will feel alive!). At a certain point in every drug-free birth there is the “nowhere to escape” moment – and what most women find when they enter this zone is that all their story lines stop, all the“I don’t have a high pain tolerance” stories and “My mother had a horrible birth so so will I” stories cease. Women become more heart-based and receptive - receptive to doing what it takes to give birth.

Moms...Take The Birth Survey!

The Birth Survey is now available throughout the United States! If you're a mother who has given birth in the United States in the last three years fill out the Survey! Be BOLD and do it now! Have your voice heard...

For more info go to http://www.thebirthsurvey.com

Celebrity Homebirthers

If you need celebrity clout to convince you (or friends and family) that homebirth is safe here it is. I did an internet search for "celebrity homebirth" this morning and here are some of the names I found:

Meryl Streep
Demi Moore
Cindy Crawford
Pamela Anderson
Charlotte Church
Kelly Preston
...and of course Ricki Lake!

And I hear Minnie Driver is about to give birth at home too.

Philadelphia birth scene, oh my...

I'm speaking at the BOLD Philadephia performance next month and about to do an internet radio show in Philly tomorrow so I was reading a bit more about the birth scene there. Oh my...

Here's one thing I learned:

Fourteen maternity units in the Philadelphia area have closed their doors in the past a decade.

Fourteen!

Apparently Philadelphia seems to be a heavy malpracitce lawsuit area which contributed to the closings. Also I'm told there was a recent merger of major health insurance providers.

We can all do the math. Fewer maternity care units equals lower quality of care in hospitals.

Our BOLD Philadelphia organizer (who is not from Philly) shared this with me:

In the Childbirth at a Crossroads report there is a story about a woman who made a prenatal appointment as soon as she found out she was pregnant at a free clinic and her first appointment was pushed so far back that she was eight months pregnant for her first appointment.

Yikes...having just spent 18 hours in triage at a hospital with a middle income woman in labor who couldn't get herself a room due to overcrowding I can only imagine when maternity care units are closing down what conditions all women, but especially low income women, have to deal with.

Oh my....while I don't think a hospital is the best place for a low risk woman to give birth what I do know is that we need hospitals to service women in labor...and 14 maternity care units closing in 10 years makes my heart sink for the women of Philadelphia.

The play is now available online!

My play is now available in paperback! But wait...it's not just the play...it's the play, a passionate foreword by Dr. Christiane Northrup, an intro and commentary from me and emails and stories from BOLD communities on how the play has impacted their birth communities. Yes, this book ROCKS!

You can purchase it direct from the publisher:
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~51149.aspx

Or at online booksellers like:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Birth/Karen-Brody/e/9781434377418/?itm=1

Or hold off and buy it when you go see a performance of the play next month...profits will go to the beneficiary for that night's performance (many locations will have books, but not all so check first).

I'll be signing copies of the book in San Francisco, New Jersey, Philly, and Seattle during BOLD 2008. Hope to see you there!

Buy the official BOLD 2008 t-shirt!

Yes, the BOLD 2008 official t-shirt with all our performance locations is both hip and groovy...

If you're not going to a BOLD performance next month buy one! Here's the link:

http://www.zazzle.com/bold_2008_cities_t_shirt-235312813357594337

If you are attending a BOLD performance and talkback (bravo!) hold off and buy the shirt at your show as proceeds go to the beneficiary of that show. (NOTE: not all BOLD locations will have tshirts...best to check!)

Time Magazine: Homebirth Back in Style

Time Magazine said it first - "old school birthing is back in style." In an article this week Time acknowledges the rising interest among women to birth at home. Why? A growing number of women are realizing that the hospital environment is "overkill," sees birth as an illness, labor as inherently dangerous and is not conducive to low risk labor and delivery. Yep, that about sums it up.

I remember Dr. Christiane Northrup declaring in BOLD's first year (2006) at a performance of my play in New York City that her advice to all low risk women who want a good birth experience would be: stay out of the hospital and give birth at home. She was quite direct that this is the only way for women to regain the power available to them through childbirth (see her fabulous "Prada bag" quote in the short BOLD film!).

Well it took two years from the time Northrup made her point, but it now seems women are beginning to get it. The movement to bring back homebirth is not to diss doctors and hospitals. They are necessary for high risk birth. But the homebirth trend, in my opinion, is happening because the medical model of care for pregnant women does not meet the needs of low risk women.

Perceptions of homebirth are completely nutty. When I was interviewing people for my play I asked every woman at the end of the interview to define what they thought a midwife was and here was the typical response: "A midwife is a woman in sandals (almost everyone said Birkenstocks!) who delivers babies in a field in Iowa."

Thanks to women who know better - I'm talking all the BOLD organizers organizing performances and BOLD Red Tents around the world and high profile people like Ricki Lake - women are beginning to see the truth that homebirth not only makes sense - it can be hip and groovy too.

New Mothers Speak Out

Childbirth Connection released their New Mothers Speak Out survey report this week, the third report in their Listening to Mothers series. Totally, completely reliable information from an organization who rocks BIG time when it comes to supporting mothers giving birth.

It's a must-read!

http://www.childbirthconnection.org/newmothersspeakout/

PTSD and birth? Listen up!

Hail to the Wall Street Journal! Yesterday they printed a story about the rising recognition that some mothers are experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to childbirth.

The first time I heard this mentioned was when reading Sheila Kitzinger's book, Birth Crisis and it made so much sense.

Read the article. And if you're a mother who has experienced birth trauma I encourage you to get connected to a great organization - Solace for Mothers (www.solaceformothers.org). Help is out there.

Here's the link to the piece:

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121789883018612223.html?mod=2_1566_le

The best community - ever

My friend's husband called last night and jokingly said he plans to erect a statue of me as a thank you for my support since the birth of their baby. What did I do? I did what just about any doula and midwife in the world would do: provide a compassionate listening ear, got them connected to the resources and support to take care of their baby, and trusted that they had everything inside of them to be able to take care of their baby.

This weekend, the day they got home from the hospital, they experienced a scenario so many new parents face: baby crying, mom crying, dad exhausted and not knowing who to comfort first. It was quite a drama when they called me, with the dad telling the mom he thought they should go get formula and the mother (who is in alot of pain from her c-section) instinctively feeling this is wrong but in so much pain she can't think straight.

So what did I do? I first encouraged them to all calm down (it's a vicious cycle - baby cries, parents get upset, baby cries...)and then promised them that they are not alone and that help - super, fabulous help in the form of a lactation consultant and post partum doula - is available to them. To me, the biggest reason I hear from mothers on why they did not breastfeed is that the baby wasn't getting enough. When I ask if they brought help in to assist them 75% of the time I am told no. No!

The biggest secret right now that new mothers need to know is that help is out there.

So Saturday night I put an email out on a doula listserv in their area and by the next morning a wonderful woman named Ina showed up at their home - ready, willing and able to help them sort out the kinks in their new relationship with their baby. Ina spent the day with them, teaching them what a good latch on is for optimum breastfeeding, explaining their baby's poops and pees and what to look for and teaching them what she called a "Newborn fluency." I didn't know about Ina before yesterday, but after hearing my friends rave about her and checking out her website (www.clearbirth.com) I am overwhelmed with gratitude that a person like this exists for mothers and babies. And super impressed by what she and her partners have to offer.

There are many special birth professionals in communities all over the world. My friend's birth has been a great reminder to me that the birth community is the best community ever - dedicated, loving, and ready to serve new mothers. I'm in tears just thinking about it...that a new mother needed help Saturday night and by Sunday morning a woman showed up at her home to help. This is what birth should be...and it does exist.

The best thing a new mom or you can do for a new mom is to connect her to the birth community in her area. (Google doulas in (your area) or postpartum doulas or lactation consultants).

Birth is a lost art in our culture...but their is a community is keeping it alive.