Thankful for BOLD Nurses

On this week of thanks in the United States I wanted to acknowledge all the BOLD nurses out there in the world providing exceptional maternity care to moms...going out of their way to keep the labor and delivery rooms mother-friendly, saying encouraging words to pregnant moms, and believing that birth is normal and deserves to be honored and trusted!

I know you are out there, BOLD Nurses...often silently in the workplace doing valiant acts that pregnant mothers remember forever.

I was recently sent this list of 20 iconic nurses and want to share it with you.

http://www.nursingschools.net/blog/2010/11/20-iconic-nurses-every-nursing-student-should-study/

We must remember the brave, heroic nurses!

Believe in Birth. Your Body Rocks!

Mother's Advocate interviewed me and it came out today. Check it out!

http://mothersadvocate.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/believe-in-birth-your-body-rocks/

Watch a video teaser from BOLD Quebec's upcoming performance of "Birth"!

I'm just loving the cast and crew in BOLD Quebec's upcoming production on November 26th. Check them out in this teaser for "Naissance":

http://www.naissancequebec.com/3/post/2010/11/une-petite-minute-dans-la-vie-de-naissance.html

BOLD Women Rock the French Riveria!

Earlier this month "Naissance" (the french version of "Birth) was performed on the French Riveria. Here's what BOLD Organizer Frederique Horowitz told me:

"It was great, excellent, about 150 persons, lots of applause, and an interesting debate with local midwives. We've already been asked to perform again in Nice ...and other places in our area !!! What an experience, we all feel so uplifted, so gifted to have the chance to be part of it. THANK YOU for this incredible text, it goes straight to the point, and reaches all the viewers hearts ;-)))"

"My Body Rocks" stones are here moms!

OMG...the moment the "My Body Rocks" stones arrived at my house I knew mothers were going to flip for them. I'd been wanting to give mothers who take my My Body Rocks Workshops something they could keep after the workshop to remind them of the profound experience they just had at the workshop and encourage them to stay on a My Body Rocks journey. The stone is perfect! I immediately took three and placed one on my bedside table, another on my meditation alter and a third in my pocketbook. Last month I brought them to my workshop in Fernie, British Columbia and the women at the workshop loved them!

These stones are so fabulous that I decided for one-time every year I will make them available beyond my workshops - to all you "My Body Rocks" moms! It is the perfect touchstone for every mom - pregnant or not! Here's who has bought one so far:

- a woman bought it for her 8 week pregnant sister to hold during her pregnancy;
- a pregnant mom bought it to hold during her labor;
- a stressed-out mom bought it to hold whenever she needs a reminder to reconnect with her body.

These stones rock! (literally!). They are a great present for the holidays, mother blessings, birthdays. I can't wait for you (and your mom friends) to have one!

If you're a doula, midwife, childbirth educator you can order them at a bulk price. Inquire when you email!

Stones cost: $14.97 (plus shipping)

I am taking orders only once until Thanksgiving (November 25). Stones ship the first week in December.

Email: info@mybodyrocksproject.com and tell us how many you'd like, your name, address and phone number. We'll then email you an invoice and you can send a check or pay by credit card.

(NOTE: all stones look slightly different, they are natural stones so some have imperfections, but the above photo is a pretty good indicator of what it will look like!)

First, Speak No Evil: A Small Town Confronts Big Childbirth Issues

If there is one thing I’ve learned after writing a play about childbirth in America from the perspective of mothers it’s that the story is always right. Who can challenge a woman when she tells the story of how she gave birth? It’s her story, right?

No, says one-too-many medical professionals and lay audience people. Coercion in the labor and delivery room is not happening, women are misinterpreting casual comments made like “this baby is a big one” and blowing them way out of proportion, and if they are so traumatized after childbirth why are they not telling their doctors?

I had the privilege of traveling to Fernie, British Columbia in October to see two performances of my play “Birth” and witness first-hand the power and challenges of confronting big questions like these in a small town where everybody knows each other.

“We’re just on this panel because Tanya asked us,” a local family doctor who also performed in the play tells the audience.

Oh, really? You have no desire to provide the women of Fernie with more information about their birthing options and how to advocate for a better birth? Just think...how powerful are her words? And how - unintentionally - did they kick birthing women in their bellies?

Yes, listen up, words matter!

As the discussion unfolded this take one-step back from the situation and a “we don’t believe this can be happening to mothers” attitude pervaded. Granted, the Canadian system with all of its challenges is a more mother-friendly system than the United States. You just have to check out some of the progressive comments of their Obstetrician and Gynecological society (SOGC) like a recent statement that doctors should allow breech babies to be born vaginally to know that everything in my play, about American moms, won’t translate perfectly.

But despite "Birth" being a play about the experiences of American mothers I’ve found communities all over the world find quite a few common threads with their maternity care systems.

The most frequent similarity to the US system is all the disempowering comments care providers (and family members) say to pregnant women that discourage them from having a powerful, happy birth experience. A frequent comment from the medical community in Fernie after the first night’s performance at the talkback was “we don’t push epidurals on mothers”. The local mother population seemed to think otherwise. Telling a mother she ‘looks so tired’ and might want an epidural, it was suggested by several moms, is a form of coercion.

“That’s the point of this play,” one mother commented. “That the words said to mothers matter.”

No one wants to hear that pregnant mothers are being coerced, especially in a small town where the likelihood of your child becoming best friends with the local family doctor’s child is high. How do you confront the realities of mothers’ experiences and not hurt people’s feelings?

This challenge exists as much in urban settings as rural, but what I saw on my first night sitting on the panel after the play in the small town of Fernie was a clash between power and powerlessness in the faces of well-meaning people who have broken bread together enough times to consider themselves extended family. How do you tell your family they are abusing pregnant women; that words DO matter; that not coming together and fighting for an operating room to stay open all the time so pregnant mothers can have better birth options is denying superior maternity care to local mothers?

Standing up is a risk. You’re sure not the most popular girl in the room. In a small town, it could be social and financial suicide. After the first BOLD Talkback panel the following night BOLD Fernie Organizer, Tanya Malcolm, took the risk and stood up to people in her community who repeatedly said birthing conditions for mothers were not that bad in Fernie.

“Mothers in Fernie are not all getting the births they want,” she told the audience. “We need to tell mothers that they can do it. That their bodies rock. Not that they look tired and need an epidural. We need midwifery care here – not one hour away in Cranbrook.”

This was just the juice needed to rev the audience’s engine. Two mothers spoke up and said they would like to make it possible to bring midwifery care to Fernie. Another said she was not happy that the night before the two local doctors who deliver babies in town were not clear whether you could VBAC in the local hospital or not. What was their policy? Mothers needed to know.

I loved my visit to Fernie. It is a passionate, vibrant town. The community members know their bodies rock and want to trust their doctors who are also in many cases their friends. The doctors seem like compassionate, real people who care about pregnant women. So how do they move forward?

Perhaps it’s in the words of a family doctor in Fernie who after telling me that not everything in the play was the experience of pregnant mothers in Fernie she conceded: “But I get it, I get that listening to mothers stories are valid. And that sometimes when a woman is in labor I just need to listen."

Free Childbirth Teleseminar: What to Expect...The Unexpected, Of Course

My friend Angela finally got me to do it. After years of telling me to share my knowledge of childbirth she got me to commit to sharing all the secrets I've learned about what to expect when you give birth - information I've gathered from interviewing hundreds of mothers about their birth experiences to hearing from childbirth experts all over the world who have graced the talkback panels of BOLD productions of my play "Birth." I guess she's right, I know a thing or two about childbirth today. Why not share it?

Now I am, this month, November 19 I will be holding a FREE teleconference on what to expect when you're having a baby. Be prepared for "the unexpected" when you call in. I'm not holding back! I wrote my play "Birth" so mothers would know the truth about childbirth today, have their eyes wide open when they go into labor, and never say they didn't know their birth options. If you or someone you know is pregnant this free teleseminar is exactly the place to hear the truth about childbirth today. The secrets to a great birth are in my play and I'll be sharing these secrets with pregnant mothers on November 19.

The teleconference is going to rock! I hope you'll join me.

Click here for a link to sign up for the event.