Rally to Support HB 1202 - Certified Professional Midwife Pilot Program

What a great day for a rally! The sun was shining, the babies were cooing and tons of people turned out to support licensing CPMs in Maryland. I was so excited to see my own midwife there (I think I need to have more babies just so I get to hang out with her more often!) and many other friends and fellow home birth mamas!

Lucy with the first of several buttons she swiped during the event

Super cute lil home birth baby, totally oblivious to her awesome sign

Delegate Kelly with some home birth families

 

Lucy hiding behind her well-stickered sign

 

 

I never saw Thing 1, but I assume she was somewhere close

 

 

 

I tried so hard not to photograph any of the dozens of Amish who where there, but there are their legs

 

Beautiful day for a rally!

 

Lucy spent a lot of time wandering around in circles and dancing to her own private music

 

Wonderful speech by Claudia Booker, CPM

 

 

I thought this baby was a sweater.

 

I accidentally got some Amish faces in this one.

 

New friends, impromptu play date

 

 

 

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Support the Push to Legalize Certified Professional Midwives in Maryland

Tomorrow is a big day for supporters of CPMs in Maryland. There is a rally in Annapolis in support of HB 1202- Certified Professional Midwife Pilot Program, the bill that would allow CPMs to practice legally in Maryland. Currently it is a felony for CPMs to practice midwifery in Maryland. Crazy.

I am pretty excited to be able to go support CPMs generally, and specifically two of my friends who are CPMs. One of them was a student midwife at the birth of my son, and she asked me if I would write a short speeches give at the rally. Here is my speech! Feedback welcome!

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Hello! My name is Jenny Corbett and I gave birth to both my children at home under the care of two wonderful Certified Nurse Midwives. I chose a midwife because, like most midwives, I believe in the power and wisdom of the human body. I believe that pregnancy and birth are normal, natural processes, not illnesses to be treated. We chose a home birth because - besides the evidence that indicates home birth is safe for healthy, low-risk mothers - we could think of no better place to bring a new life into our family than in our own home. I am so glad I did because my daughter's birth was long. Really long. I feel pretty sure that if I had been in the hospital it would have turned into if not a c-section, then a highly medicalized event, all because she was a little bit cock-eyed and taking her own sweet time. But I was fine and the baby was fine, so instead of interfering, since , my midwives allowed the process to unfold. My daughter was born safely and peacefully in our family room. At my son's (considerably quicker) birth, I was fortunate to have a student CPM attending me and I experienced first hand the caring expertise she can offer to all the women she serves.

One of my most vivid, and treasured, memories from the day my son was born happened while I was in transition. I know, not a lot of women have treasured memories from transition, but I can honestly say I do. With my permission, the student midwife had brought her three month old son with her to my birth. I was working my way through another seemingly endless, extremely challenging contraction, with my head low and my eyes closed. When it was over, I opened my eyes to see that she had put the baby in the bumbo seat right in front of the birth pool where I was laboring. There he was, smiling, cooing, shaking his little fists in the air as if to say "Way to go, Jenny! You can do it!" It gave me the extra motivation I needed to get through that last 45 minutes before I welcomed my own son. This is not the kind of birth you can have in the hospital.

I feel so lucky, and even blessed, to live in an area served by such dedicated, skilled and loving home birth professionals. But I am one of the lucky ones. In much of Maryland, there are no legal midwives attending home births so women who want to give birth at home are forced to use underground midwives or give birth unassisted. In our area, the home birth practices are full to bursting and these midwives are forced to turn away many more women than they can possibly serve each month. This is so unfortunate because home birth is not a trend. It is not a fad. Home birth is a legitimate, safe choice that EVERY women in Maryland should be able to make, not just the lucky few. The only way to make this a reality it to license Certified Professional Midwives and allow them to legally practice midwifery in our state. Maryland is a state that has proven time and again that it values and protects the basic rights of its citizens. Being able to choose where and with whom you give birth is a basic human right.

Please support the Certified Professional Midwife Pilot Program. Let's bring birth home.

 

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Following A New Path

I wanted to be an actor as long as I can remember. In grade school, I wanted to act. In middle school, I wanted to act. In high school, I wanted to act. I was voted Most Talented in my graduating class. I got a theatre scholarship in college. I paid my way through college working in the costume shop, performing Shakespeare, musicals, Tennessee Williams, learning acting techniques, honing my musical skills, rehearsing, writing, performing, performing, performing. It was my life. Has been my life for many years. And to be perfectly honest, I never felt...whole. I never really felt I was on the right path. I was on a fun path. An artistic path. A path where people either told me I was amazing and beautiful, or ten pounds too heavy and a little pitchy. But lately I've been on stage singing, making people laugh, the audience thrilled, thunderous applause, standing ovation in the offing, and I am thinking "...meh..."

So something has obviously changed. And I know what it is. I gave birth. I had kids and it opened my eyes to the fact that I just don't really have the passion for the theatre that a life's calling should have. I enjoy it. It makes me happy and brings happiness to others. But I don't need it.

So after figuring this piece of puzzle out, I have spent the last year or so trying to figure out what I do want to be doing with my life. I can't stay home full time, we need a second income, and frankly, I need adult conversation occasionally. We are both members of a comedy troupe, and I teach kids yoga, both of which are by turns incredibly frustrating and very rewarding. But I have been feeling rudderless since admitting that my passion for the theatre is in truth just an enjoyable pastime.

Then there was this friend. She was having her third baby. Her first two were c-sections and she wanted desperately to have a VBAC. I recently had my second home birth, and I could almost taste the envy in her voice when we talked about it. We talked a lot about her desire for a VBAC, her doctor's back peddling on "allowing" her to give it a try. I encouraged her to keep being firm when she talked to him and - as long as it wasn't a safety issue - to insist on at least trying to have her VBAC. I was very upset that she had to fight so hard to get a shot at what should have been the most natural thing in the world. I really wanted her to have her chance, and I told her all the things I had read about birth, about VBAC, about her amazing powerful body, that she could do it. And she did. She got her VBAC. She held her baby in her arms after using her own power to bring that baby into the world. She told the doctor "I told you I could do it." She told me "I just kept hearing your voice in my head saying that my body knew just what to do, and that I could do it."

And in that moment, I realized that I want to be that voice. I want to be the hand that gives comfort and reassurance when things get hard during a birth. I want to be with mamas as they labor and birth and tell them they can do it. I want to help women get the birth that they desire. Because birth isn't just about making babies. A mother is born every time a baby is, and feeling listened to and powerful when you give birth makes a mother who trusts herself and is sure of her own inner strength.

I am going to be a doula.

 

Posted with Blogsy