Some client quotes

Got word of these client quotes today and thought I'd share!

"I'm calling to say thank you for all your help. I have had two births - one bad experience with a c-section and one good experience having a VBAC, (Open Arms) doula and midwives."

"The referral from you (Open Arms) to Birth and Beyond for breastfeeding help was awesome and I am breastfeeding successfully with everyone's support."

"Because of the support my (Open Arms) doula gave me, I have decided to take the Labor Support Course to become a doula myself!"

Fabulous - one client with a happy memory of her birth, one successfully breastfeeding after a referral and one woman in a new profession! Exciting news, and all in a day's work at Open Arms!

Looking for Midwives for Haiti

This was sent to me by one of our board members, Geoff Miller. Perhaps some of you out there know someone who is interested. This is not related to Open Arms directly - more of a public service announcement! Here you go.

Yayasan Bumi Sehat is looking for midwives to volunteer to work in our new clinic in Jacmel, Haiti. To download our application please visit www.bumisehatbali.org and click on the Haiti tab.

Jacmel, Haiti: Bumi Sehat- Haiti has established a birth center to serve birthing women and children in Jacmel, Haiti. Bumi Sehat-Haiti will follow the midwifery model in the care we offer to our mothers. Our focus as an international NGO is to support maternal & child health and survival. Founded in 1995, Yayasan Bumi Sehat (Healthy Mother Earth Foundation) is a non-profit, village-based organization of dedicated families, midwives, doctors, nurses, teachers and volunteers from countries around the world. Bumi Sehat currently runs two by-donation community health centers in Bali and Aceh, Indonesia that provide over 23,000 health consultations for both children and adults per year. On January 18, 2010 in Jacmel, Haiti, in response to the devastating earth quake that destroyed 60-80% of Jacmel, Bumi Sehat-Haiti “La Femme” Birth Center was born and is our newest baby!

Our Mission: Our passion is to see a reduction in maternal and child morbidity and mortality, and, to support the health and wise development of communities. Toward this goal, we provide general health services, emergency care, prenatal, postpartum, birth services and breastfeeding support, in addition to education and environmental programs. Yayasan Bumi Sehat Haiti is devoted to working in partnership with Haitian people to improve quality of life and to improve peace among the people.

Volunteers: We are looking for volunteers who can give at least 3 weeks or more of their time to Bumi Sehat in Jacmel. Due to the difficulty in transportation in and out of Haiti this required minimum time is a must. Please do not apply if you can’t provide this length of time and don’t have the following.

Requirements:

• Licensed Midwife-CPM, CNM, Direct Entry, Traditional Midwife
• 5 years minimum practicing midwifery
• Caught at least 50 babies in the last 24 months
• Willing to be creative and innovative
• Willing to pay their own way to and from Haiti.

Students: We are not accepting applications for students at this time however are in the process to create an internship program. More details will follow in the months to come.

February 19, 2010 OCHA Situation Report

Health NGOs - The Ministry of Health has asked that NGOs not send health teams to Haiti unless they are able to stay at least 1-3 months. This is a result of the innumerable groups that have been coming down to help for a week or two at a time, which is not really enough time to determine the most effective way to plug into the larger assistance picture.

Please visit http://www.bumisehathaiti.org/ to download our application under our Haiti tab.

Unanimous Vote On Shackling

I'm a little late in reading my emails but I see that on February 13, the House voted unanimously to ban shackling pregnant inmates while they’re giving birth.

House Bill 2747, proposed by Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, also outlaws shackling women during postpartum recovery and restricts how they are restrained during the third trimester of pregnancy.

On to the Senate!

Read about it here.

More on Postpartum Depression

I was looking back at the ACOG link on Ob-Gyns Encouraged to Screen Women for Depression During and After Pregnancy from my last post, and wanted to call out this paragraph because I think it's worth repeating.

Clinical depression is common among reproductive-age women and is the leading cause of disability in women in the US each year. Between 14%-23% of pregnant women will experience depression symptoms during pregnancy and an estimated 5%-25% of women will have postpartum depression. Studies have shown that untreated maternal depression negatively affects an infant's cognitive, neurologic, and motor skill development. A mother's untreated depression can also negatively impact older children's mental health and behavior. During pregnancy, depression can lead to preeclampsia, preterm delivery, and low birth weight.

There's an interesting article here that I came across on Prenatal Memory and Learning that contains this information:

Studies of a thousand babies whose mothers had experienced various degrees of depression during pregnancy themselves displayed depression at birth and in proportion to the depression scores of their mothers.

Wow.