Exhausted!
You may have noticed this site has gone a bit idle. Truth is between midwifery practice, my ongoing educational plans, my family commitments, and squeezing in real life social time, there is little time left to compose essays or even copy text to share here.
Until which time I can make a full-time contribution to the site, the plan is to let it stand as-is. If you or someone you know thinks this may be a good vehicle to talk midwifery, inquire within! 
A Southern California Doula Needs Your Help
No matter where you live you may have heard about the Christmas Eve massacre that left nine members of a Southern California family dead. Bruce Pardo arrived at the home of Joseph and Alicia Ortega, who were hosting their annual family party, dressed as Santa Claus. He was greeted at the door by doula Leticia Yuzefpolsky’s 8 year old daughter, whom he immediately shot in the face before opening fire on the rest of her family. Sylvia Ortega, recently divorced from Pardo, her parents Joseph and Alicia, her brother James Ortega Jr. and wife Sherry, brother Chares Ortega and wife Terry, and Alice Ortiz and her teen son Michael were all killed in the rampage. Before fleeing the family home he set it ablaze with a homemade device. Critically burned himself, he later committed suicide at the home of his own brother.
Leticia and her daughter are among the survivors of the rampage, however there are nine funerals to plan and 15 children left without one or both of their parents. The Doulas Association of Southern California is collecting funds to donate to the survivors, matching the first $1000. You can send your donations by mail to:
DASC - Supportive Doula Services
Leticia Fundraiser
6927 Rubio Ave.
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Or through Paypal.com to the vendor ID: treasurer@dascdoulas.org with “Leticia Fundraiser” in the services description area.
Additional funds are being collected at the office of Ortega family attorney Scott Nord:
500 North Brand Boulevard
Suite 550
Glendale, CA 91203
Links to the story:
Six Bodies Found in Ashes of Home Where Man in Santa Suit Opened Fire; Three Missing (preliminary report)
Chilling 911 Tape Released From ‘Santa’ Shooting
Concern grows for young survivors of Covina shooting victims
‘Santa’ Shooter Planned To Flee To Canada
UT: Economy leading more women to midwives
The Deseret News reports…
The slumping economy is becoming a factor in where some Utah women decide to give birth.
Licensed home-based midwives say they’ve seen a slight increase in business in part because their service tends to be less expensive than giving birth in a hospital.
“The fact (that) people are having a lot of financial troubles is causing people to look for alternatives,” said Suzanne Smith, a midwife who said she is taking more calls from people who are uninsured or have high deductibles.
Consulting appointments are also up at BellaNatal, a one-room birth suite in Orem run by Smith.
At the Birth and Family Place, a birth center in Holladay, the number of women touring the center who say they’re attracted by the price has risen to about one-third, according to medical director Rebecca McInnis.
“I don’t think it’s been that high before,” McInnis said.
A hospital-based birth can cost about $8,300, including about $6,000 on average for the hospital charge, according to 2006 estimates by the state health department. Deliveries at home or at a birthing center can be substantially less expensive.
Still, midwives said, cost is rarely the only factor in deciding to give birth at home or at a center. It typically only makes sense for women with low-risk pregnancies and for those willing to forgo epidurals and Caesarean sections. Women have to weigh the risks and benefits of giving birth outside of a hospital, they said.
“You really should be where you feel safe, where you feel good,” Smith said. “Nobody’s going to go to the cheapest place when it comes to the life of their baby.”
Paula Williams of Provo said she wanted to give birth at home with her second child. She said she was dissatisfied with the hospital birth of her first child. Cost was also a factor in considering the birth of her second. Williams, who doesn’t have insurance, delivered her son in a bathtub at her parents’ house in November and was glad she did.
“It was a lot better experience. I got to do it my way,” she said. “I will be doing it again, not just because of the money.”
TV Producer Seeks January Mom for Birth Show
Dear midwives, doulas, and expecting mothers,
You may have received a previous email from me. Montané from BirthPartners.com has been so kind as to afford me the opportunity to reach you again.
My name is Zach Marion and I am producing a natural childbirth show for Discovery Health Network. The hour long special will feature three mothers having home births and airs during baby week in June.
We just wrapped on our first story in Kona, Hawaii where Kollette and her husband, Jason, gave birth on their organic coffee bean farm. Midwife, April Weaver, attended their birth. In February, my crew and I will be traveling to Salt Lake City Utah to follow another family who is erecting a birth teepee. However, our production schedule is open during the month of January.
We are looking for one more family to feature on the program. The focus here is home births with a unique angle. For example, home birth in the city might be a nice contrast to our other two stories. The baby must be due between the beginning of January and the middle of February. Mothers who appear on the show receive an appearance fee.
The crew arrives a week or two before the due date to shoot a back-story. We spend 3 or 4 days with the family doing interviews and capturing their day-to-day life. Then, we are on standby to document the birth.
We understand the effect we may have on a birth just by being there. Through our experience gained in capturing 34 births for the Discovery Health series, House of Babies, we know how to fade in to the background and become a fly on the wall.
Exposure has always been an issue for our moms and their partners. Network television does not allow nudity. Blurring is employed to keep content tasteful. I would be more than happy to send an episode of House of Babies on DVD to any mom so she understands.
This is a positive experience for all that are involved. As a producer, I have the unique opportunity to promote midwifery and home birth on a big stage. Help me take advantage of this position. Let’s put empowered mothers and inspiring birth plans on the show.
If you are a mother or know a mother that fits the above criteria, please contact me immediately. I am in the office 8am to 5pm CST on weekdays. I can be reached in the evenings and on weekends by cell phone.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you!
Zach Marion
zach@videoartsstudios.com
Cell: (218) 556-8966
Work: (701) 232-3393
TX: Birthing center reaches out for help
From the Brownsville Herald:
WESLACO - Holy Family Birth Center has been helping women have babies in a low-stress environment for 25 years, but now the center needs help so it doesn’t have to close its doors.
The center was founded in 1983 by Sister Angela Murdaugh, along with Sisters Mary Thompson, Damien Francois and Ann Wojtowicz.
The original grant for the center was given by the Meadows Foundation, under the umbrella of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Brownsville.
The center grew to include six birthing suites, a clinic, a classroom, a chapel, medical storage rooms and housing for the staff, volunteers, students and visitors.
Nancy Sandrock, director of the center, is a certified nurse midwife.
She was asked to come to the center last year to keep it from closing because there had been no certified nurse midwives (registered nurses with extra training) for several months.
The donated buildings are located on land at 5819 N. FM 88 that belongs to the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville.
But, despite its name, Holy Family only receives moral support from the diocese; the Roman Catholic Church cannot afford to fund the project, she said.
Although Holy Family is faith-based, the nuns who founded it are now either dead or retired, Sandrock said.
Today there is a shortage of nuns, so there is a paid staff, in addition to volunteers who help women who come to the center and their families, she said.
Having a baby at Holy Family is a different experience than at a hospital, where expectant mothers may be afraid and uncomfortable in a cold, clinical setting, Sandrock said.
Teaching woman to be assertive and to realize they have choices about the birthing experience is one of the center’s goals, she said.
Unlike at most hospitals, they have a choice of having the baby in a warm water bath, which is a very natural experience, or in a bed if they prefer, she said.
The babies are not taken away from the mother at birth and kept in another room for six hours or more, as is done in some hospitals, she said. The baby stays with the mother, she said.
Mothers receive instruction in breast-feeding and care of their newborn and may be attended by a doula, which is a woman who attends to the mother all through the process, she said.
But everything costs money and that is in short supply for the center, Sandrock said.
“We may have to close,” she said. “We take people, regardless of how much money they make. … If you call around town, (other facilities) want $1,000 to walk in the door and who has $1,000 sitting around?”
But, even at Holy Family, low-income families are required to fill out paperwork to apply for Medicaid or CHIP reimbursement because there are many expenses, including staff, supplies, utility bills, equipment and repairs, Sandrock said.
CHIP is the state-run Childrens Health Insurance Program.
Some families may not be eligible for Medicaid or CHIP funding, “but they have to make the effort to apply,” Sandrock said.
Some doctors, hospitals or clinics encourage low-income women to go to Holy Family for pre-natal care, she said.
If the family is not eligible for a program, they will be put on a payment plan, based on what they can afford, Sandrock said.
Holy Family Birth Center does much more than just help women give birth, Sandrock said. Education about childbirth, prenatal care and infant care are all part of the program.
Volunteers and students nurses are trained at the center, she said.
If there are problems with the pregnancy, the mother and child can be taken to Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco, she said.
Dr. Elizabeth Krishnan worked hard to get hospital admitting privileges for the her, said Sandrock, who has a master’s degree in addition to being a registered nurse with training as a midwife.
In addition to money, the center could use donations of baby clothing, baby supplies, packaged baby food, building materials or even gift cards from Home Depot, she said.
Her husband James Sandrock uses his carpentry skills and interest in recycling to make repairs, often with reclaimed building materials, she said.
James and some of the nurses boarded up the buildings before Hurricane Dolly and he has been making repairs since the storm, she said. He also helps maintain the center’s computers.
Podcasts
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Podcast 1: Midwives
Podcast 2: Birth Places
Podcast 3: Thinking About Home Birth
Podcast 4: The Birth Kit
Podcast 5: Interview with Ricki Lake