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 FEBRUARY MARCH 2005
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Well Woman Care at PSMBCWe are very excited to welcome Rebekah Couper-Noles, CNM, to the Puget Sound Birth Center. Rebekah will start offering well woman care at the birth center in March. Here is more information about Rebekah's practice, in her own words: "Women's health care is my passion and joy. Every day I work with women, their strength and resilience amaze me. I provide care throughout life, offering reproductive health counseling and services as well as basic primary care. Annual visits are a wonderful time to look at the whole reproductive and sexual health picture including the spiritual and emotional components. From pap smears to preconception to menopause and beyond, I work diligently to support women as they grow and develop. I believe that women are best able to make their own choices when given complete and comprehensive information. I am committed to providing the highest level of care while not sacrificing a close, caring relationship. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. But I have lived in the Northwest for six and a half years with my partner and two young children, who were both born at home. My Mission Statement:
Education: Credentials:
Powerful Support for BreastfeedingThis month, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a revised statement regarding breastfeeding. It is their strongest statement yet regarding the benefits of breastfeeding, both for newborns and older babies. They encourage practices like keeping the baby with the mom at birth until the baby has successfully latched--always the standard of care for midwives. To read the full text of the statement, visit the AAP Website Ask the MidwifeQ. I keep waking up on my back at night. Is it really bad to sleep on my back? Will it hurt my baby? A. When you lie flat on your back, the weight of your uterus full of fluid and baby can push on your vena cava causing reduced blood flow in your body and therefore to your baby. That said, should this actually happen, you will feel woozy and yucky before ever doing damage to your baby. An easy fix to this problem is to simply slip a thin pillow under one hip, slightly shifting the weight of your belly to one side. The only problem with this really is finding room for your partner in the bed with all the pillows needed to get comfortable! Bottom line...don't worry about it. Your body will wake you, allowing for a shift in position should back sleeping cause any decrease in blood flow. Q. I have a cold/flu and I feel miserable and can't breath through my nose, what can I safely take? I've always thought that being pregnant is plenty, and there should be a law preventing pregnant women from having to deal with colds and flu! But, that not being the case and this being flu season...Good, safe, preventative care can include daily doses of Vitamin C, 1,000 mg up to several times daily, or less if it's causing loose stool. For stuffy noses you can try a saline nasal spray, steam treatments with essential oils of eucalyptus, tea tree, peppermint and/or thyme , and as a last resort, an over the counter nasal spray such as Sudafed or Affrin can be used for a couple of nights to clear your sinuses enough to get some sleep. For coughs you can try the above listed steam preparations, Ivy Leaf extract (Hedera helix)--very popular in Europe and safe in pregnancy (except for epileptics) 50mg up to 3 times daily. There are also plenty of good homeopathic cough syrups available at PCC, etc--no safety concerns as long as it is truly just homeopathic, not mixed with herbs. Or if all that fails, Robitussin DM is safe in pregnancy. As well it is safe to drink up to 3 cups a day of herbal teas, suck on cough drops such as slippery elm or low dose zinc. And remember, always drink plenty of water and get lots of rest!rk.com An Easy Way to Help All Midwives in WashingtonA couple of phone calls could make a huge difference to the viability of midwifery. The Midwives Association of WA State (MAWS) is working on a bill (HB 2112) to level licensing fees across the healthcare professions. If this bill passes, the annual fee for licensed midwives (and all other licensed healthcare professionals) will be set at $80-$100. The current annual midwifery licensing fee is about $1000. The current law states that healthcare professionals have to support the cost of the licensing program for their own specialty. Because there are few midwives, the cost per midwife is very high compared to other healthcare professionals. The new law would spread the cost of all licensing programs equally across all healthcare professionals, slightly raising the cost for professions with lots of members and greatly reducing the cost for professions with few members. The midwives need your help on this. PLEASE CALL OR E-MAIL YOUR LEGISLATORS TODAY AND ASK FOR THEIR SUPPORT FOR THIS BILL. If you don’t know who your senator and representatives are, you can find out by going to http://www.leg.wa.gov. If you are in the district of one of the sponsors of HB 2112 (Rep. Eileen Cody, Rep. Tami Green, Rep. Jim McCune, Rep. Al O’Brien, Rep. Jeannie Darneille, Rep. Joe McDermott, or Rep. Phyllis Kenney), please thank them for taking the lead on this important piece of legislation. You should also let legislators know that the Department of Health is supportive of this bill. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to call or e-mail Audrey Levine with any questions: (360) 709-0888 or nelsaud@earthlink.net. Thanks!
Cultivating Communityby Kendal May, PSMBC co-owner and founder of Birth and Bodywork
A long time ago, I read somewhere that people typically make life-time friends around two major chapters in our lives: at college, or other graduate learning communities, and after we have a baby. I witness this possibility each time I teach a childbirth class series and come back to the class reunion. While pregnant in the childbirth class, couples may be more or less communicative with other couples. Some are quite interactive, others not so much, but come to the reunion, and you will see nearly all the proud (and awestruck) parents easily communicating with each other, sharing stories, laughing and encouraging each other. Parenthood brings camaraderie in a way I have seen little else do. It makes sense. As parents, we are now in “on-the-job training”. We have been thrown into the ring and must find every resource, every asset, every companion-in-learning we can find. This is vitally important because our job requires, not the design or maintenance of some inanimate system or project, but the nurturance and rearing of a dynamic little being who we love dearly. Our investment is great. So, it makes sense that we seek out others in the same situation to help lower our learning curve. We seek community and make our learning social. This is an age-old practice with a new name: “Communities of Practice”, coined by sociologist, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, PhD. Communities of Practice represent the alternative to learning as: something which has a beginning and end; that is done individually, apart from the rest of our lives and through a teacher. A Community of Practice, conversely, is the very essential, meaningful way we learn through participation and process. And, in the case of a new parent, it is crucial, because it provides meaning, and identity within our new role. According to Wenger, “Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor. In a nutshell: Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better.” Yet, Wenger, explains, “Not everything called a community is a community of practice. A neighborhood for instance, is often called a community, but is usually not a community of practice”. These 3 characteristics must exist:
It is the combination of these three elements that constitutes a community of practice. And it is by developing these three elements in parallel that one cultivates such a community.” Puget Sound Midwives & Birth Center, together with Birth & Bodywork is committed to helping build Communities of Practice for our families. We invite you to join us. Here are just some of the possibilities for a Community of Practice for you:
Sources: Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning & Identity, Etienne Wenger www.ewenger.com and www.infed.org A Sad LossWe are greatly saddened by the untimely passing of former client and friend of PSMBC, LeeAnna Darby. What a joy it was to know her and to see her bloom into motherhood! Her gentle sweetness lives on in her 9-month-old daughter, Madeline. She also leaves behind her husband, Mat Darby. To help Mat raise Madeline, a memorial fund has been set up through Washington Mutual. Deposits may be made to: “Leon B. Burns FBO Mathew T Darby” account and sent to: Mathew Darby PO Box 2694 Woodinville, WA 98072
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ARCHIVED NEWSLETTERS May 2005
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