tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82948169783462165422024-03-13T08:47:30.009-07:00Carla Hartley's BirthTruthThere is one simple, yet profound, birthtruth:
Birth is Safe; Interference is Risky!Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-79085006573926095732011-11-15T09:07:00.001-08:002011-11-15T09:07:34.880-08:00just 5 things I believe about midwifery .....#1 Midwives have no rights apart from serving parents. Nobody wants to hear it, but it is true. <br />
#2 Authentic midwifery is about serving mothers, not saving mothers or babies, from birth.<br />
#3 Midwifery that incorporates, or is based on THE lie, is not authentic midwifery. I am interested in honoring and saving authentic midwifery because it serves parents WITHOUT adding risk or diminishing safety. (THE lie is that birth is a medical event. It rarely is. When it is, thank God we have medical facilities and medical personnel.)<br />
#4 Midwives who believe that their presence, or drugs or gadgets make birth safe don't believe the same things that I do about birth. My beliefs are grounded in science and wholesale trust in the physiology of birth. So, when we talk about midwifery, we are often talking about something different.<br />
#5 I believe that if you are going to call yourself a midwife, that you need to invest in a comprehensive education that includes the history of midwifery, nutrition, anatomy, physiology, terminology, normal labor and birth, the newborn, counseling and communication skills, some basic biology and microbiology, complementary studies, possible complications and how to prevent them, possible emergencies and how to recognize and respond appropriately. Of course there are many other things included in my curriculum. However, I do not believe that midwifery students need algebra, composition, chemistry, pharmacology.Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-80261881633061610312011-10-01T09:52:00.000-07:002011-10-01T09:52:39.455-07:00Parents rightsand people write about me ... actual quotes....<br />
<br />
• Carla's ideas will never work. She is just dreaming.<br />
• It will never happen. It is too late. The Big Push has won.<br />
• Parents' rights can never be secured. We need to accept that and move on.<br />
• Carla needs to give up and shut up. Licensure is here to stay and there is nothing that can be done about it.<br />
<br />
R E A L L Y ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?<br />
<br />
Some amazing women were told to give up and shut up. <br />
<br />
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffrage1900/a/august_26_wed.htm<br />
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.htmlCarla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-88609464139207995782011-09-16T13:15:00.000-07:002011-09-16T13:15:17.161-07:00Carla Hartley is AGAINST Licensure of Midwives!Yes, of all the things that are said about me on a regular basis, that one is absolutely 100% correct. I am against regulation of midwifery of any kind, and that is what licensure is. Licensure is for the purpose of identification, regulation and elimination.... AND.... for the richification of those who get to decide who does and doesn't get that golden ticket. They print it and they can decide what it costs. It is NOT about qualification or education. In fact, it is not at all about education except to decide which education provider can also get one of them thar golden tickets.<br />
<br />
Although most midwives do not think education is as important as I do, it is not my job to say who is or is not qualified to call herself a midwife. Mammas are smart enough to choose from the wide variety of people who want to offer their services as a birth attendant.<br />
<br />
My proposition is that we help educate mothers as to what constitutes good midwifery vs. medical midwifery and/or inadequately educated midwifery. It is not my job to designate who those are, nor to police them. It is the parents' job to either keep them in business or go elsewhere. That is called free enterprise.<br />
<br />
And remember that it is not so much that I am against licensure, but that I am FOR something else. That something else is for parents to have the right to choose to birth anywhere and with anyone they want, even if that is no one. Licensure will ultimately eliminate what I am FOR.<br />
<br />
Licensure is a really hot topic and my stance keeps me in hot water, so to speak, but I have yet to be convinced that parents or midwives, for that matter, will benefit from licensure. NARM, MEAC, MANA will....but that is a different note....the upcoming note on the richification aspect.<br />
<br />
I am going to share here some of the questions that come my way frequently.<br />
<br />
So what about the dangerous midwives?<br />
I will not deny that there are many dangerous midwives out there. Most of them have a credential. Still, I think educating parents about what is dangerous and what is not, is the best way to address this issue.<br />
There are already laws against hurting people. <br />
<br />
Don't parents want licensed midwives? Licensed midwives tell me that all the time; parents never do. They want something else entirely. Once in a while I will get a letter to the contrary but I can pinpoint it to one particular area where the midwives are writing the proverbial letters and having the mammas sign them. I can quote the letters verbatim. They are all the same. <br />
<br />
Does this mean that you think that midwifery should be illegal and unregulated? Illegal, no, unregulated, yes. Midwifery could be, should be, maybe already technically already is legal by virtue of it being legal for parents to exercise their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in their ownership of the biological function called birth, which is a private family event. Midwives don't need regulation; they need freedom to practice midwifery (not medicine) and the "regulations" should come from the parents, not the government or any midwifery organization.<br />
<br />
Do you think that midwives should be allowed to carry life-saving drugs, which licensure would allow? No, I do not. I think that drugs = medical training, expertise and risk-taking that midwives have not attained, do not need and they should not take the inherent risks of the administration of chemicals. Rather than licensing midwives, maybe there could be a license for anyone who wants to carry and administer drugs that involves the appropriate training, education and liability insurance? Something to think about. As for "life-saving", education is far more likely to save a life, than the administration of a drug that has the potential to do all kinds of things that a midwife is not prepared to handle in a home situation. Learn how to prevent and respond to those situations without drugs. We have the knowledge, but it is often easier to just reach for a syringe, suppository or pill. Not good science to do that without a very specific education and contengencies.<br />
<br />
What about oxygen? Oxygen is a drug. Room air is more beneficial and far less dangerous. I recommend taking every class you can from Karen Strange on the issue of neonatal resuscitation.<br />
<br />
But won't licensing bring midwifery into the mainstream and make midwives more likely to be respected? I have never understood how anyone over the age of 12 could even imagine that licensing midwives could force doctors and hospital personnel to regard someone outside of medicine as equals. Secondly, can you explain why would we WANT to be mainstream? What has mainstream done for birth? I will give you a hint, the numbers are over 34%. Get back to me on this one.<br />
<br />
Won't licensing keep midwives from prosecution and persecution? Hasn't so far. If someone in the more powerful clan (medicine, government, midwifery organizations) want you, they can get you, no matter what credentials you have. In medicine, and that is what we are talking about here, let's be honest.... the only initials that really matter are M and D. <br />
<br />
Won't licensing which mandates that insurance companies pay midwives mean that more women can have home births with midwives? Mandating MEDICAL insurance coverage for a NON medical event is not a good idea for a number of reasons. Birth is medical or not. Choose. If birth becomes medical, medical insurance should pay, but as long as it is normal....why? I am not convinced that money is the real obstacle for women who are wanting homebirths. I would have sold all my furniture to have a home birth with a midwife after my first birth in the hospital. For what we knew at the time, my husband and I worked a second job each to pay for so we could get the "best" aka most expensive for our baby. The insurance and medicaid aspect is tricky in many ways. For one, it can and will have a cap and midwives will NOT want those clients once the cap is in place and then, the "poor" women are back where they were. And the other issue that no one seems to address is how many women will choose home birth, if their insurance pays, just for that reason....not because they trust it...but because their insurance will cover it or their friends are doing it. I would rather work with parents who are willing to work to pay for a home birth midwife because it is THAT important to them. As for the ridiculous "equal access" blarney, women have a lot more equal access in a free enterprise system than in any government run program, which is what home birth midwifery will be.<br />
<br />
I live in an alegal state and all the midwives here are pushing for licensure. Shouldn't I be a part of that effort to make midwifery legal? If your friends all jumped off a bridge, would you? Just because others are doing it, it doesn't mean you have to. I am going to let you in on a little secret here. The emperor has no clothes. I do not care who they are or how famous they are, if they are working for licensure of midwives they are NOT working for parents' rights. Parents' rights are always in danger when midwives are pushing for theirs.<br />
<br />
Why are so many pushing for licensure if it is such a bad idea? I cannot tell you that. I just know it is a bad idea. I can tell you why some are pushing for it and it has to do with the concept of monopolization. If the only people who can legally drive are those who drive Volvos, the Volvo folks are going to make out like bandits. I will let you do the math....and watch for the upcoming note on how licensure is motivated by a desire for monopoly and money.<br />
<br />
But why should midwifery be exempt from regulation when even people who give pedicures have to be licensed? Licensing is never about protecting the public. Interior designers are being licensed now as are florists, and there is talk of licensing dance teachers. Think about the need for those professions to be licensed for a minute. Licensing is a golden ticket printed by someone else, that allows you to do what you do. It always takes money out of the individual pocket and puts it into an organization or government entity's pocket. Two wrongs, or in this example, multiple wrongs, don't make a right. I am not persuaded that midwives need to be licensed on the faulty premise that we have to because everyone else is. Look at why everyone else is. And you don't want to get me started on the travesty of constraint of trade and the right to earn a living. I will put that in the richification note.....Otherwise, we would be here all day.<br />
<br />
All the midwives in my state say you are crazy. They are correct, but that does not tarnish the brilliance of the principle for which I work night and day. Mothers own their births.<br />
Here are a few of my previously published notes on the topic of licensure and The Big Push. Feel free to look through my notes for more.<br />
And visit www.ancientartmidwifery.com www.trustbirth.com carlahartley.blogspot.com<br />
<br />
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150211918968604<br />
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150211922438604<br />
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150119055373604<br />
<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=463962763603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=454057443603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=450538698603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=440520998603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=394321143603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=471176623603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=469248433603<br />
<br />
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=446019288603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=463962763603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=454057443603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=450538698603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=440520998603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=394321143603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=471176623603<br />
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=469248433603<br />
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150098024053604<br />
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=450734743603<br />
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=440146273603<br />
<br />
Background note: I am completely FOR education and competition....I think if midwives are preparing to serve parents who have a lot of different midwives to choose from the will pay more attention to their education. I think midwives should put years and years of concentrated effort into becoming a midwife. I created the most comprehensive midwifery course on the planet. My stance is that midwives need to know EVERYTHING, so that they are comfortable doing as little as possible. DOING is what adds risk to the inherently safe biological function of birth. I think midwives need a great deal more education than it takes to become credentialed o licensed in this country, but I will have no part in any effort to determine who may or may not call herself a midwife and will not support any group that does. That takes the power from the mother to choose her own midwife.Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-62243824702263073082011-08-23T08:47:00.001-07:002011-08-23T08:47:53.976-07:00Corporate TakeoverHere is the blueprint:<br />
MEAC to monopolize all midwifery education and makes great effort to lobby every state to become MEAC only, regardless of the quality of the course. Nothing compares to AAMI and many MEAC courses that I know of ONLY teach to test. If you are strictly looking at quality, AAMI is incomparable. But quality is not the issue; politics and power are.<br />
Then thanks to TBP, every state will require the CPM, so now NARM monopolizes the term midwife. Then MEAC and NARM own everything.<br />
Midwives cheated out of choice in education; parents cheated out of choice of midwife.Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-68871962840148460812011-08-11T09:05:00.000-07:002011-08-11T09:05:22.097-07:00Only One Possible Solution<br />
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Trying to integrate into the system won't work. Approval from the system is fleeting or false. The ONLY thing that will protect parents, home birth and authentic midwifery is to be sure that parents' rights are acknowledged and respected.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">They own the right to the natural biological function we call birth.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">If we don't protect their right to do that where, how and with whom they want., NO OTHER RIGHTS WILL BE SAFE. <strong><em>Midwives' rights will be moot and parents' rights will be subject to interpretation based on what has been lost....not what has been saved.</em></strong></div>Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-1869731549864676432011-08-01T10:19:00.000-07:002011-08-01T10:19:27.894-07:00The System is not Broken; It Was Flawed from The BeginningSomeone thought my admonition for women to stay home to avoid a cesarean was somehow placing the blame on mothers.....and that it is the maternity system that is broken. Here was my response:<br />
Birth is Safe; Interference is Risky!<br />
<br />
I think the problem is that we have believed a lie: birth is medical and dangerous and requires a medical setting and a medical manager. The out of control maternity system CANNOT BE CHANGED as long as that lie permeates our culture. Women who walk into a hospital should not ignore the fact that their choices are diminished and the probability of a surgical extraction is FAR greater than if they made the decision to birth AWAY from the place that has proven it is NOT about mothers and babies but fear - power- and profit.I wish it were not so. I wish the 90+% of women who choose hospital birth did not face the 1 in 3 chance of having a cesarean or repeated cesarean. But the FACT is that they do.*<br />
If I thought that getting on one highway increased the risk of death...I would take another road. Fortunately, home birth is extremely safe if mother and baby are left alone to do their thing, with minimal interference. So for MOST women it is a far safer road.*I have dedicated my life to HELPING women; I am not blaming women; would be the last person to do that-------, but I am also not blind to the fact that in my 30 plus years in this field, that I have not been able to change one thing about the system and I have really worked hard...but to no avail. We have not and will not change the system because we have let it change us. Mothers and babies are harmed because we have not told them the truth....so I no longer will be complicit with the lie. I am going to continue to tell mothers of the dangers of hospital birth in the hope that they will avoid them for birth. You would have to work really really hard to make the average home as hazardous for birth as any hospital.Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-27625301469909038542011-07-25T09:16:00.001-07:002011-07-25T09:16:58.711-07:00Midwifery is NOT Medicine.Midwifery is not Medicine<br />
<br />
• does not belong under medicine's rule<br />
should not be patterned after anything resembling the practice of medicine<br />
LAST WORDS FOR A WHILE: I meant what I said and I said what I meant.....Birth belongs to mammas, 100%!<br />
Why would we want to emulate anything we don’t want to be? Instead of wanting to ride into the future on the medical model’s coattails or asking to be part of their “club”, why aren’t we pointing out to the most salient point in this debate of who should and should not be allowed to call herself a midwife? Parents own their births. Instead we are in a tug of war with the medical community over something that does not belong to us. I think it is not only more noble, but has more long term potential for success for midwives to be striving to protect parents’ rights to birth at home with anyone or no one. The credentials and the titles are all minor pieces of the big picture. I have been asking midwives for years to concentrate on the WHO they do this for rather than WHO is allowed to call herself a midwife.<br />
<br />
I am tired of midwives acting like they are medical mavericks, disobedient children who need new rules and regulations, sheep that have strayed. <br />
<br />
We have our own history and our own identity that is not related to the group we seem to be seeking approval from. Midwifery's roots are not in medicine. Midwifery's past is not a product of medicine......but if we don't do everything we can to disassociate ourselves from medicine, we will be swallowed up by it. <br />
<br />
I know it is NOT politically correct to say this......but if I were the medical community and I wanted to stomp out midwifery........well......I couldn't have thought of a better plan than what midwives have done to themselves in their effort to get legal recognition*, credentials and third party reimbursement.<br />
<br />
Midwives are starting to see the light...... and I don't feel so alone<br />
anymore. In fact, I believe with all my heart that we are looking at a resurgence of the heartbeat of midwifery.....the desire to serve families who want to have their babies at home......midwifery as a service is very different that midwifery as a career option......and not many people are<br />
saying that , but I am not afraid to. <br />
<br />
We are the originals....not the copies.....don't forget that.<br />
<br />
_______________________________________________________________<br />
*note that legal recognition is not the same as being legal. It does NOT mean I think midwives should be illegal. It means that midwives should be legal by virtue of parents owning the right to give birth anywhere they want with anyone they want.Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-51606202302338105992011-07-14T23:11:00.000-07:002011-07-14T23:11:18.147-07:005 Things I Believe About Midwifery<div style="color: #333233; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; line-height: 16.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">#1 Midwives have no rights apart from serving parents. Nobody wants to hear it, but it is true. </span></div><div style="color: #333233; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; line-height: 16.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333233; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; line-height: 16.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">#2 Authentic midwifery is about serving mothers, not saving mothers or babies, from birth.</span></div><div style="color: #333233; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; line-height: 16.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333233; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; line-height: 16.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">#3 Midwifery that incorporates, or is based on THE lie, is not authentic midwifery. I am interested in honoring and saving authentic midwifery because it serves parents WITHOUT adding risk or diminishing safety. (THE lie is that birth is a medical event. It rarely is. When it is, thank God we have medical facilities and medical personnel.)</span></div><div style="color: #333233; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; line-height: 16.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333233; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; line-height: 16.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">#4 Midwives who believe that their presence, or drugs or gadgets make birth safe don't believe the same things that I do about birth. My beliefs are grounded in science and wholesale trust in the physiology of birth. So, when we talk about midwifery, we are often talking about something different.</span></div><div style="color: #333233; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; line-height: 16.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333233; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; line-height: 16.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">#5 I believe that if you are going to call yourself a midwife, that you need to invest in a comprehensive education that includes the history of midwifery, nutrition, anatomy, physiology, terminology, normal labor and birth, the newborn, counseling and communication skills, some basic biology and microbiology, complementary studies, possible complications and how to prevent them, possible emergencies and how to recognize and respond appropriately. Of course there are many other things included in my curriculum. However, I do not believe that midwifery students need algebra, composition, chemistry, pharmacology.</span></div>Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-53285481935891009292010-12-09T23:13:00.001-08:002010-12-09T23:13:39.423-08:00The Most Dangerous Thing to Happen to Midwifery<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><strong></strong></span><br />
<strong><div class="photo photo_none" style="clear: both; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="photo_img" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img class="img" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs889.snc4/72262_1598183548971_1067484342_1694789_6996985_n.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 393px;" /></div></div>That is what some are saying about me.</strong><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>That and several variations on that theme.</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>Over the 30 plus years of my work I have been called many things I have never addressed, but I want to speak to this one.</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>Midwifery is in terrible danger, but I have no part in it. </strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>I am referring to the extremely well organized effort to redefine midwifery. This effort denigrates the women who have handed that job down from generation to generation. It poses an ominous threat not only to authentic, with-woman midwifery but to the rights and freedoms of the women midwives serve.</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>Picture it as a double edged sword: those speaking for midwifery are speaking only for one brand and working to own the title lock, stock and barrel. They are speaking AGAINST those who choose not to buy their brand or promote their brand. They are not speaking for the midwife of history or the authentic midwife of today. Sadly, if they get their way there will be few midwives in the future. Their effort to eliminate "lay" midwifery and round up all midwives into one corral for easy pickin' will have disastrous effects on EVERY brand of midwifery.</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>The other edge of that sword is even more dangerous. How can we forget that we don't own birth but mammas do? How can we ignore the fact that parents' rights trump midwives' status? If parents lose their rights, midwives' rights are moot anyway.</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>It is impossible to be subject to the state, an insurance company, or a midwifery organization, and serve the mother in the same way we could if there were no other entities involved. If we enter into a contract <em>about</em> the mother, with anyone other <em>than</em> the mother, mothers are at risk of losing their voice. If we enter into a contract without honoring the contract, then what does that say about our collective integrity?</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>I admit, I am pretty vocal in speaking against what I consider to be the greatest threat to parents' rights in all of history. I know that my position is not popular.</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>BUT, if women lose that most feminine of all freedoms, to use her own body for birth, and her own head and heart to determine where and with whom she births, then which freedom will go next? </strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>If the state or a midwifery organization places itself in position to make ANY of those choices for any woman, and we go along with that, we will be equally guilty of diminishing her choices and compromising her freedom.</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>I will NOT be guilty. </strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>If that makes me dangerous, well I will strive to live up to the title.</strong></div>Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-24584369474603013702010-11-25T01:29:00.000-08:002010-11-25T01:29:47.236-08:00Before It's Too Late<div class="photo photo_none" style="clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="photo_img" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><img class="img" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs492.ash2/76520_1622140147871_1067484342_1741905_2337695_n.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" /></span></div></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">I have had horrible nightmares my whole life that I am in a situation where eminent danger warrants blood-curdling screams, but regardless of how much effort I put into it, no sound comes out. I feel myself bursting at the seams in utter frustration, because even if I am in a crowd, everyone is oblivious to what I am trying to get them to hear.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">I am living that nightmare every day. I am screaming about the erosion of birthing rights and the possible loss of all parenting rights that could result from the effort to increase midwives' status. There is a VERY dark cloud looming over our children's and grandchildrens' futures but few are paying any attention to me. Most are patting me on the head while they order my straight jacket.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">People keep telling me to tone it down. Even good friends telling me that I am too radical, and some even think I am crazy. Maybe, but this crazy, radical Baba is on a mission all day and up with worry all night, driven by a sense of urgency that I cannot control. I want to tell as many people as I can, as quickly as I can and with as much conviction as I can:</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">THERE IS NO MORE IMPORTANT RIGHT</span></strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">THAN THAT OF WOMEN</span></strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">TO CHOOSE WHERE AND WITH WHOM TO BIRTH;</span></strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">IF WE LOSE THAT RIGHT, WHAT RIGHT WILL WE EVER BE ABLE TO PROTECT?</span></strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">I feel like Chicken Little, and have for more than three decades now. I consider licensure of midwives as the most ominous threat to women's rights in history. Yet there are just a few of us who realize the threat even exists. How can women, especially women who would call themselves feminists, not see what is happening? </span><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">If women lose their birthing rights, they have lost all their rights. Really, if a woman cannot choose where and with whom she will birth, what else is there to lose?</span></strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">I thought about this for some time on my drive back from speaking on the importance of "self directed birth" at the APHA conference. It was a very surreal experience. There was no way for me to prepare for it.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">I felt like I was in a sci-fi movie. While people threw around terms like "policy" and "payer" when they questioned me, I was trying to get them to hear the words; "parents' freedoms" and "erosion of women's rights." Either people stared back with me with glares or their eyes were glazed over as if I was speaking a foreign language. I made a case for the fact that The Big Push will marginalize women's rights like nothing in history, but it angered some and was of no consequence to others. I wanted to scream: "Don't you realize that if we lose our birthing rights it will have far-reaching and perhaps permanent consequence for everyone? This will affect your children and grandchildren. How will parenting, and more to the point, our entire way of life change if parents lose their rights to make choices about how they bring their babies into the world? What will happen if all birthing decisions are determined by authorities rather than the owners?" The very nice group who invited me were politely, but only marginally, interested, but obviously they did not embrace my cause. I wanted just one of them to say, "You are making sense, we are with you; parents' rights trump the rights of midwives, doctors and insurance companies." I wanted them to see that if we put parents at the forefront and the professions second, it would solve most of the issues surrounding birth. But once again, a few pats on the head, now be on your way. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">I was grateful to be invited to speak on that topic but the truth is that, for the most part, I was making my case to the wrong crowd. It is NOT doctors, hospitals and policy makers who are the greatest threat to women's birthing rights at this moment in time.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">It is WOMEN who are PUSHING for the elimination of the rights of other women.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Women you know. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Women you trust. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Women mothers' trust.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Who would guess that there would be women throwing other women under the bus, acting as agents of the state? </span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Which women would feel it is their right to sell out birthing women's rights in exchange for a piece of paper?</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Is this piece of paper, that history proves bestows temporary rights, in exchange for the loss of permanent ones, worth the price of mothers' choices? (Maybe I am in need of a straight jacket, or at least some pharmaceuticals, because as I typed this sentence, my heart nearly beat out of my chest!)</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">If I were the medical community and I wanted to eliminate home birth, I could not have schemed up anything more efficacious than The Big Push and midwives clamoring for licensure.</span></strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">You may not share my overwhelming sense of urgency and a feeling of doom, that if we don't do something now, tomorrow will be too late.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">But, I want to beg you to Investigate for yourself what is happening to birthing rights. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Do your own digging to uncover who is pushing for the changes. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Decide what and who you stand for.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Decide who you will stand with and who you won't stand with.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Don't hide your head in the sand. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Speak up.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Educate and encourage parents to take their birth back. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Stand in the gap for mothers long enough for them to realize what is going on.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Wake somebody up every day....before it is too late.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Signed, Carla Hartley aka Chicken Little</span></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">P.S. Yes, the sky is falling.</span></div>Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-48825160050187136812009-09-23T08:56:00.000-07:002009-09-23T08:56:48.668-07:00Things that matter<div style="color: teal; font: 33.0px Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font: 12.0px Bodoni Ornaments ITC TT; letter-spacing: 0.0px text-shadow: -2.0px -0.4px 2.0px #7f7f7f; vertical-align: 10.0px;">z</span><span style="font: 35.0px Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT; letter-spacing: 0.0px text-shadow: -2.0px -0.4px 2.0px #7f7f7f;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px text-shadow: -2.0px -0.4px 2.0px #7f7f7f;">What really matters ?</span><span style="font: 35.0px Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT; letter-spacing: 0.0px text-shadow: -2.0px -0.4px 2.0px #7f7f7f;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Bodoni Ornaments ITC TT; letter-spacing: 0.0px text-shadow: -2.0px -0.4px 2.0px #7f7f7f; vertical-align: 10.0px;">z</span><br />
</div><div style="color: #1b446d; font: 18.0px Baskerville; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 20.0px; text-align: center;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br />
</div><div style="color: #004080; font: 13.0px Baskerville; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px; text-align: center;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i></i></b></span><br />
</div><div style="color: navy; font: 24.0px Bernard MT Condensed; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our lives begin to end </span><br />
</div><div style="color: navy; font: 24.0px Bernard MT Condensed; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">the day we become silent </span><br />
</div><div style="color: navy; font: 24.0px Bernard MT Condensed; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">about things that matter.</span><br />
</div><div style="color: navy; font: 10.0px Baskerville; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 8.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Martin Luther King</span><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Baskerville; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 8.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br />
</div><div style="color: teal; font: 11.0px Lucida Bright; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">“</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">With woman midwifery” is, by definition, about mothers and babies, and not so much about the women who attend them. </span></span><br />
</div><div style="color: teal; font: 11.0px Lucida Bright; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">What really matters is a parent’s right to choose where and with whom they will give birth—even if that is with no one.</span></span><br />
</div><div style="color: teal; font: 11.0px Lucida Bright; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Speak out and stand up for parents’ rights because when parents lose their rights, “Midwives’ rights” will be moot.</span></span><br />
</div><div style="color: teal; font: 24.0px Bickley Script LET; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 8.0px 0.0px; text-align: right;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> </span><span style="font: 36.0px Bickley Script LET; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Carla</span><br />
</div>Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-74118670096673600242009-09-23T08:42:00.000-07:002009-09-23T08:42:08.894-07:00Actions bring results<div style="color: #008181; font: 24.0px Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">I think one's feelings waste<br />
</div><div style="color: #008181; font: 24.0px Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">themselves in words;<br />
</div><div style="color: #008181; font: 24.0px Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">they ought all to be distilled<br />
</div><div style="color: #008181; font: 24.0px Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">into actions which bring results.<br />
</div><div style="color: #008181; font: 9.0px Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Florence Nightingale</span><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The problem is that we just don’t know which actions will bring results.</span><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">We care, but we don’t know how to translate that into CHANGE.</span><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">If you are looking for a way to make a difference for birthing mothers and</span><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">new little babes....you will find it at The Trust Birth Conference.</span><br />
</div><div style="color: #008181; font: 36.0px Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">www.trustbirthconference.com<br />
</div>Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-46815500396431269132008-06-24T01:55:00.000-07:002009-09-24T12:27:03.395-07:00My Slant on Midwifery EducationBecoming a midwife is really a process of becoming MORE of what you probably already are: <br />
<div>a server, a nurturer, an encourager. <br />
</div><div>My feeling is that the most important work of a midwife is to help her clients learn more about birth and help them assume the responsibility and ownership for their birth. <br />
So that means a LOT of what we do in Advanced Midwifery Studies is dedicated to client education. <br />
It is my firm belief that people can only assume responsibility for what they know or know about. I see one of the midwife’s primary functions is that of increasing what people take responsibility for by bumping out the parameters of what they know or know about. Most of the time spent with clients should be spent talking about all the issues surrounding birth and making references and referrals to more information. The enormous potential that midwives have to make a difference in the world is not by how many babies they catch, but by how many women they encourage to trust birth and embrace their rights and responsibilities as birthing women with confidence and joy.<br />
Too much of midwifery education rhetoric these days has the same flavor as those who fear birth.....the focus seems to be on how to help women and babies survive it....as if birth is terribly dangerous. I happen to believe that birth is inherently safe and that we often do more harm than good by our interference, management or theft of ..... That is a whole ‘nother blog, eh?<br />
</div>Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-57568824257988584992007-10-09T00:28:00.000-07:002007-10-09T00:43:44.415-07:00Unlearning FEAR based midwiferyMany of us midwives were taught some erroneous beliefs about our roles and we were so busy doing what we had been taught we did not take enough time to ask why. I was very fortunate to have had one remarkable preceptor who asked me WHY a million times. She and I were not peas in a pod and she was not always happy with my answer but she was outstanding in that she took that chance .....that we were going to disagree. And she knew that I was not going to practice as taught, but one thing for sure; I would be able to articulate why about everything I did or did not do. Still so much of what I thought we were supposed to do was rooted in fear. However another aspect of fear helped me form my midwifery philosophy.<br /><br />I think my personality had a lot to do with the kind of midwife I became. A lot of my hands off attitude was not due entirely to my "with woman" philosophy, but with my fear of screwing something up if I didn't know how to do it! Soon I realized that it was better that I not do it anyway! And as time passed, I found that "doing less" was backed up with good science. I have to tell you, too, that my major introspective examination happened when I met a doctor in 1987 who trusted birth a lot more than I did. He became a trusted mentor and dear, dear friend, Dr. John Stevenson. He really gave me the courage to start telling the truth about birthing issues, even when those truths were unpopular.<br /><br />I am going to see him Australia next week, as we are working on finishing his book. I also hope to spend some time talking with former clients and midwives he helped during his long home birth career.<br />All of you birth trusters would lOVE him. Dr. John trusted birth way before most of us did! You can download a couple of his talks at the 94 conference at the www.ancientartmidwifery.com click on the aami store His are Adept Baby and 3rd & 4th Stage difficulties.Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-69514425123683053962007-04-26T00:42:00.000-07:002007-04-26T01:03:09.287-07:00Transitioning to TRUST BIRTH MIDWIFERYMany midwives are operating from a level of fear, even after many years of practice: Fear of not knowing how to handle complications, fear of making mistakes, fear of criticism, fear of litigation, fear of going to jail. These are all legitimate concerns, perhaps, but it is inconsistent with the idea of "with woman" midwifery to practice under a cloud of fear.<br />I think there is a cure for at least some of those fears. Your fear as a midwife will decrease as you internalize the reality that your role as a midwife is not one of authority but assistance....and that is a life-changing paradigm shift.<br />Once you think of yourself as a paid consultant and NOT the holder of bottom line responsibility and certainly not the woman's authority, everything is different. <br />When you think of your role this way, you will realize that most of your work is done long before your client goes into labor. Your role will be to encourage, motivate, and believe in your client. Your work involves helping her recover her own sense of ownership, authority and confidence in her ability to assist her body in doing the job it knows how to do. <br />Once you LIVE as if you believe that birth is safe and interference is what is risky, and once you realize that the responsibility and authority for what happens to a woman during her birth is her own, and not yours....I think you will find many fears dissipate.<br />Transitioning to Trust Birth Midwifery and Transitioning to Trust Birth Childbirth Education will be two of our panel sessions at the upcoming Trust Birth Conference in March 2008.Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-38729785321034785932007-04-11T01:38:00.000-07:002007-04-11T01:48:20.744-07:00Test: Do you REALLY Trust Birth?Support of a woman’s right to choose to have her baby alone is a litmus test of sorts for acceptance of Trust Birth Facilitators for this reason: a Trust Birth facilitator must be an extreme birth truster. She has to be sure in her heart that she really trusts "unqualified" birth.....that she believes in the intrinsic safety of birth, itself. Trusting birth with a qualifier (if she has a trained attendant, if she is educated, etc.) negates the whole premise. If birth is only safe with a birth attendant....then which attendant really makes birth safe: Obstetricians would say only obstetricians, but what about CNMs? CPMs? midwives with no official credentials? <br /><br />And we are back to the same erroneous assumption that birth needs someone or something ELSE to be safe; that birth is not to be trusted WITHOUT an attendant. That premise supports the erroneous assumption that interference is necessary..... <br />In my opinion, trusting birth, means that you simply trust birth!Carla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-79773406967526875922007-04-05T23:21:00.000-07:002007-04-05T23:23:52.855-07:00Do the right thing just because it IS the right thing to do."Integrity commits itself to character over personal gain, <br />to people over things, <br />to services over power, <br />to principle over convenience ,<br />to the long view over the immediate."<br />-John C. MaxwellCarla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294816978346216542.post-74528336690707717962007-04-03T21:50:00.000-07:002010-11-25T13:14:39.655-08:00BirthTruth as I know itI have been involved with birth and midwifery for a long time. I have been helping women become midwives for more than 30 years now. I founded The Trust Birth Initiative and The Cesarean Prevention Project in 2005 in hopes of making a difference in other ways.<br />
I feel good about that. But, not as good as I would like to feel. I would like to know that more women have rediscovered that they were born trusting birth this year, than last. But, sadly that is not the reality. More and more women are being abused and lied to and manipulated into believing a lie: birth is risky; only intervention is safe. <br />
I could write a thousand words about why I think the world is coming to believe that lie. I could cry. I could quit. But I won't. As long as I breathe I will be telling birthtruth as I know it. Birth IS safe....it is interference that is risky. Stop interfering and let women birth their babies as they were designed.<br />
<br />
To learn more about what I believe about birth, visit http://www.trustbirth.com <br />
For information on the midwifery education I offer, visit http://www.ancientartmidwifery.com <br />
I created some ways for you to WEAR the truth, visit htp://www.cafepress.com/aamidwifery<br />
If you want to read books about birth with other truthseekers, join childbirthreadingroom@yahoogroups.comCarla Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961032689948901309noreply@blogger.com1