WBWC Represented at the Women's March on Raleigh

WBWC women and their babies showed up in force to join the Women's March on Raleigh on January 21.  The group took a bus from the Birth Center to downtown Raleigh to march in support of women's right, health care, reproductive rights,  LGBTQIA issues, gender and racial equality, and economic justice. There was an excellent turnout, and it was a great opportunity for peacefully empowering women and talking about important issues!

The Circle of Life

By Maureen Darcey, CNM

     Thirty-six years ago, when I first moved to North Carolina, I met an amazing woman who changed my life.  I was a brand-new graduate of midwifery school, here in Chapel Hill for my husband to go to school, no job, no friends.  I found out about the Women’s Resource Center (now the Compass Center) and attended a meeting about birth options. That’s when I met Svea Oster!

     

     She was a home birth/nursing mom, a childbirth educator, a doula, and a home birth assistant to various “underground” folks who were attending births.  As our friendship developed, she taught me to trust my instincts and trust the process of birth. She encouraged me to start attending births of folks she knew through her friendships and with women who were getting care at the Chatham Family Birth Center (CFBC).

     

     CFBC, the precursor to WBWC, was started by two CNMs: Linda Glenn (my personal hero) and Debbie Stanford.  Linda had been doing home births in the area, but stopped to open the CFBC.  Svea and I attended births for almost a year before I “got caught” – attending home births was illegal per state law.  (That baby has purposefully gone on to have her baby at WBWC. She was the last baby I caught before I stopped taking call shifts!)

     

     Svea and her husband Arnie were instrumental in getting the midwifery law passed that opened the doors for CNMs to attend births in homes, birth centers, and hospitals.  Arnie worked on the study bill for two years, showing the safety of out-of-hospital births with skilled practitioners. Svea helped me open the Birth Center twenty years ago when we met with people from the Carolina Association for the Advancement of Midwifery and were able to get a state grant.  Svea continued to teach childbirth education classes in the community and at WBWC until she retired a few years ago.

    

     Svea was the birth assistant at the birth of my own daughter thirty-four years ago, and I was the CNM at her daughter’s birth at home thirty-three years ago.  Over the years, we have continued to travel in the same “birth circle.”  I had the pleasure of delivering the first child of both her son and daughter at the birth center.  Her daughter-in-law was also born at the CFBC.

    

     Thank you, Svea, for all you have done in the birth community over the years, and for letting me freely participate in the “circle of life.”

Birth Centers: A Great Option for Families

Read about why birth centers like WBWC are terrific for moms and babies!
 

www.birthcenters.org/research

Talking to Legislators: Midwives and Birth Centers Improve Healthcare

Maureen Darcey, CNM, and Brianna Honea will be attending a Congressional briefing in Washington, DC on February 7. This briefing will bring attention to a study to be published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health, demonstrating the positive outcomes, health-wise and financially, associated with midwifery care. For more information about the briefing and how you can be involved in bringing awareness to your congressional representatives, follow this link:

http://www.birthcenters.org/content/aabc-acnm-congressional-briefing-february-7-2013

To read a summary of the article published in the Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health, click here.

For the full article, click here.

WBWC Hosts "How to Start a Birth Center" Seminar

 On January 25, WBWC hosted a "How to Start a Birth Center" seminar.  Over 60 midwives, students, and health professionals from across the country came to Chapel Hill to learn what it takes to start and maintain a freestanding birth center.  Maureen Darcey, CNM, and Brianna Honea, our business director, welcomed the group and led a tour.  Birth center staff were on hand to answer questions, run through birth scenarios, and provide information.  It's very encouraging that so many people are interested in expanding birth options for women throughout the country, and we're pleased we're able to share our expertise!