A Historic Day in America!

Midwifery to be funded by Alberta Health Care!

Alberta expands health care coverage to midwifery

FINALLY!! Thank you Alberta!

I cannot fully express my joy right now. I am thrilled that more families will have access to midwifery care in our province. This is also good news to those of us hoping to enter the midwifery profession as it will be more feasible for colleges and universities to offer midwifery degree programs. One is currently under development currently at Mount Royal College in Calgary - where I hope to attend.

I am so happy for this major step in promoting women's options in childbirth. We're on the right track now!

Media MADness!!

Is it controversial that Angelina Jolie is shown breastfeeding on the new cover of W Magazine? Absolutely not!!! Women's breasts were created for nourishing our children, NOT as sexual objects. In many other cultures separate from North America, women don't even give NIPing (Nursing in Public) a second thought. As an advocate for women's options in maternity care, birth and parenting and as a doula, I just shake my head at the ridiculous ideas of modern society. For goodness sake, Ty Pennington is hawking formula for Similac now?! http://similacsimplepac.com/SimplePac-design Extreme Makeover: Formula Edition???? Women have a right to feed their children whenever, wherever. And they have a right to accurate information and the positive healthy and realistic portrayal of feeding choices in the media and in the general public.

At Last!

A few days have past since one of the most amazing weekends of my life! The DONA Intl birth doula workshop took place August 15-17 and ran, for the most part, without a hitch. Medicine Hat will now, hopefully, have 5 new practicing doulas within the next few months or so! We are practicing as volunteers presently, so that we are able to attend the three births required by DONA (in addition to other requirements) for certification.

What a weekend!! Where do I begin?

Suzanne Moquin, our wonderful facilitator, travelled from Edmonton to be our guide for this transformati-ve weekend. We all received a large binder filled with everything from to the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for DONA doulas to the forms we would need to practice, illustrations of comfort measures, a labour chart and even a space for birth art! There's still a bit I haven't even read yet!

We learned from Suzanne's great "lect-ures" (though they were more interactive) interspers-ed with beautiful films and hands-on work. We all bonded over lunches at Tim Horton's and the mall food court. Saturday night we all enjoyed a pizza supper courtesy of Suzanne. Sunday brought a hilarious role play where we were able to demonstrate the skills we had learned for labour support...if we could keep a straight face!

All in all, I am so happy to have been able to bring

the doula training to Medicine Hat through Suzanne. I am blessed to have established new friendships. I am excited to embark upon my career as a birth doula. Most of all, I am so incredibly thankful to those who helped to make my dream of having a doula workshop in our small town a reality.

Thank you ! Thank you! Thank you!

The Countdown

The countdown is on for the first ever DONA-approved birth doula training in Medicine Hat and I am scheduled to the brim! I'm extremely excited to be able to sponsor this training as it is so needed in our area. I've been keeping busy making necessary phone calls, arrangements, signage, etc. The media has been notified and the food ordered. My planner is packed with "To Do's" and each day brings me closer to what I have envisioned for so long. When the day finally arrives, I will be so thrilled!

In the meantime, I've had some bumps along the way.

Today I had a car issue, which was quickly resolved thanks to a helpful parent at my children's daycare (Thanks Isobel!!) and my husband's understanding boss. Oh, and my husband! :-)

And now, with only two days remaining before "lift off," I feel that all too familiar scratchy throat heralding a possible cold. But, onward I go! I know how much we need doulas in our community. Besides, no cold or flat tire ever stopped a pioneer woman...and aren't we all pioneer's of sorts?

Only One Kind of Baby Story?

I sent the following letter to Discovery Communications, parent company of the TLC cable network, which airs the show A Baby Story on daytime television.

To the producers of A Baby Story, Discovery, and TLC:

I have been watching A Baby Story since my late teens and always enjoyed the stories of little miracles coming into this world. Now, I am a 29-year-old married mother of two and my views have changed because of my own birth experiences. It seems as though everytime I turn on A Baby Story, the birth is a cesarean section or medicated birth. I would love to see more families choosing midwifery care, doulas, homebirth and/or other natural birthing methods featured on your program. There is more than one way to come into the world and all should be equally featured. Women need to know that they have a choice of caregiver and birth place and that pain medication and interventions do not need to be the norm. Women have been birthing for centuries. Birth is a natural process not a medical event. Please use your program as a platform to help women and their families feel educated and empowered. Informed choice is important for every woman's birth and for each individual's healthcare.

For more information on alternatives in birthing, please visit the following websites:

http://ican-online.org/
http://cfmidwifery.org/
http://www.motherfriendly.org/
http://www.childbirthconnection.org/home.asp
www.canadianmidwives.org/
http://www.birthcenters.org/
http://www.midwife.org/index.cfm
http://www.nacpm.org/
http://www.dona.org/
http://www.freewebs.com/womb

Sincerely,

Michelle Rimmel-Maisonville
WOMB

To join us in the effort to add more examples of choice in childbirth to the media, please visit http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations to send your own comments to Discovery Communications.

IT'S A GO!!!

Medicine Hat's first DONA-approved birth doula training will absolutely be taking place next weekend (August 15-17) at Medicine Hat College. Our concern was that we have enough registrants and thanks to the Medicine Hat News, Facebook and lots and lots of groundwork, we have 8 attendees registered! Looking forward to meeting all of you! What a great start to adding more doulas to our community! Cheers!

The course is being held in conjoined Rooms E171/172 at Medicine Hat College. The College is currently undergoing renovations. Parking and entrance is only on the North side of the building. Please download a map here http://www.mhc.ab.ca/images/maps/MHC_Main.pdf and locate E171/172. If you have any questions or need directions, please phone me at 403-488-7367.