Midwifery and Maternal-Child Health Educators Conference

Midwifery and Maternal-Child Health Educators Conference

Hello!

We are happy to announce our upcoming midwifery conference, "Keeping the Heart of Mother Care," which will be held in Portland, Oregon from June 16th-June 20th, 2010. This conference is going to be a delightful event, with featured speaker Bonnie Gruenberg, CNM, WHNP, MSN. She is the author of the award-winning books, Birth Emergencies Skills Training (BEST) Manual for Out of Hospital Providers and Essentials of Prehospital Maternity Care. Also featured at our conference is Melissa Cheyney, Ph.D., LDM, CPM, author of the upcoming book, Born at Home: The Biological, Cultural and Political Dimensions of Maternity Care in the United States. We really have an amazing group of speakers. Please take a look here for more information on our speakers.

This conference is a great opportunity for continuing and initial education, with three different tracks. The first is for midwifery and birth educators, and includes classes such as "Training Doulas," "Technology in Education," and "Teaching Research Methods to Midwifery Students." The second track is for practicing and student midwives and includes such classes as "Baby Done a Bad Thing: Common Neonatal Problems," "Herbs for Childbearing," and "Twins and Breeches Emergency Review." For the third track, we have focused on lactation and birth professionals. It includes classes such as "Optimal Start in Breastfeeding: Teaching Through Touch," "What is New in Postpartum Mood Disorders?" and "Therapeutic Communication." Don't forget to update your certifications with "Neonatal Resuscitation", "Legend Drugs and Devices," and "CPR." For detailed information on our sessions click here.

You don't want to miss this fabulous event, held at the Downtown Portland Embassy Suites, a beautiful hotel within walking distance from a waterfront park, world class shopping, art galleries, and a multitude of restaurants and cultural experiences.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at this exciting event! Please pass the word along to anyone who might be interested and visit our website here for more information. For the conference early registration rate, please register by March 15th, 2010, here.

Thanks for your time!

Sincerely,

Cortney McIntyre

Conference Coordinator

Midwifery and Maternal-Child Health Educators Conference

www.educatorsconference.com

cortney.mcintyre@educatorsconference.com

Nurture Welcomes Joey Torgrimson

We are excited to welcome Joey Torgrimson to Nurture. Joey is a midwife and massage therapist with a heart for helping families. Here is some information from Joey about her background and services...

I began my career in natural health care in the late 1990’s at Oregon
School of Massage. I have been practicing massage therapy for 9 years.
In 2008 I became a homebirth midwife in addition to my massage practice,
through a combination of formal study at Birthingway College and
apprenticeship. The two modalities complement each other well.

My massage specialties include deep tissue and pregnancy. I have a
midwifery practice, Portland Natural Childbirth, and my specialty is
waterbirth. I believe in meeting people where they are, and supporting
them in creating the picture of health they chose for themselves based on
their own values, belief systems, and bodies.

As an Oregon native, I enjoy living in Portland with my 8 year old
daughter Emma, travel, the outdoors, music, dancing, and surfing (in a very
thick wetsuit).

For more information about my midwifery practice, please visit my website
at Portland Natural Childbirth, call (503)875-6257 or e-mail me at midwife@portlandnaturalchildbirth.com

ICTC Book Sale

ICTC Book Sale!

Wednesday, October 3, 2009
9am-11am
2823 N. Rosa Parks Way, Portland, OR 97217

Fabulous find on hundreds of books and magazines
(**Many from Barbara Harper’s private collection**)
Pregnancy, Prenatal care, Labor, Birth, Home births, Water births, Medical dictionaries, Breastfeeding, Postpartum care, Parenting, Twins, Triplets, Depression, Sexual abuse, Cookbooks, and much more

Hardbacks & paperbacks priced to go at .50 - $2!!

ICTC IS A NON-PROFIT AND NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT TO HELP REDUCE INFANT MORTALITY AND TRAIN DOULAS
CONTACT AQIYLAH AT (503) 460-9324
OR AQIYLAH@ICTCMIDWIVES.ORG
FOR MORE INFO

Birthingway College of Midwifery needs bellies for practice

Birthingway is currently looking for belly models for their midwifery students to practice non-invasive prenatal skills. Mamas must be 20+ weeks pregnant and will receive $20/session. Starting Tuesdays Sept.29th-Dec. 15th from 2:30-4:30pm. It's a really fun time- The belly models will get a foot massage by one student while another does fetal positioning, fundal measurements, etc. while under the supervision of a clinical instructor and an assistant.

Birthingway is located in OUTER SE Portland- basically Foster and 122nd. It's an old 3 story house with a homey feel! Easy to get to, right on bus lines.

Contact Birthingway directly to get on the list (ph # 503.760.3131)

Please pass this on to pregnant mothers at 20+ weeks.

International Day of the Midwife - May 5

Today, May 5, is Love Your Midwife day!

Midwives provide support throughout a woman's childbearing year and sometimes beyond. They care for women, their children and their families and are truly in service to women.

If you know a Midwife, give her a call or send her an email and thank her for all the hard work and late nights she puts in.

If you are interested in learning more about midwifery, leave a comment on this post and Nurture will be happy to provide you with more information.

Do you have a special story about a midwife you'd like to share? We would love to hear it.

Two Workshops with Silke Akerson

The Fruitful Body: Nourishing Herbs and Foods for Fertility

Come learn about the many simple and powerful ways you can prepare your body for conception and pregnancy!In this class I will cover a number of medicinal herbs and healing foods that can help bring your body into balance and increase your vitality and fertility. We will be focusing on readily available and local herbs and foods that are easy to prepare and use on your own. You will come away with recipes for simple teas, foods and other tools for a fertile lifestyle.

Queer families welcome.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

6-8 PM

Nurture 1614 NE Alberta

$20 per person/couple

Vaginal Ecology Workshop

Come learn about vaginal health and balance! In optimal health the vagina is a resilient and self-balancing organ, but physical and emotional stresses can lead to occasional or chronic imbalance, infection, and pain. I will talk about the bacterial ecology and pH of the vagina in health and in sickness and will address healing on a physical, emotional and relationship level. I will use real stories to cover multiple remedies for the two most common vaginal imbalances: Yeast and Bacterial Vaginosis. This workshop will be useful for everyone, from those interested in self-care to seasoned practitioners frustrated with persistent vaginal infections in clients.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

6-8 PM

Nurture 1614 NE Alberta

$20

To register please e-mail or call, Silke Akerson, CPM

silkeakerson@yahoo.com

503-705-5060

Silke Akerson is a midwife, herbalist, and mother with a passion for connecting people with plants and with their own self-knowledge for healing.

503-705-5060

silkeakerson@yahoo.com

http://www.tworiversmidwifery.com/

Friday Feature Provider: Tia Rich

To celebrate the fabulous family-friendly community we enjoy here in Portland, now and then we will be featuring local mamas and professionals using an interview-style or, when we are feeling wild, some other format. Featured Mama on Monday and Friday Professional Features.

Tia Rich

My life has led me through many different paths, but oddly enough they have all offered valuable insight and learning to exactly where I am today, which is exactly where I planned to be from about the age of 16. I am a mother of 3 and soon to be grandmother. I work currently as a Birth Doula and teach both childbirth education and hypnobirthing. I believe knowledge is important for families to know in order to empower themselves toward a natural, positive birth. I am also a Midwifery student with Ancient Art Midwifery Institute and cannot fully express the joy I get from finally embarking on the journey to becoming a Midwife. I have spent my time working as a nurse spanning both life and death having worked in Labor and Delivery seeing the beauty of birth as well as working in Oncology (cancer) learning about and experiencing the incredible beauty of release into death. There truly is a vast number of similarities in birth and death and the way it is treated in our society. In the midst of this work I became trained as a Reiki master healer, and a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist.

Business name/service:

Inner Serenity Childbirth Services

Tell us a bit about the wonderful work you do:

I feel honored as a Doula when I am invited into the sacred and intimate space of a couple or mother that is their birth time. I support birth first by offering education, depending on the type of doula support I offer 3-4 prenatal visits which are full of childbirth education. I feel for me that a key to successful support during the birth process is to have both knowledge and connection to the family I am there to support, which is not something I feel I could foster in just one prenatal visit. I offer hypnobirth as a way for many women to access their more primal, self aware selves. In our society which is so very analytically oriented, surrendering to our intuition and primal self is not necessarily easy. Hypobirthing offers the tools for mothers to surrender and go within. Hypnosis can also be very beneficial for healing, which again is very often needed today. Healing from sexual and medical traumas that have been done to us that may hinder birth release energy. One key to the support I give is the comfort and belief that even if a family is choosing to birth in a hospital that they can successfully spend the majority of their time at home safely supported and monitored.

How did you discover this path?:

Discovering the path of being a Doula began 5 years ago as I began to research how I could support birthing while working towards becoming a Midwife. I decided to no longer work as a nurse feeling that the manner in which medical birth was being given did not fit with my beliefs about birth. I discovered Childbirth International and received my certification as a Birth Doula and trained locally with a clinical hypnotherapist to receive my certification.

What do you cherish most about your work?:

I cherish every healthy baby who is allowed to journey into this world at their own time. I cherish every mother and family who has been able to embrace their pregnancy as the sacred journey that it is, to feel empowered and healthy. I love that I get to share in these moments. I would love that my support was not needed, that this was a standard of care all families could expect to receive, but at this point in time, I find the support I give is very important for such natural births to occur.

Share a family-friendly tip:

One tip I always give to pregnant women is to tell family and friends the due date that is actually 2 weeks past her actual due date. This aids her in not being bombarded with the many comments of "hasn't she had that baby yet", or continual contact for updates. I believe this takes the pressure off, if just a little bit for mothers.

Contact info., hours, etc.

www.inner-serenity.org
birth@inner-serenity.org
971-533-6496

Are you called to be a midwife?

SISTAH MIDWIFE INTERNATIONAL

PRESENTS
“The Blessings of Midwifery, Helping from the Inside Out"

Are Your Called To Midwifery?
Shafia M. Monroe, Certified Midwife since 1982, midwife trainer, mentor, coach, public health activist, author and motivational speaker, will share the spiritual and the service fulfillment of midwifery.

Midwifery is beautiful, spiritual, traditional and evidenced based; is it for you?
Shafia will cover:
Learn how the Spirit calls women to midwifery.
Why Be a Midwife?
Midwifery contributions to healthy families and neighborhoods.
Midwifery Paths: Certified Nurse Midwifery (CNM) and the Certified Professional Midwife(CPM).
Share your call to midwifery.

When: Thursday February 26, 2009, at 6:00pm -8pm over a full course Ethiopian dinner.
Where: The Horn of Africa’s Special Meeting Room, 2nd floor
5237 NE MLK Jr. Blvd. Portland, OR 97211 (inside the Vanport Plaza)

Cost: $20.00 for dinner and a complementary gift of “Black Midwives and Prenatal Provider Directory-Essential Recipes and Words of Wisdom for Expecting and New Parents”.
Payment due by February 21st. There is limiting seating; the first 10 people will be guaranteed a seat.

Please pay through PayPal at www.sistahmidwife.com

or by check to: Shafia M. Monroe, PO Box 11303, Portland, OR 97211,

(503) 281-1688
Sistah Midwife International (SMI) building capacity through motivational speaking, diversity training and coaching. SMI promulgates midwifery as a solution to better birth outcomes, healthy communities, and sustainability and mentors women aspiring to become midwives.

Read Shafia’s bio at www.sistahmidwife.com and www.ictcmidwives.org.

Friday Featrured Provider: Carol Gray

To celebrate the fabulous family-friendly community we enjoy here in Portland, now and then we will be featuring local mamas and professionals using an interview-style or, when we are feeling wild, some other format. Featured Mama on Monday and Friday Professional Features.

Carol Gray, Midwife, LMT

I am originally from LA, but have lived in Portland since 1981. I have been attending births for over 30 years - at first as a doula (before people who did this were called doulas) and since 2000 as a home birth midwife. I have been a therapeutic bodyworker since 1989. Prior to and during some of this I was raising children and suffering in a bizarre succession of boring jobs. Now my husband and I are happy empty nesters, enjoying our grandchildren, our retreat center-like home in Forest Park and our crazy dogs.

Business name/service:

When I'm practicing and teaching Craniosacral Therapy I use my own name. When
I'm wearing my midwife hat I'm part of Two Rivers Midwifery.

Tell us a bit about the wonderful work you do:

For the longest time my professional life was rather disjointed. I remember calling myself a massage therapist who also goes to births. Somehow it all came together and now I practice and teach Craniosacral Therapy mostly for babies and moms. My former students and I host monthly free infant Craniosacral Therapy clinics in Portland. I also have a low-volume (by choice) midwifery practice. Each of these branches of my work informs the other. It's never boring. I really love the work I do.

How did you discover this path?

I was always interested in birth and babies. My mom and dad were the most liberal parents in my neighborhood. They told me all about the birds and the bees at a tender age. I held meetings during which I told the other kids in my neighborhood where babies came from. The meetings were well-attended. Actually, though, the path discovered me. When I was in massage school I thought I wanted to do hospice work, but the people who came to me for massage were pregnant women. They asked me to attend their births. I took a class in Craniosacral Therapy because it was being offered at Esalen and I wanted to go there and write off the trip. It turns out I loved the work and I zoomed through the rest of the curriculum. I can see the path when I look back, but I never really saw it clearly when it was ahead of me. Sometimes I actually resisted it - especially the calling to be a midwife. I tried everything short of being a midwife including being a doula, a Birthing From Within mentor, a doula trainer, a pregnancy massage therapist, owner of a resource center for growing families, etc. I am interested in so many things. My challenge has always been one of focus.

What do you cherish most about your work?

I love how midwifery allows me to become a temporary family member of my clients. I get to build a relationship with women and their babies before, during and after the birth - for a while. Then I often get to see the babies for periodic Craniosacral Therapy treatments as they grow into children and adults. I think it must be something like the experience of a country doctor who makes house calls and sees families throughout their lives (except for the part about practicing medicine).

Share a family-friendly tip:

Trust your instincts. Nobody knows your children better than you do. You are the parents.

Contact Information:

Voice: 503-236-2999
Fax: 503-236-4334
E-mail: carolag@e-z.net

Web:http://www.carolgray.com/carolgray/About_Carol_Gray.html

The Basics of Vaginal Ecology

Come learn about vaginal health and balance! In optimal health the vagina is a resilient and self-balancing organ, but physical and emotional stresses can lead to occasional or chronic imbalance, infection, and pain. I will talk about the bacterial ecology and pH of the vagina in health and in sickness and will address healing on a physical, emotional and relationship level. I will use real stories to cover multiple remedies for the two most common vaginal imbalances: Yeast and Bacterial Vaginosis. This talk will be useful for everyone, from those interested in self-care to seasoned practitioners frustrated with persistent vaginal infections in clients.

Wednesday, December 3

at 6:15 PM

The Herb Shoppe

3327 SE Hawthorne

Free

Silke Akerson, CPM, is a midwife, herbalist, and mother with a passion for connecting people with plants and with their own self-knowledge for healing.

Silke Akerson, CPM

503-705-5060

silkeakerson@yahoo.com

http://www.tworiversmidwifery.com/

Nurture Welcomes Silke Akerson

Please join us in welcoming Silke Akerson to Nurture. Silke is an herbalist and a midwife who will be offering herbal consultation, fertility consultation, well woman care, and midwifery care (http://www.tworiversmidwifery.com/). Silke has a warm and down-to-earth approach, and we are excited to welcome her to Nurture. Here is some information from Silke about her background and services...

I am an herbalist and midwife with a special passion for helping women and families connect with their own self-knowledge and power for healing. I believe that each person is the primary authority on their own health and well-being and I work as a guide and consultant rather than an authority during the healing process. I am well-suited to work with people who are ready to delve deeper into understanding their bodies and the many medicinal plants and foods that can help us come into balance.

I work with my clients to create a plan for optimum health and vitality through the use of herbs, nutrition, movement, tarot and much more. I specialize in women's health issues, digestion problems, and chronic imbalances that have yet to become recognizable diseases.

Preconception work and fertility consulting are a focus of mine. I work with women and families who are planning a pregnancy to: enhance fertility and vitality with herbs and nutrition; track ovulation to improve the chance of conception; and resolve any irregularities in the menstrual cycle. I am excited to work with Lesbian and Queer families and can help with understanding donor issues and insemination methods.

I am also available for in-home consultations about herbal self-sufficiency. This consists of helping with herbal garden planning, pharmacy development, and connection with local resources for gathering medicinal and food plants, all tailored to meet the specific health needs of the individual, household, or family.

I come to this work from a family tradition of herbal self-care, homebirth and midwifery and started attending births and actively studying herbs as a teenager. Since then, I’ve finished a BA in women’s health, completed midwifery school in Texas, taught childbirth education classes to pregnant teens and Latina women, apprenticed as an herbalist, and practiced midwifery and herbalism in Costa Rica and Oregon. I am the mother of a fantastic (almost) two year old who keeps me on my toes. Being a mom has set me on a new and exciting path towards understanding children’s health which I am gradually incorporating into my practice.

My fee is $50 for herbal or fertility consultations. I am committed to working with low-income folks, I am open to trade and barter, and I speak Spanish. For more information about my midwifery practice please see http://www.tworiversmidwifery.com/

Silke Akerson, CPM
503-705-5060
silkeakerson@yahoo.com
http://www.tworiversmidwifery.com/

Nest Midwifery Open Nest

Laurie Perron-Mednick, Kimberly Kincade, and Jen Warnock, the lovely midwives at Nest Midwifery, are celebrating their grand opening by welcoming you to their nest on Saturday, September 20th from 4-8pm. The Nest is located at 2225 NE MLK, above Echo Cafe. There will be treats to eat, drink, and see (including some special artwork)...activities for the wee ones...everyone is welcome!

For more information about Nest Midwifery, check out their gestating website at

www.nest-midwifery.com

BIRTH: the Play

The Oregon Midwifery Council presents:

BIRTH a play by Karen Brody from BOLD (Birth on Labor Day)
on September 20, 2008 at 2pm
at the Delores Winningstad Theatre in the Portland Center for the Performing Arts.

All proceeds support the Oregon Midwifery Council.

If you are familiar with The Vagina Monolouges, BIRTH is similar but with a focus on childbirth.

Birth is a play based on over one hundred interviews Karen Brody conducted with mothers across America who gave birth between 2000-2004. It tells the true stories of 8 women painting a portrait of how low-risk, educated women are giving birth in America today.

To learn more about the play, visit BOLD's website. Watch a promotional video.

Tickets are $18 presale and $22 at the door.

A Safe Passage Training

A Safe Passage: Supporting Women Survivors of Abuse through the Childbearing Years

Advanced Practitioner Training

September 27 & 28th, 2008
9:00am-6:00pm
at Nurture 1614 NE Alberta St.
$250/participant

A Safe Passage is an Advanced Practitioner Training program designed to help caregivers gain an understanding of the special needs of women survivors of abuse and learn the skills needed to support them through their pregnancy, labor & childbirth and early postpartum.

Caregivers who would benefit from this training include counselors, doulas, midwives, lactation consultants, nurses and other health care professionals caring for women in the childbearing year.

Women who have experienced childhood sexual abuse, sexual violence and woman abuse have unique emotional, psychological and physical needs related to the abuse during pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Trauma from the abuse can manifest itself into a variety of complex thoughts and behaviors through the childbearing year, which may pose particular challenges for caregivers and could have lifelong impacts on women and their children when appropriate and sensitive services are not available. Safety, both physical and emotional for both the care-provider and client can be in jeopardy.

At the same time, as a caregiver you have the opportunity to become a trusted ally. Through continuing education and training, support persons can learn appropriate ways of screening clients for abuse related trauma, techniques to respond to disclosures, can learn how to work collaboratively with their clients to devise an action plan for coping with potential triggers that may arise during the childbearing year and offer referrals to supportive community services.

About the facilitator
Jodi has worked with women as a doula and childbirth educator since 1996, with a focus on the intersections between trauma histories and the experiences of women during the childbearing years. Since 2002 she has been employed in both residential and clinical settings as a full-time Woman Abuse counselor, providing counseling as well as facilitating groups for women whose children have been exposed to their abuse, and groups for children who are coping with the impacts of witnessing the abuse of their mothers. Jodi has a certificate in crisis intervention from Fanshawe College and an Honors Degree in Women's Studies from The University of Western Ontario. As of Fall 2007, she is again attending UWO, this time to obtain her PhD in Health Sciences-Health Professional Education.

Jodi's unique combination of skills from both the birthing community and the Violence Against Women sector has spurred a high demand internationally for her workshops aimed at informing other medical and allied health and social service professionals around the complex issue of trauma and the childbearing years. She was recently a guest presenter at The National Summit to Ensure the Health and Humanity of Pregnant and Birthing Women in Atlanta , Georgia , and provided specialized training in Vancouver at the Canadian Prenatal Nutrition Program's provincial conference Celebrating the Health of Our Children, Families and Communities.

Jodi resides with her family in London , Ontario , where she runs a private counseling practice for women, and operates A Safe Passage, the first and only website dedicated to supporting Women Survivors of Abuse through the childbearing year through providing women, their families and their care providers with information on the impacts of trauma on the perinatal period.

To register or for more information contact Mychelle at Nurture: mychelle@nurturepdx.com or (971) 344-7527

$250/person, some sliding scale spots available
$100 minimum pre-registration deposit

Upon receipt of your registration, your confirmation of registration will be sent to you, which will provide the details of your workshop location, maps, and, if requested, lodging advice.

Nursing infants are welcome in the workshop; however, the intense nature of the workshop precludes the attendance of older, more active children. We ask that you respect the learning needs of the other participants by attending to your child when necessary, and taking him/her out of the room if the need arises.

This workshop has limited enrollment and tends to fill up quickly, so please register early to hold your spot or call to confirm that space is available. A deposit of $100 (non-refundable) is required with your registration.

Fees include materials and certificate of completion.
CAPPA Canada, LAMAZE (therefore DONA), continuing education credits available (11 ceu’s)

If there are other organizations that you would like us to contact for ceu's, please let us know.

For full workshop details please visit:
http://www.asafepassage.info/

Plant Sale to Help Support Birthingway College of Midwifery

Many of the direct entry midwives in the Portland area are trained at Birthingway College of Midwifery. Birthingway is having a plant sale on Saturday May 3rd 9:00am-3:00pm and Sunday May 4th-11:00am-2:00pm in the parking lot of Ben and Jerry's at SE 36th and Hawthorne, rain or shine. Support aspiring midwives, pick-up some plants, and maybe even get some ice cream afterwards.