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Midwives, Doulas, Home Birth, OH MY!

Tag Archives: community

WomanSpace ~ Making the Vision a Reality

20 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by DoulaSummer in advocacy, community, life path

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community, WomanSpace, WomanSpace Rolla

For several years, there has been a shared vision of a space for women to come together. Over the years, it has evolved and at one point it was thisclose to becoming a reality.  At that time, my friend-colleague-fellow visionary, Molly of TalkBirth, wrote this about WomanSpace (click here to read her full piece):

I visualize a center. A place where women can come together to learn, to talk, to develop, to grow. A safe place. A nurturing place. A supportive place. Hostess to LLL meetings, book clubs, birth circle, birth info nights, prenatal yoga classes, birth classes, birth art workshops, pregnancy retreats, journaling workshops, craft classes, crafty mamas meetings, a miscarriage support group, postpartum mamas support group, birth counseling/consultation sessions, dancing for birth, prenatal bellydance, drop-in support chats, blessingways, red tent events, meet the doulas night, Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal groups, women’s spirituality circles, playgroups, baby massage classes, baby/tot yoga, girls’ coming of age classes, an ICAN chapter, Friends of Missouri Midwives meetings. A gathering place. A woman’s place.

It will have a large, open meeting room, access to a bathroom and another, smaller room that could be an office, consult room, or playroom. We will have counter space to plug in some minimal cooking implements (like a microwave). There will be comfy couches, chairs, toys, a lending library of books and films as well as perhaps toys/games/puzzles. There will be big pillows on the floor and beautiful art all over the walls. Other women wishing to have groups/classes for women, could also use the space for their groups/events.

For me, the time has come. I feel strongly that this is my community (not “my” as in ownership, but as in responsible to), one in which I am most intimately involved. I love my community and I want it to grow, to thrive and to be all the things I know it can be…one facet of which is a women’s center.  In addition to all those items listed in the above vision, I also see a need for women-owned and women-supportive businesses to have a physical space to showcase their wares.

Here’s what I see in my vision:

I walk in the door and see beautifully painted walls adorned with art from local women artists. A room off to the side holds information and products from the many women who are trying to earn some income for their families with fun products, like Jamberry Nails, Passion Parties, Lilla Rose, Scentsy, Mary Kay and so on. Down the hall on Tuesdays, baby sounds can be heard from the postpartum group. Wednesdays would be a different group of women and Thursdays would be yet another group of women. In the kitchen, delightful goodies from a woman-owned catering business are on display. There’s a freezer stocked with frozen meals to deliver when a woman has a time of need. Outside, a lovely garden is maintained by some women who love to grow things. On another side of the yard, a woman is giving an art class to a mixture of young and old. I turn around to see this beautiful space and take a deep breath. There is something for every woman here. It changes, as the community changes, filling the needs where possible…maybe a doula foundation someday to provide doulas to ALL mamas, maybe a women’s clinic with women care providers providing woman-centered care. The possibilities are truly endless. The specifics may change, but the vision of shared community, sacred WomanSpace will endure.

 

Yesterday, I attended the Rainbow Group‘s “Day of Hope” Prayer Flag Project. It is a very moving celebration/remembrance event for families who have experienced pregnancy/infant loss. The coordinator of the event had written some thoughtful words on prayer flags for us to decorate, if we so chose, and I decided that “courage” needed to be my flag. I brought along the flag I made for my own baby-start last year, so I chose to have this flag represent what is happening in my life journey *right now*.

"Courage" prayer flag

“Courage” prayer flag

My “artistic” rendering (toddler scribbling?) of the fire represents the burning to bring forth this vision and the house represents the literal house I see. If you click on the image to make it bigger, you’ll see the house is composed of many bricks. This was a genius suggestion made by my daughter when I was laughing about how awful my drawing skills are. “Just put bricks in it”, she said. I sort of grumbled and then realized the beautiful poetry of bricks. Yes! Bricks indeed! The women of this community are the bricks that will hold the house together. We may not build the actual house with our hands, but we will lay the foundation for WomanSpace with our blood, sweat, tears and continue pouring ourselves into it. This will be our space.  WomanSpace

 

Random

02 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by DoulaSummer in community, life path, midwifery, midwifery education, parenting

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community, midwifery, midwifery study, parenting in poverty, poverty

Here are some posts in the works:

Blackberries and ancestors, connection and babies.  My friend described picking blackberries at her home as a “holy mission”, which I thought was kind of weird.  Until I went picking last week, then again today.  Free food makes my heart sing.  Seriously.  I have a food “thing” and to know that I was gathering something to be used later that was costing me only time and energy was FANTASTIC!  I took all the kids, plus friends, so I eventually wound up wading through the thorns while nursing M in the Ergo.  Poor baby, I caught a leg on a nasty thorn…thank goodness for the miraculous healing properties of breastmilk, just pop a boob in the mouth and voila, all is forgiven.  I try to remember this when I get annoyed with toddler-nursing-gymnastics and the resulting assaulted feeling.  I thought about what my ancestors (I was mere feet away from my family’s land and it is highly possible that the spot I was picking was in the family at some point) felt when they were picking berries here.  Did they?  Was it a woman, a mother like me?  Did she hold her baby and nurse or did another mother sit close by?  Just as I feel connected to all the mothers who ever were or will be when I give birth, so too did I feel this very real connection to long-ago berry pickers.  How interesting.

In keeping with the random theme, this picture has nothing to do with the actual post....I just really like it!  My friend Shellei of www.goddessgarb.comdyed this gorgeous cloth.

In keeping with the random theme, this picture has nothing to do with the actual post..I just really like it!  www.goddessgarb.com dyed this gorgeous cloth.

Midwifery is everywhere!  New page to highlight my journey.  Even though this blog is obviously mostly about birthy stuff, I do write other things and sometimes it feels strange to have them all in the same spot.  I also realized that I enjoy reading about students of midwifery and their paths, so perhaps some would be interested in reading as I go along my path of midwifery study.  Check out the page linked above often to see what I’ve added.  My intention is to write once a week (or so) about what I’m working on and what my thoughts are.

Community.  Building it, feeling it, leaving it.  I’ve been feeling an increasing sense of community…this community…the community I was born into, where most of my family resides, where the majority of my growing up years were.  This community has sustained me through some rough waters and I want to give back, am trying to every day.  I also have this idea that building and supporting my community now will encourage my community to support me when I am a midwife.  This is taking many forms, from a produce cooperative to the various support groups I’m hoping to have up and running this year.  Of course, part of this is also because I know there’s a chance we’ll leave at some point (maybe for a time, maybe for good) and it’s important to me that I leave here having encouraged the best community I can.

More on poverty.  I have about three different posts concerning poverty in the works.  They are so difficult to finish.  How much do I say?  I can’t believe this, but poverty and talking about poverty are controversial!  How do I phrase things in a way that encompasses the magnitude without hurting others or placing blame?  Hopefully, I’ll figure this out sooner rather than later.  I did happen to catch a very apt quote in a book I’m reading, Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich (Revised edition) :

Poverty is involuntary and debilitating, whereas simplicity is voluntary and enabling.  Poverty is mean and degrading to the human spirit, whereas a life of conscious simplicity can have both a beauty and a functional integrity that elevates the human spirit.  Involuntary poverty generates a sense of helplessness, passivity, and despair, whereas purposeful simplicity fosters a sense of personal empowerment, creative engagement, and opportunity.

Parenting, of course.  I’m working on a poem or memo or letter to myself that will go something along the lines of “Don’t forget this”, as in:

Don’t forget what it was like to live life at the whims of a tired, cranky 2 year-old.

When you see that mama in the store struggling to keep it together, remember.

Force yourself to push through the lovely memories that (thank goodness!) cover the haze of those darker moments.

REMEMBER and help her.

30 Day Challenge.  I’m on day two of a challenge I’m undertaking to remind myself of all the kind, generous, wonderful people/places/things I have to be grateful for in my life.  I hope to have that posted in the next day or two!

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Midwives, Doulas, Home Birth, OH MY!

Midwives, Doulas, Home Birth, OH MY!

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Missouri Midwives

  • A Mother's Love Birthing Center
  • Baby Moon Midwifery Service
  • Columbia Area Midwives
  • Dar a Luz Women's Care
  • Homebirth, Naturally
  • KC Homebirth Midwifery Services
  • Northeast Kansas Homebirth Service
  • Peaceful Beginnings Midwifery
  • River City Birth Midwifery Services
  • Safe Journeys Midwifery
  • The Birth Whisperer

Midwifery Friendly Locals

  • Foods for Health
  • La Leche League of Rolla
  • Peaceful Beginnings Doula Services
  • Talk Birth Childbirth Education Classes

Local Support Organizations

  • Mindful Mothers Natural Family Living Network
  • Rolla Friends of Missouri Midwives
  • Rolla Postpartum Support Group
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