For the last couple of months I have had a nice rest from traveling the highways and bi-ways of central Mo. It has been so nice to be with my family, except for those hours I have to go to my day job. We have finished our dream home and moved in. There were a few all-nighters just before the final inspection and appraisal, where we all worked to finish things up, but it’s done! The inside at least. Every day I walk through this house in awe and amazement that our family built this ourselves in a short 7.5 months. I am so blessed with such a hard working husband and wonderful children. We will be able to gift our old home to our oldest son and that feels so good. We still have a lot of work to do on the outside property, a patio and sidewalks, etc. Even with working full time, finishing up this house, moving and tending to the daily needs of a family of 10, I still feel so RESTED!! I cannot believe I was doing as much as I was for the past 2 years. I am understanding now why my health took a nose dive this past summer and fall. I was pushing myself way too far. I have learned one thing and that is I cannot do that to myself again. I have plans to begin work with families again in the near future, however I will approach it much differently, based on what I’ve been able to learn from this sweet time of rest I have been blessed to have.
Now it is time to get to work supporting my fellow midwives at the state Capital! There are groups who would love nothing else than to eliminate midwives and homebirth all together. We must keep a vigilant focus on what is happening in the legislator right now. We have a bill, HB 521, that would license midwives in Missouri. As much as I’d rather see no regulation or license put on midwives, this bill is much better than the alternative, which is becoming illegal again. HB 521 would set up a Board of Certified Professional Midwives under the Department of Professional Registration and Licensing. This would allow midwives to be responsible for overseeing the licensure of their peers. A board of professionals that understand the profession at it’s core. If we sit back and do nothing we will face the very real possibility of the Physician groups pushing something through that would either 1) make us completely illegal altogether, or 2) would require midwives to carry 1 million dollars worth of malpractice insurance, something most OB’s do not even have to have by state law. This is why I want to encourage you to show your support for midwifery. It is so important that every family, who supports women to have the choice in who their care provider is, to contact your representative to let them know. It does not have to be long or complicated, just a short message saying you support homebirth midwives. Direct them to Kurt Bahr’s midwifery bill: HB521.
Here is the list of those who are ion the committees hearing our bill who need to know we support midwives and homebirth in Mo:
Austin
Beard
Burlison(chair, Springfield)
Carpenter
Cornejo
Fraker
Frederick
Kratky
McCann Beatty
Peters
Ross
Sommer
Swan
Walton
Wiseman
Representative Kurt Bahr, who is the primary sponsor of this bill!
This is the list of representatives who supported bills that would harm us in the past:
Franklin
Crawford
Solon
Lichtenegger
Entail her
Lauder
Conway
Haefner
Swan
Mims
Nichols
Zerr
Black
England
Newman
Brown
If you live in any of the districts represented by these people it is imperative that you contact them asap to show your support.
Midwives serve women all over the world as the primary care giver during pregnancy. It is time they are recognized as competent care givers here in the US.
Some other things you can do:
1. Join Friends of Missouri Midwives
http://www.missourimidwives.
2. Contact your representative and senator. Keep in touch with him or her throughout the session. Talk to them about why having access to midwifery is important to you. Write them letters and make phone calls. Become known to them as the wonderful home birth family that you are in their district. Send your legislators birth announcements. Talking points to make with your legislators are below.
To find your legislators, please use this link:
http://www.senate.mo.gov/
3. Come to this year’s Cookie Day (February 10th, 2015). Bring your children. We need a good turnout. If you can’t come, could you make some cookies that could be sent down for you?
I am so excited to be able to be at Cookie Day this year. I love talking with our legislators to let them know we appreciate their work and their support. Cookie delivery begins at 9am and then there will be a rally in hearing room 2 at 2pm. I am looking forward to meet up with my families at 11 am in the rotunda.
My life’s passion is bringing families choices and empowerment in their pregnancy and birth. I dearly love everything about this work. Although life throws some curve balls and our bodies may impose limitations we do not like (me anyway, lol) I will still push on toward the needed work to serve families.