Awakenings Birth Services

Exciting news for the Ca association of licensed midwives: Next week the Medical Board of California will be reviewing and approving its Sunset Review Report including the following recommendation: Given that physician supervision has been removed from licensed midwives, the Board does not believe that they should be licensed and regulated by the Medical Board, and is supportive of licensed midwives establishing their own board.... We need people available to stand by at the MBC meeting next week to speak up in support of a midwifery board! It is critical that the MBC knows that the midwifery community is in favor of an independent midwifery board. Please join us on Monday, November 9 at noon, for a phone/Zoom information session with CALM, where we will share details about how and why to attend the MBC meeting, what the MBC needs to hear from us, and what our next steps will be after the MBC meeting. Topics will include: - Why a midwifery board is the best answer for advancing midwifery policy and achieving self-determination as a profession - How to effectively advocate for a non-controversial Sunset Review bill that includes provisions for a midwifery board - What our next steps are We hope you are as excited as we are in looking ahead to the future of midwifery in California! Register here for Monday’s information session. Read here and bookmark for more information, updates and to contribute to our FAQ page.

Sad to hear that more than a few Bay Area Midwives are supporting the bill, which is deeply flawed, creating massive impediments to care, and eliminating the autonomy of birthing persons rights in deciding their course of care. SMDH

@cornerstone.doula.trainings We’re so excited to be introducing you all to our guest speakers for our upcoming Advanced Full Spectrum Doula Training! . Meet @ch...ristyhallshow . I’ve had the honor of knowing/loving (you can’t know her without loving her) and collaborating with Christy Hall for a few years now. She’s someone that we can all learn so much from. She’ll be leading a discussion in our upcoming Advanced Full Spectrum Doula Training on supporting families who are engaging with CPS and the foster system. . Christy Hall is a Full Spectrum Doula working in Portland Oregon. She works with a program called Project Nurture, which provides wrap around support to pregnant people in Recovery from addiction, and opiate dependence. She also has a private practice, and runs a small apprenticeship program. During her 19 years working as a doula, she has supported pregnant people experiencing incarceration, people having abortions, pregnant and postpartum people in a wide vairiety of stages of addiction and recovery, and much more. She aspires to bring the harm reduction, bodily autonomy, and justice frameworks to all that she does. . Full Spectrum Birthworkers reach far beyond the boundaries of fertility, birth, postpartum, loss and abortion. We dig deep in our training into these expansive places where Birthworkers provide essential C.A.R.E. - including the carceral system. And, as always through an intersectional, decolonial and critical lens. . August’s course is now full, but December is open for registration. Link in bio. #birthjustice #harmreduction #harmreductionsaveslives #proabortion #naloxone #reproductivejustice #doula #homie #doulatraining #birthworker #birthkeeper

This is real, and this was me for a short time with the twins. Postpartum depression doesn’t always look like tears of sadness. New mamas, second time mamas, 3rd, 4th & so on, please vocalize your needs without shame. Our babies needs us, they need us whole!

Here’s one way to support and uplift Black lives-support The Black Bay Area Birth Fund: Dear Community, During these times of COVID-19 and amplified racial tension, the birth experience of a woman of color and her child can be especially sensitive. As midwives, part of our job before, during and after birth is to help transform vulnerability into power. Midwives are working hard to change birth outcomes for marginalized families through woman-centered, individualized holistic...Continue reading