Californians for the Advancement of Midwifery

We are excited to share that we have board positions open! Are you passionate about midwifery access in California? Do you believe that people have the right to choose where and with whom they birth?... Do you want to help reverse the effects of the 100-year campaign to eliminate the profession of midwifery? If you answered yes to these questions, please apply for a two year board term and help us ensure that every birthing person has access to midwifery and that midwives can sustainably practice free from onerous regulation. You can apply at advancingmidwifery.org/join If you know someone who you think would be a good fit, please complete a nomination form at advancingmidwifery.org/nominate If you would like to join our team, but don't have the ability to donate time, you can still make a difference by making a monetary contribution: advancingmidwifery.org/donate [LINKS IN BIO] #california #californiamidwifery #midwifery #communitybirth #homebirth #birthcenterbirth #advancingmidwifery

If your immediate response is Not all white midwives are racist, please pause and consider this before commenting: It is really important that when a Black person makes a comment like Denise’s, that we white women do not become defensive. It tells the Black woman that you do not believe her and that you will not stand with her. The defensiveness is about our own discomfort with the post and is not supportive. It places weight on the shoulders of the poster, when the responsibility is really on us to dig deep and figure out why we responded that way. I encourage all of us to read Layla Saad’s Me and White Supremacy and do her prompts. It is hard, but 100% necessary. - Ann Grauer Read this important thread here: https://www.facebook.com/1345864085/posts/10223242818202517/?extid=0&d=n [LINK IN BIO]

In perfect time for International Midwifery Week from Shafia Monroe Consulting! I am excited to announce that the Black Midwives Through Time chart is completed. This information tracks the journey of Black midwives in America. I use to attend events that would have us do a midwife timeline but it didn’t represent Black midwives, it covered the history of white midwives. I wanted to know rhe history as Black midwives in America. This chart should be in every midwife and nursing school to add to midwife history. Black Midwives Through Time used four charts to cover year 1500-2020. Look out for the other three charts coming soon. https://www.facebook.com/258146544632711/posts/1035834166863941/?extid=0&d=n

All of this. This birth is one where you feel informed and supported in you choices. This birth is one where you feel calm and free from fear. This birth is one where you surrender to the power of your body. #Repost @birth_ed with @get_repost You see these photos, these beautiful, raw, magical photos of birth on Instagram.. and it challenges everything you know birth to be.. in the movies they just don't look like this.. maybe your last birth didn't look like this.. Whe...re's the hospital bed? Where's the doctor? Where are the machines? Where's the hospital? Where's the screaming? Why isn't she lying down? Where's the fear? . Sure, the hypothetical births of instagram might look like this, but yours can't, because birth ACTUALLY looks like it does on TV. Doesn't it? You can't have a birth like this because you've got diabetes. You can't have a birth like this because you're having a VBAC. You can't have a birth like this because it's your fist baby. You can't have a birth like this because birth doesn't go to plan. You can't have a birth like this because you want an epidural. You can't have a birth like this because you're not allowed a home birth. . I'm going to tell you a secret. You. CAN. . What is this birth? This birth is one where you feel informed and supported in you choices. This birth is one where you feel calm and free from fear. This birth is one where you surrender to the power of your body. This birth is one where you feel like a fucking superhero! This is YOUR positive birth experience. (Incidentally, it doesn't matter whether this birth is in a hospital or at home or in water or on a bed or if your baby comes out of your vagina or your abdomen). . THIS, is a photo of a REAL birth. The photos we share on here are ALL real births! The power, the silence, the roaring, the pride, the love, the strength, the joy, the struggle, the women, the babies.. ALL REAL. The ones you see on TV? Not real! . . How much do you want to feel like this? @hnnahhillphotography See more

SB 1237 has passed. This is just one more time where the 100 year campaign to eliminate midwifery as an autonomous profession has been successful by placing CNM care behind the signature of a physician. So after losing ground on access to nurse-midwifery care, what's next? ... Continuing the fight to protect licensed midwifery and community birth. Now that the California Medical Association (CMA) has a win for restricting access, you can be sure they will want further restrictions for licensed midwives. It happens every couple of years that CMA and ACOG introduce a hostile bill -- without talking first to midwives or the folks served by midwives -- that severely restricts birthing choices. To prepare for this fight, we need voices and money. When CMA and ACOG introduce hostile bills, we will need to reach all of our supporters quickly so we can mobilize a solid and well coordinated opposition just like we did for SB 1237, SB 457 (Bates) in 2017 (which would have placed comprehensive restrictions on all out-of-hospital births), and a proposal by the Medical Board to ban VBAC care with LMs in 2019. And when we proactively put forth legislation that protects and improves access, we would love to ask for your support just like when we passed SB 407 (which expanded LM care under Medi-Cal) and SB 408 (which defined and protected the status of midwife assistants). So the first thing we would love for you to do is think of who you know who values midwifery. Tag them on this post and encourage them to sign up for our email newsletter at https://advancingmidwifery.org. The second thing you can do is financially support the advancement of midwifery. Some of our donors have set up monthly recurring donations. It’s an easy way for you to support us throughout the year without having to think about it. (If you have already set this up, THANK YOU!!) Let's create a world where everyone in California has access to midwives. Click here to make a donation today: https://advancingmidwifery.org #CAFamilies4Midwives #CFAM #CNMA #CNM #YearOfTheNurseandMidwife #midwives #SenBillDodd #CALeg #DecolonizeBirth #VBAC #VBACUnderAttack #ObstetricViolence #SB1237