The Birth Workshop - Coming this Summer

I am proud to announce a unique event coming to Nashville, Tennessee this August 28-29, 2007. 9 Months & Beyond, LLC and Vanderbilt University School of Nursing along with Vintage Remedies brings you a workshop with
Barbara Harper,RN of Waterbirth International.

Barbara has been researching and documenting waterbirth and gentle birth since 1983. Besides that she is full of energy, spunk and most impressively mounds and mounds of up-to-date birth and bonding information - specifically information that can make birth more gentle, humane and healthy despite our love for technology and drugs.

So come on down to Nashvegas and join us! If you are coming to the CAPPA conference - stay a few extra days. We would love to see you!

Pass the information on to pregnant friends, family and neighbors, heck stop a pregnant woman on the street and tell her to come to the parent night. Post it on your yahoo groups - this is a grass roots operation here and I can use all the help I can get to let people know about this event! So I am shamelessly blogging about it. I wish I had had the opportunity to attend something like this during one of my pregnancies. Not only would it have given me information, it is also inspiring and encouraging to hear positive information about birth. The professional workshop just might be what we need to bring waterbirth to the Nashville area and other parts of the country that are lagging behind. Come learn and then share your new found knowledge with your part of the world.

To find out details about our event or to register, please visit
BirthWorkshop.com

Or you can keep reading....

A Parent Information Evening

We've got an amazing evening planned for Middle Tennessee parents as Waterbirth International's own Barbara Harper discusses the topic:

"I want a Healthy, Happy Baby – Do My Birth choices Really Matter?"

We'll also have a panel made up of local birth experts to field any questions you might have. Oh, and if that's not enough to get you there, there will be goodie bags, door prizes and exhibitors!

Tuesday, August 28th - 6-8pm
Vanderbilt University School of Nursing
Registration is $5 per person, $8 for 2 people and $30 for a group of 10!


Professional Workshop

Our professional workshop for August brings birth professional Barbara Harper to Vanderbilt University's School of Nursing to address

"Embracing Gentle Birth in a High Tech World – Solutions that Work."

CEU's will be awarded. The cost is free to Vanderbilt students and faculty.

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 - 8:30am-5:30pm
Vanderbilt University Campus
School of Nursing Building
Free for Vanderbilt Nursing Students and Faculty
Students: $45
Regular Rate: $65
Late Registration (After July 27): $85
CAPPA members receive the $65 rate at any time.

Paid registration includes continental breakfast, snacks, CEU's, syllabus, exhibit tables, gift bag and door prizes.
Continuing Education Credit

Applications have been made to provide CE hours for CNMs, CPMs, LMs and RNs. 5 Contact hours / .5 CEUs from the ACNM have been applied for by Barbara Harper of Global Maternal/Child Health Association.

Application for continuing education credit has been submitted to Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN) and is pending approval. VUSN is approved as a provider of continuing education in nursing by the Tennessee Nurses Association which is accredited as an approver of continuing education in nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Provider Number 032113008. Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, 461 21st Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37240

CAPPA has approved this workshop for CEUs for certified professionals. Please check with your professional organization concerning CE/CEUS.


About Our Speaker
Barbara Harper

Founder and director of Waterbirth International Resource and Referral Service, Barbara has been researching and documenting waterbirth and gentle birth since 1983. An internationally recognized expert, she lectures and consults in hospitals and universities. She is the author of Gentle Birth Choices (2005) and the producer of the videos Gentle Birth Choices and Birth Into Being.

Barbara’s topics will include:

* How best to keep birth undisturbed
* Identifying fear and helping to resolve it
* Chemical pathways of labor
* Influence of birthing practices on bonding and breastfeeding
* Neuroscience of motherbaby skin to skin contact
* Getting women into Hot Water: everything nurses, doulas and midwives need to
know
* Local panel of midwives, doulas and nurses talking about how to institute
Gentle Birth in hospitals

To Register for either workshop visit BirthWorkshop.com

To inquire about sponsorship or advertising opportunities, contact us at info@birthworkshop.com.

New Breastfeeding hotline

La Leche League has a new 24 hour breastfeeding hotline. According to La Leche League

"toll-free phone help is available 24 hours a day, anywhere in the US, providing information, education, and support for women who want to breastfeed, healthcare providers, and others".

So let everyone know to call 1-877-4-LA LECHE for breastfeeding concerns for a warm voice, correct breastfeeding information and support.

Of course, they could use your help funding the phone line too. LLL has set up a Cafe Press store with items that you can purchase to support and advertise LLL at the same time. You can also donate directly to the helpline.

To donate funds directly to the helpline, please contact Carroll Beckham, helpline treasurer, at cbeckham@nc.rr.com or mail your donation to Carroll at 2101 Woods End Drive, Fayetteville, NC 28312. Donations are also being received by Pam Freedman, pmfree3@aol.com, in memory of Olivia and Elena Parry, grandchildren of LLL Leader Linda Parry. Olivia and Elena died tragically in a house fire in December, 2006. Linda was quite instrumental in the creation of the helpline. Donations in memory of Olivia and Elena can be sent to Pam Freedman, 104 Crofton Springs Place, Chapel Hill, NC 27516.

So, let your pediatrician, Lactation consultant, WIC office, OBGYN, friends, cousins, everyone know this helpline is out there for moms and healthcare professionals day and night for any breastfeeding related problems. It could be just the right support at just the right time.

Roll Tape...Camera 1

I have been slacking as a blogger lately...sorry to all who have been regular readers and have had nothing new to read. I have had lots of ideas for posts, but no time to post them. If you could only have access to my brain...oh, wait, that probably wouldn't be a good idea either. You would also have access to my anxiety over our family finances, post-baby weight gain and daily 4:30 freak-out over what's for dinner. I am sure one day we will be able to blog straight from our brains, but until technology catches up, you'll just have to wait for me to sit down and write once in a while.

Don't be shy, please write me or comment and let me know that you are reading so that I will keep writing and engaging the world in this discussion on breastfeeding in the Black community.

Okay, just wanted to update on my video project. You can see here back in December of last year I started doing research into putting together a video to encourage breastfeeding among Black women. In my head I envision a video that shows images of us breastfeeding children, playing with, loving and holding our children and sitting with our husbands (and significant others) and friends and discussing breastfeeding. Why did you choose to breastfeed? How did you deal with your family members that thought breastfeeding was nasty or inappropriate? How did the baby's father participate in baby care? Answering questions that Black mothers - all mothers want to know and showing that it really can work for real mothers. Working mothers, mothers in school, younger, older, large chested and small.

Well, this Saturday, we will roll tape. We will attempt to get mothers, babies, children, husbands, boyfriends, doctors and of course the crew (my dear husband and his professional camera-man friend) together to get enough usable footage to make a 5-10 minute waiting room video. Something that will encourage moms to "try" breastfeeding.

I am very excited. I am very nervous. I have never done anything like this and don't know that I can do it. All I know is that it is worth a try. We are trying to get it done in time for the La Leche League International Conference in a little over a month. If we do, I will hopefully show it during a session I am facilitating on Breastfeeding in the African-American community.

Thanks to Latchon.org - a place where those who have an idea or dream for a breastfeeding project can meet donors with support to give. More people need to visit latchon.org and more people need to give there too. Please consider sending some of your charity money to projects there. My project was fully supported because someone who went to latchon.org believed in my vision.

Keep your fingers crossed for us, say a little prayer and stay tuned for an update. Hopefully many happy, healthy families will show up Saturday ready to share their breastfeeding experiences with the world.