Doula Activism & PoliticsThis forum is for activism efforts, networking and discussing political and social issues, such as circumcision, that impact doulas and their work.
Anyone here aligned with birthnetwork.org a national non-profit org promoting awareness and availability of mother friendly services?
We have formed a network in the last 1.5 years here in Columbus we have been struggling with getting the word out but, I know the information needs to be shared so I keep on keeping on.
I have the opportunity to attend their leader training on the 2nd of Nov and was wondering if anyone on AllDoulas was going?
This sounds really interesting. I have never looked into Birth Network, but I am on my way to the website now.... thanks for the info.
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Marybeth
Doula, Chilbirth Educator (CAPPA) almost done with my certifacation, Student Midwife , Mommy to 5 boys.....19, 13, 8, 6, and 3..
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We just started a Hudson County chapter in NJ several months ago. It's been slow with about 6 or 7 people total at our monthly meetings (including the 3 of us who started the group and our speaker!) I think eventually it will build up - I hope so at least - but it's definitely discouraging. We have hung flyers everywhere we can think of and we have a yahoo group that about 40 people have joined so there are always emails and announcements going around, we just need to get people to the meetings! I think it's a great organization and hopefully will become more recognized by pregnant women in the future.
I am with you on the "NEED MORE PEOPLE" we have about 3-4 and 3 of us are members.
We usually have 1-2 mom;s who are expecting.
I really feel great about the National status and I am looking forward to learning more about the Resource guide for our area.
I wonder if we have any MFCI friendly folks. I just attended a birth that mom was told she could only have X# of people, take her own clothes off, even after asking if she could keep her t-shirt on. NO birth ball allowed with out prior approval from the attending. Doc told her she tore as much as an epi would have cut. So, she had essentially cut her own epi. I had to respectfully disagree with him on that one. As he had never experienced epi or childbirth himself. Sorry I got off topic.
Anyway, I am excited to be able to go to the Training this weekend and maybe I will learn some things I can share.
Where are you guys conducting your meetings?
We are at a small library branch.
What times ?
We are meeting at 630 for members, then 7 for our "Talks"
What topics are you guys covering?
We have covered comfort measures, informed choices, and next month we are doing VBAC.
HOw many volunteers do you have?
We have a great crew of about 4-5 passionate dedicated ladies, we just all have little ones and a million things to do that go along with being mom's, military wives, doulas etc.
It is great to talk to you and I hope we can share resources and ideas. Prayers for more ears to hear what we have to say.
Good luck to you
Jennifer Kapheim
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Jennifer Kapheim,CLD
Expectant Grace
Labor Doula Services
Columbus, Ga[color=Purple]
Jennifer, I'm feeling really bad about not being involved lately. It's just been hard with all the kids' activities and having a 30+ minute drive to Columbus (depending on the location).
HOWEVER, we have decided to skip winter sports for the kids, so I should have some more free evenings this fall/winter...please let me know when you all are meeting again to plan, etc.
I would LOVE to help in planning the BOBB showing, too!
Birth Network is such an awesome organization; it's amazing to me to see how much they've grown since I co-led a chapter in Ohio. I so wish I could go to the retreat this year. Maybe next time! Have fun!!!
Our next meeting is NOvember 8th 7p.m. we are covering VBAC.
I am planning to have the BOBB on our December meeting.
Do you have any ladies up there that would be willing to come to Columbus, and pay 10$ to watch the video?
I only need about 6 more people to commit and I will feel great about paying the 200$ to get it here.
I hope this will be a fundraiser for BirthNetwork, if we get 20 people commited to pay then any of the exta folks who come will be donating directly to BirthNetwork.I am just nervous putting myself out 200$ and not know that we will have that covered.
I am praying that It will all work out in our favor
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Jennifer Kapheim,CLD
Expectant Grace
Labor Doula Services
Columbus, Ga[color=Purple]
Our next meeting is NOvember 8th 7p.m. we are covering VBAC.
I am planning to have the BOBB on our December meeting.
Do you have any ladies up there that would be willing to come to Columbus, and pay 10$ to watch the video?
I only need about 6 more people to commit and I will feel great about paying the 200$ to get it here.
I hope this will be a fundraiser for BirthNetwork, if we get 20 people commited to pay then any of the exta folks who come will be donating directly to BirthNetwork.I am just nervous putting myself out 200$ and not know that we will have that covered.
I am praying that It will all work out in our favor
We just started a birth group. We have not yet joined with any organization. I have been considering buying the online manuel, but haven't yet. Do you feel it would be helpful even if we didn't join with them? The other question which may be better answered by them, but you may have some feedback, would I be able to share the online copy with others in our group or would they have to purchase seperate ones?
The great thing about this group that I just found out is that it is Consumer Driven. I thought at first it was CBE's and Doulas etc. That said Hey more people need to know about us so...... But, it is not it is consumer based. A non-birth person had 2 csections and 2 homebirths, she felt and many other of her friends felt "People should be able to find MOther-friendly services in an organized way" Not, Sally said......or Beth went to this person....... So they organized and began a professional guide/referral.
I think it was beneficial for us to join in. A lady here (Consumer) got up the moxy to start something here in town and after about 1 year and 2 big events, we found the National group and we signed on with them. WE have an EIN, and tax deductable status.
They have a GREAT resource of women who have been doing this for 7-8 years and they just went National about 4 years ago.
They have a PSA available at their Myspace page. Just search birthnetwork national.
(They have a tree as their logo.) We plan to have our local radio stations to play it.
I plan to use the non-profit stuff to get donations for food for our BOBB showing.
THeir financial person told us that we could use our volunteer hours on our taxes, at about 8>00 and hour and our mileage etc.
Having their experience and larger name is going to give you a Larger voice. Some of their Board members also sit on boards like ICAN and CIMS. so their is lots of cross-talk. we are after the same Rainbow. Mother friendly maternity care.
This information is timely, and much needed in the obstetric community our hospitals offer little to no choice. It is IN the BED, CFM, IV, Hospital Gown, Cath, DRUGs, DRUGS< DRUGS. I am so looking forward to more voices and gradual change.
Again I was so inspired knowing that this was basically Consumer based, I as a doula am always encouraging people to look for better care, more answers etc. But, to know these women are REALLY out there!! Whooo hooooo !!!!
Check them out and they are really nice if you have any questions just contact them.
Good luck keep me posted on what you decide.
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Jennifer Kapheim,CLD
Expectant Grace
Labor Doula Services
Columbus, Ga[color=Purple]
OPERATION SPECIAL DELIVERY (VOLUNTEER)
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Ok, your awsome....thanks for this information. I am going to definetly start a chapter in my area...this could be the key that I have been searching for...to bring "birth awarness" to my dull little town...lol....thank you , for this valuable information. I am going to look into this today.....I will be in touch!
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Marybeth
Doula, Chilbirth Educator (CAPPA) almost done with my certifacation, Student Midwife , Mommy to 5 boys.....19, 13, 8, 6, and 3..
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Jennifer, are you talking about Ga birthnetwork? I'm not a member or anything.. I've wanted too, but just haven't been able to. Or is this a different one?
Jess...it's not the GA Birth Network. It is a chapter of a national organization www.BirthNetwork.org Basically, you can start a local chapter with min requirements. Check out the site and you'll get great information. You need a couple of leaders and the members pay a membership fee directly to the national org so your local chapter doesn't have to worry about that. You have monthly meetings open to the public and they provide guidelines with suggested topics etc. Plus all of the by-laws etc are already set up for you (the most challenging part of setting up any organization) and you fall under their non-profit status. They should call it birth-network-for-dummies! hahahaha
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I have to say I decided to get the information. I am actually pretty disapointed by what I received. I paid for it in the morning (Friday) and didn't receive anything from them until very late at night, which is a minor issue as they very well may be volunteers. An automatic message that they got my payment and were going to send something would have been reassuring though.
I was very disapointed by the quality of what I received though. It is full of typos. Which really makes me question the quality of information I will be getting out of them. But, I don't have anything else to base this information on.
I think the thing that really gets me and there MUST be some way round this... She said the file was to big to send to me by email so she had to send it throught his thing called yousendit. So she sent me the link which is to expire in 7 days and is only allowed 100 views. I am able to open the link in word, however I am not able to save it. I can't even cut and paste it and save it into a new document, I can cut and paste it but then when I got to save it it all deletes and says I don't have permission to do that. This may be a problem with needing to update word as a word message does pop up saying it needs to close out due to errors anytime I try to save it. I'm asking by bro-in-law my computer guy what to do, but if he can't resolve it by tonight I'll contact the birth network. I can't imagine I'm only able to view the thing for 7 days and had to pay $15, but at this point that is how it is for me.
They gave the outlines for something like 5 meetings, but they were very basic and the information did not give me any indication if there would be more if we joined as a network. However, you do have access to a discussion group so there will probably be more information there.
I really like the idea of having the bylaws already done, but like I said with all they spelling, grammer and formatting issues with this I question how the quality of the bylaws will be.
I think the thing that interests me the most is having the tax deductable already done.
I'm unsure as to my feelings about the membership cost, yes I can see it very beneficial and almost necessary to do the membership in order to have money to function as an organization. But at this point it makes more sense to me to do the organization ourselves and keep all of the membership amount.
Just my thoughts for now but as I get more information and have more time to review everything more in depth I'll come back to let you know if my feelings remain the same.
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