I am traveling to Cape Town, South Africa to check on doing a conference there. Before I go I wanted to introduce you to Mickey Sperlich who is one of the authors the new book Motherbaby Press is about to send to the printer. While I am gone she will do a few guest blogs about her book. You will also continue to hear from me.

Motherbaby Press is the name we have given the publishing arm of Midwifery Today. Mickey’s subject is an intense one, the effects of sexual abuse on childbearing. The title is “Survivor Moms: Women’s Stories of Birthing, Mothering, and Healing after Sexual Abuse.” Mickey wrote the book with Julia Seng; both are midwives. I think this subject is so very important because as midwives and doulas we are serving mothers who have these issues, possibly as many as one out of three and we need to know how to help them. Most especially we need to know how to keep from re-traumatizing them. (“First do no harm.”) Birth is an incredibly intimate life passage. In the same spirit of a quest for this knowledge Midwifery Today has organized a conference so we can learn more about this important subject. Please see midwiferytoday.com/conferences/HopeHealing2008/ Please check back here often to read our blog. We appreciate your interest in the amazing calling of helping women in childbirth.

LOVE, jan

The other day I took my young friend--whose birth I am helping with--to the birth center where she plans to have her baby. The midwife, while showing her the birth pool, stated that recent research show that women experience 70% less pain while birthing in water. I don't know if there is any way to really know that, but since how we think about birth can be so easily influenced, it might be a good thing to tell women. The battle is in the mind. Ina May tells pregnant women, "Don't listen to bad birth stories." We need our own uplifting sayings to counter what our culture has done to women's minds. Does anyone have especially nice counter birth culture words they use for empowering women?