Monday, September 22, 2008

Hurricanes, Cold Fronts & Motherboards...Oh My!

You know, as I was driving south on 65 toward Atlanta, I wondered why it took so much to keep my Chevy Blazer on the road. Hurricane force winds. But I never imagined what it was doing to Dayton, my home, at the same time. Our town looked like a hurricane hit it - both Ike and a cold front came together and about 90% of our citizens were out of power...some still are. Phones were down, groceries lost produce and freezer/refrig goods, homes were damaged.

Thus, some of the orders on www.birthsource.com will be delayed due to this.

The Waterbirth workshop in Atlanta at South Regional Medical Center was a great success and we met some really wonderful and mother-centered professionals. One the way home, the drive again through the mountains of Tennessee were breath taking. On Thursday morning, upon awakening at home, I turned on my computer only to find the motherboard had DIED. Trying not to panic, I did use my hubbies' computer for some work but went out a purchased a new computer on Friday (have I mentioned my dislike of Vista?) and then purchased a retriever for the data on the old hard drive. That will be transferred tomorrow and then I will be officially good to go again.

Like Morgan Freeman said in "Evan Almighty" - look at all as an opportunity. If you pray for patience, do you think God is going to give you patience? No, He gives you an opportunity. If you pray for abundance, do you think He will give you abundance? No, He gives you an opportunity.

Guess I have been blessed with a lot of opportunities this past 10 days. Sure hope my opportunities calm down for a bit!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Ike Chases Lamaze Attendees!


What happens when you blend Hurricane Ike (or what is left of him) with a cold front? Some hellacious storms that knock the power out of home town Dayton Ohio just some of the Lamaze Conference attendees get home. As we left the hotel, winds were picking up - I mean really.


I was driving south to Atlanta to do a Waterbirth Credentialing workshop on Tuesday with friend Barbara Harper. The wind blew so hard in gusts that at one point I wondered if my Chevy Blazer would stay on the road! Luckily a Starbucks presented itself and I pulled over to wait until some of the wind settled down. Oh, and I had a Grande decaf skinny vanilla latte. LOL!


By the time some of the other attendees arrived back in Dayton, hurricane force winds blew down limbs and whole trees, snapped flag poles, power lines - now some 100,000 Daytonians are without power. Lord only knows when it will be restored.


The weather has quieted and I am safe in Atlanta. I really like driving from Dayton to Atlanta - especially through the mountains of Tennessee. They are so beautiful but especially so when it is just very lightly raining and the clouds are so low you drive through them!
A little R & R for tomorrow......

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Louisville!


Well, for Exhibitors, it is the last day of the conference. We have been truly slammed every break which is a good thing! Jim couldn't help me this year as he is going to the MANA conference in October with me . So I took Erin came with me and it has been a great experience for both of us!

Conferences are really nice because you get to see friends that you don't normally get to see: I got to spend some really quality time with my friend Ruth Ancheta whom I met about 20+ years ago when we were both in Southern California. Also here are Colleen and Jana from So. CA and then too a lot of my Canadian sisters like Kathie Lindstrom. Cathy and Julie from Colorado and then all of the Florida people I know from when we were stationed there in the 1980's.

We have alot of down time right now through the lunch hour - but then the last hour when we get truly slammed - no one realizes the exhibits pack up at 5 pm for good! It usually gets fast and furious during that time. Better rest up for it.........

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Making a list and checking it twice...thrice



Lists. Thank goodness for lists. Without them, lately, I would not be able to remember a thing!





Especially packing lists. Packing the inventory for the Lamaze conference has been great because we have so much new inventory to bring. I am so excited. And we have a larger corner booth this year ~ room to E-X-P-A-N-D. So if you are in Louisville, stop by our booth and say that you read the Childbirth Today Blog. If you do, you will get a special gift!





I am looking forward to seeing friends, old and new, in Louisville, then it is off to Atlanta to the Waterbirth Credentialing Workshop. Barbara and I will be driving back from Atlanta together, brainstorming and talking about future projects. WOW, that trip will go fast with the two of us projecting about projects....

Hope they have alot of Starbucks on the roads I will be taking!

Monday, September 08, 2008

The Midewin Center ~ another of my projects! (Sigh)


Along side of the Chicago Birth Summit, comes the Midewin Center.

Last fall, while visiting my in-laws, I was watching a PBS special on Native Americans. The "Midewin" was mentioned, described and truly caught my attention. It means "healing" and I immediately thought to myself that I must do something with that word.

At the time, I didn't quite know what that "something" was...until I got the bug to pull together professionals in the community in one place (sound like something else?) for the common good of the public seeking a collaborative practice. Try as I might, the right core of individuals could not come together. Nor could we find the right location for all of us at the right price. Am I asking too much? Am I not listening right to the Big Guy? What am I missing here?

So the idea sat on the back burner of my ever-busy thought stove until the spring when the perfect location came available. However once again, the right core of individuals were not there AND the price was not there. So, again I wait........

Much to my surprise and NOT in sync with MY calendar, the right core group of 5 and the right location AND the right price all came together about 8 weeks ago! Things moved extremely rapidly and everyone but me had quite a sense of peace about it. Retrospectively, now that we are contracted up to our eyeballs for everyone's peace of mind and safety, this is just as it needed to be.

On October 1, The Midewin Center will open with a variety of proactively healthy services. Currently there are some physical renovations to the space being done by contractors and the Core 5 are assembling furniture, art and other necessities for the move-in.

The closer we get to the move-in date, I will be updating you on the progress. Just know that if you live in the Southwestern part of Ohio, you should be excited. Very excited!

Friday, September 05, 2008

Chicago Birth Summit

Several months ago (June 25 post "Coming Together"), I thought about what if all of the leaders of the major childbirth, midwifery and doula organizations came together in one location to answer the evidence-less proclamations of medical organizations.

Well, it appears as if it is going to happen. A meeting room has been secured for November 8 in Chicago - the invitations have been sent, after a Save-the Date note was sent out earlier. The Save-The -Date email receive tremendous response and 99% of every organization emailed, responded positively. We will spend the better part of that Saturday examining the state of maternity care in the US, discussing the enormous impact of childbirth practices on the breastfeeding success of American women, as well as create a response team to the above-mentioned proclamations - there will probably be more.

In the coming weeks, I will post which organizations or individuals have RSVP'd so you can see if your certifying organization is going to be in attendance.

For once, we will be speaking in one voice - nurses, midwives, childbirth educators, doulas - will be together, working together.

It will be interesting to see the progress.......