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Region 1 (Far North)

Representative: Carrie Blake, Athol

Here in North Idaho we are having Second Winter. It's cold, rainy and grey. We are trying to force the hand of spring by wearing flip flops. We do not expect to see summer before fall. Our green house seedlings are spindly and small. On quiet nights we can hear them yelling for help!

Region 1 hosted a Neonatal Resuscitation Provider class in May, taught by Marge Mansfield. Many of us were able to attend the class and update our certification. Thanks to Barb for organizing this training.

 Our next Peer Review is scheduled for July 5 at Womancare Midwifery in Bonners Ferry.  If you are in our Region or would like to join us for the day, just let us know!

Womancare Midwives in Bonners Ferry:   Kendra has returned from her winter travels to SE Asia and I am so happy to have her back!  We are still trying to get caught up on stories.  Our practice is steady and our clients are wonderful, many being repeats and more second generation births all the time, which is always very special.

I have enjoyed working for different chunks of time in 2 busy practices, helping out in April at Dayspring and May again at Treasure Valley Midwives.  I can't tell you what a great experience it is to learn, share and grow in another setting.  Thank you to all of those who welcome me in and adjust to me being present.  It is truly a gift to me.  If anyone is looking for temporary help, remember to ask - there are those among us who are willing and sometimes able.

We are also excited to welcome Ashley Howell, CPM who will spend the summer with us.  Ashley is one of "my" babies :-) who is a new CPM, recently completed her training at Matenidad La Luz in El Paso.  We love having a young, fresh perspective to help us learn and grow.  

THE WORLD NEEDS MORE MIDWIVES!

Barbara Rawlings, LM, CPM

Lavender and Roses Mothering and Birth Center:  Sherry is going to Oaxaca City, Mexico and Puerto Escondido for the month of June, to work with 2 emerging birth communities, one in Oaxaca City and one in Puerto Escondido. In Oaxaca City, a birth center called Casa Compasiva just opened in February 2011 www.birthcenter.blogspot.com (Lavender and Roses' sister birth center in Oaxaca). Already they are doing 6 - 8 births a month. And it is no wonder! The c-section rate is 83% in that area. Women are just about desperate to be able to have a baby without having to undergo major surgery. In the past, Native Mexican women use traditional midwives for their prenatals, and then travel to Oaxaca to have their baby. Now, with the Casa Compasiva's ministry, women are enjoying childbirth education, along with info on parenting, diet and breastfeeding. This trip Sherry will be doing births and working on a postdates protocol that will work in their medical community.

In Puerto Escondido, a new natural birthing community is just being born. We have one supportive physician and about a dozen supporting families. Sherry will be meeting with those families and the physician for an encouraging time of answering questions about about natural child birth and ways to integrate a natural birth philosophy, upping the chances of a vaginal birth for the with-child women in Puerto Escondidio.

Sherry will be posting updates on her Lavender and Roses web site. Click to read her journal and pics. www.lavenderandroses.org
Sherry Bushnell, LM, CPM         

Pend O'Reille Midwifery:   Besides the weather...  Births have been a blessing with few reasons to see the docs. In our area, the decline of some of the areas businesses has caused a decline in families being able to use our services but we are glad to serve the families who are able to come our way.

We had a really fun and well attended Midwifery Day celebration with over 30 businesses supporting us by offering services or gifts to raffle. It was a great time even though Second Winter was in full storm and we had to stay inside.

Our wonderful partner and dear friend Emily is back with us and helping with the primary care load of the practice, which means that Denise may actually get some more sleep. Emily is back from Thailand after helping her sister give birth to her first son, Sage, in February.
Denise Midstokke, LM, CPM and Emily Baker, CPM 

 Dayspring Midwifery:  Inga and Carrie are having an amazing year so far and have just finished up the busiest month every at Dayspring - enjoying the births of 16 beautiful babies in May.

In addition to the privilege of helping with the births, the team at Dayspring is thrilled to welcome Jenn Brakeman, our former student, back into the fold for part of May and part of June. Jenn has been living in Thailand and working with Free Burma Rangers www.freeburmarangers.org for the past year. While we are excited about the work she and her husband, Matthew, are doing to help the Burmese people, we are so very happy to have her back with us for these weeks.

Dayspring is actively looking for an additional student. If you know of a student midwife who might be interested in living in the Coeur d'Alene area and is interested in working in a busy birth center, please have her contact us at customercare.dayspring@gmail.com . Sending a resume, picture, and letter about midwifery and apprenticeship goals is the best way to start the process.
Inga Arts, LM, CPM and Carrie Blake, LM, CPM

New Beginnings Midwifery:  We have been busy assisting midwife friends with their births, preparing for summer/fall births and pottery shows, and those wonderful family visits. 
Merrilyn Reeves, LM, CPM

Birth Journey:   Cathy Weston, RN, LM, CPM is enjoying the beginning of summer!

 Makaia Foster, LM, LMT:  No news

Region 2 (Middle Idaho)

Representative: Nancy Draznin, Genessee

Here in the central Panhandle we are craving sunshine and busily preparing for the IMC conference in Cottonwood, June 7-9. We have planned an exciting event with top-notch speakers and workshops ranging from Herbal Pharmacology to Medicaid billing. One highlight will be the general meeting and “Envisioning Our Future” session with our lobbyist, Kris Ellis. The conference is being held in a beautiful location, the Monastery of St. Gertrude. I really hope everyone can make it.

In other news, the annual Midwives’ Day picnic was well attended despite the chilly weather, and the Palouse now has an ICAN chapter. Look on Facebook for ICAN of Palouse for more information.

Otherwise, we are doing the usual: catching babies, managing families and practices, and really, really hoping for some warm weather so the gardens will grow.

Region 3 (Southwest)

Representative: Coleen Goodwin, Meridian

After a two year period with just glimpses of a traveling midwife and her suitcases, the Salmon area will see the re-opening of the little cottage-like birth center on Main Street.  In this remote Idaho area, there is a demand for safe, gentle midwifery care, with ever-growing co-operation by local physicians and the hospital.  The area residents are very welcoming, and it is hoped that one student who's  just finishing her licensing requirements will consider returning to Salmon occasionally and helping out with the births!  After all, that's where her midwifery career started, at her cousin’s birth 18 years ago.  Best wishes, from Annette Lewis, LM, CPM  (more info in Region 4)

The Baby Place Midwives & Birth Center:   This year we had to remove two cherry trees that had, at one time, produced a bumper crop of fruit.  Children would laugh as they would fill their mouths to the brim. 

Laboring moms and dads would pick and eat in between contractions.  Last spring Brent and I noticed that the trees did not produce blooms and that the leaves were very few and far between.  A friend from a local nursery came by at our request to make an assessment of those special trees.  We were sorry but not surprised to hear the news that they both had come to the end of their lives.  Now, more wood sits in Brent’s shop to someday become a beautiful vases and bowls in our birth rooms.

We have a new student, Rachel Elling, who has joined us from Birthwise Midwifery School in Maine.  Rachel is a serious student who is very passionate about midwifery.  She is such a good fit at the Baby Place and we have all enjoyed having her with us.  Samantha Sturlin has enrolled in the National College of Midwifery and is seen attached to whatever book she is currently devouring.  Sam, who has proven to be a committed student midwife with a significant amount of clinical experience, is now working very hard at her academic studies. 

As new babies have come, so have some unique opportunities in bridge building with our medical community.  We hope for more of the same...new babies and bridges...in the months and years ahead!

Vicki Penwell also sent news of two classes she is teaching in Boise during the month of August. See registration info page 6.

Happy spring from Treasure Valley Midwives.  Jill and Paula have just finished doing in-services for the St. Luke's NICU staff in downtown Boise.  We did four presentations about the scope of practice of Licensed Midwives, what they could expect from Treasure Valley Midwives when we transfer a newborn to the hospital and what we hope for in return from them.  The information was very well received and a common comment was "I didn't know 75% of what you just told us".  One of the things that NICU has encouraged us to do is to talk with our clients about what a newborn transport looks like so that parents are prepared for all of the activity swirling around their baby as assessments are being made.  We do a pretty good job talking with families about what a maternal transport during labor looks like (usually not as hectic) but we have neglected to talk much about newborn transports, so this was a good suggestion. 

At the birth center, we have added on-site ultrasound services to our clients.  Once a week an ultrasonographer comes to the birth center and does scans, which are read by a radiologist.  It is nice for our clients not to have to go elsewhere for ultrasound services and the ultrasound tech is fantastic! 

We are busy this summer with interns.  A nurse-midwifery student from the University of Washington who is interested in out-of-hospital birth was here for a couple of months and we are looking forward to having a family nurse practitioner student as well as a family practice resident here in June.  It is very exciting to be able to give these health care professionals an opportunity to experience the midwives model of care and we hope that they will take a whole bunch of what they learn to their different practice sites. 

Paula, Jill, Kathleen and Violet all attended the Midwifery Today conference in Eugene, OR in April. There were some wonderful topics and we all learned something new! Students, Violet and Kristin, recently traveled north to join area midwives there in certifying for NRP. It was a wonderful opportunity to expose Violet and Kristin to others in our midwifery community.

We hope to see many of you in Cottonwood at the conference!

Region 4 (Southeast)

Representative: Valerie Hall, Ammon

We may be few in this region, but we manage to keep from being bored.  Julie Buck has been to Salmon to teach childbirth classes to clients of Annette Lewis in addition to her usual teaching and doula activities. Valerie has also made the trip to Salmon a to meet those clients and to assist Annette with one of the births. It was fun in spite of her fears about the long drive.

Speaking of Valerie, she passed the NARM exam in February, and is nearly finished with her course work for Midwives College of Utah. She hopes to finish and submit her application to the Idaho Board of Midwifery for licensure before the end of June. Idaho will have one more midwife soon.

Krista Nichols is in the home stretch for getting her numbers ready to submit to NARM with her application for the exam. She has been attending every possible birth, initial visit, etc. as she puts her apprenticeship into high gear.

Joyce Roundy and Lenore Keate have passed their Neonatal Resuscitation class and are taking an increasing role at visits and births. They travel a long way from Monteview to do this apprenticeship, and we appreciate their help.

All of us at Agape’ have been busy as usual. Besides the usual pace of births, prenatals and postpartums, we hosted a Midwives Day Fun Run and celebration at Freeman park near the river. Once again Personal Best Performance helped with the run, and it was good to see some of our past and present clients and friends there.

The new addition to our birth center is complete and functioning well; there’s just one more small exam room to furnish and decorate. We’re beginning to plan our grand re-opening which will take place sometime this summer.

Even though Annette Lewis is not technically in our region, we’d like to report that she will be re-opening her birth center in Salmon, pictured below.

After several years of rest, the little cottage-like birth center in Salmon will be re-opening on a part-time basis, with help from midwives from Eastern Idaho.  The house is shared by successful business women including a small salon operator, a massage therapist, a photography studio.  So we can birth a baby, get a massage, get a make-over and have a newborn photo shoot, all at the same location!

Seriously, safe, gentle midwifery care is in demand in Salmon, and just because I hit the "30-year" mark did not mean "retirement."  So I am happy to be back at providing this rural Idaho area with a wonderful option for birthing families.  The local physicians and hospital are slowly becoming more co-operative and this is great as well!  Our Open House will be June 17, watch for it and please stop by!
Annette M. Lewis, LM, CPM

P.S.  I need to start using my middle initial now, since there are two "Annette Lewis" in Salmon!  One delivers news about local high school sporting events in the local newspaper, and the other delivers babies.

Membership Report    

IMC currently has 46 members. If you know of any midwives, student midwives, or doulas that are not members, and would like to join our organization please have them contact me via email at: zfreen@me.com

Membership fees are $35.00 annually, and due on Jan. 1st of each year. Membership includes quarterly newsletter, discounts on IMC sponsored workshops and conferences. You may also request to have your contact info included on the IMC website. This year we are also offering the option to pay your membership fees with PayPal. If you opt to pay through PayPal, it is also important to send me your current contact info either via email, or snail mail. Please go to the IMC website, www.idahomidwives.org for more information.

Please be sure and let me know if any of your contact info changes, so that I can update that in our database.

Thanks!
Kendra Scarlett
IMC Membership Chair
zfreen@me.com

Treasurer’s Report    

Current Bank Balance: $6420.36
Expenses 2nd quarter 2011:
Lobbyists (remainder of $5000 retainer fee): $2500
Baby t-shirts: $710
Newsletter distribution: $17.15

Carrie Blake
Treasurer

Elections Are Coming Up

Dear IMC Member,

The Idaho Midwifery Council is calling for nominations of IMC members for 3 board positions.  The IMC board works to promote midwifery in Idaho, to keep midwives connected throughout the state, to offer educational opportunities and is responsible for developing and supporting resources to ensure the fiscal health of the organization through fundraising and membership growth.  Serving on the IMC board is demanding and rewarding.

The positions open for nominations are:

1.  Vice-President:  The Vice-President shall perform the duties of the President in the absence or inability of the President to serve, succeed to the Office of President should the Presidency become vacant during an unfinished term, be coordinator of standing committees determined by the Board of Directors, and perform such other duties as may be assigned by the President, the Executive Committee or the Board of Directors.

2. Region 2 Representative – Moscow to McCall

3. Region 4 Representative – Southeast Idaho

The duties of the Regional Representative shall be to:              

·         Communicate with midwives and consumers within the region and help to facilitate their contact.              

·         Present a quarterly report of activities within the region to the Board of Directors and membership.  This will be published in the newsletter.

The board meets monthly via cyberspace, has regular email communication throughout the month, occasional conference calls and an annual in person meeting.  If you are interested in working to keep your profession healthy, PLEASE consider running for a position.  You may nominate yourself; if you are nominating another member please confirm with that person regarding their interest & ability to commit to the above responsibilities before submitting their name. 

Please send nominations on the enclosed form, post-marked by Aug. 15, 2011 to:

IMC Elections,  7084 Ash Street,  Bonners Ferry, ID   83805 

Elections will be held via mail ballot in August 2011.  Thank you from your IMC Board.

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