Author: MidwifinNC

And so much unity! We shared, cried, and celebrated one another at this year’s winter meeting in the beautiful home of Elizabeth Daming. Thank you so much for hosting us and providing such a delicious spread and good, hot coffee!

We enjoyed a very informative presentation by Jason from NC Hearing Link on screening for community birth families. He filled us in on the different ways the Dept of Public Health can help us if families desire screening and we dont have a screening machine and/or if we get a refer and need further testing. Jason has promised to send me a digital packet of the paper copies he gave out at the meeting and I will send those out to the membership as soon as they become available.

This meeting was a wonderful start to a new year for us as a sisterhood of midwives from many different backgrounds and practice environments. We are so proud of our diverse membership and all that we do daily to serve mothers and babies and one another. Many of us were brought to tears at the wisdom, beauty, and strength demonstrated by the midwives that attended the meeting today, and that, my dear sisters, is the reason why NC Midwives Alliance is still here today- we need one another, we are indeed stronger together! Thank you to everyone who attended, it wouldn’t have been the same without each and everyone of you. We created a space where vulnerability was held safe and sacred, and trust came naturally. I am truly humbled by this and all of you.

Several folks mentioned that they didn’t receive the Winter Newsletter. I assure you, if you are a member, and we are 80 members strong, you were sent the newsletter to the email you provided. Please check your spam and junk folders as many have reported they found it there. We are definitely not spam 😉 We try to send out the newsletter 2-4 weeks before the next meeting so look for the spring newsletter in March. The newsletters are all available on the website as well and announcements/links are posted on facebook when a new one goes out.

Thank you for the feedback and contributions we have already received and please send in your tricks of the trade! We can benefit from one another’s wisdom. Laughs, birth stories, pictures, news, etc are also always welcome and appreciated!

Please see the flyer below to save the date for our Spring NCMA meeting and mini-retreat weekend in Wrightsville Beach, April 6-8th! This is one weekend you don’t want to miss. Keep your eyes peeled for more info to come very soon!

Flyer

Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018! NC Midwives Alliance is celebrating the new year with a NEW LOOK for our quarterly newsletter! We hope you will not only enjoy the new, easier to read version but also make some contributions to the newsletter this year. We have a new column, “Midwifery Tricks of the Trade” and are eager for the shared wisdom of the birth workers of NC, send us your favorite tips, tricks, techniques, and wisdom! Our popular “Musings of a Student Midwife” column is back for another year, thank you Rose!

We hope 2018 will be the year that NCMA members contribute in mass to the newsletter, send in your ideas, poetry, pictures, birth stories, heart aches, challenges, and any and every thing in between, let us be your safe space!

Also in the Winter newsletter is meeting information for our Winter Meeting January 13th in Youngsville, please join the event page on facebook as well by clicking here.  Many continuing education events are also listed in the newsletter, complete with links to make registration and gathering information easier.

We look forward to our Spring meeting on the coast, hosted by Meredith Christie, more info to come!

May the new year bless each of you with butter births and uninterrupted post-birth sleep!

In Sisterhood, NC Midwives Alliance

Access the Winter 2018 Newsletter here or in your Inbox if you are a member (please check your spam folders)

Whew! It has been a busy conference and meeting season for many of us across the state! There has been much to learn and share, not to mention plenty of sisterhood, networking, and connection to fill our cups!

There are quite a few more workshops and trainings coming up in the next few weeks, please check out the latest newsletter for all the details.

Read the newsletter here.

We are so blessed to have this space of unity, where we may be nurtured and restored. In this season of thanks-giving, please know that the North Carolina Midwives Alliance is grateful to serve YOU. Please send any information for future workshops, CEU events, poetry, blogs, thoughts, and/or pictures to mare2raven@gmail.com so that we can include them in future newsletters. NCMA is more than happy to promote your events and help bring sister midwives together.

North Carolina is hosting this years ACNM Tristate Conference at the Lake Junaluska Conference Center. It’s been a long time since NC had a midwifery conference and NCMA is honored to be represented. Members Nancy Koerber, CPM, and Belinda Lashea, CNM, DEM, will be giving a presentation on unity in midwifery and why it is a goal worth striving for.

So, what is Unity? Unity is a philosophy of partnership, of inclusiveness, and one that honors diversity. It is an agreement to collaborate in ways that enrich each group involved and do not compromise the basic principles or well-being of any of the groups.  And finally, unity is about standing together in the face of adversity.

This conference is an opportunity to honor and strengthen the threads that bind us. It is our sincere hope that midwives from all backgrounds will feel empowered to attend. May the love we have for women be extended to one another, creating a space of sisterhood, safety, and healing!

For more information or to register for the conference see the links below. One day registrations are allowed.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1455007364552206

https://www.eventbee.com/v/acnmtristateconference2017#/tickets

TriState 2017 Conference Flyer (1)

TriState Flyer TriFold

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The meeting was attended primarily by midwives from western NC, and was a bit of a reunion! We enjoyed chocolate-covered strawberries and tea between hugs and birth stories. We are so grateful to our host, Christie Deville for opening her home to us!

We look forward to our Winter meeting in Youngsville, NC, and hope for a coastal meeting in the Spring! NCMA meets quarterly, 2 meetings of the year are held in the central part of the state and our goal is to have one in the western and another in the eastern areas once per year to bring our spirit of sisterhood and solidarity to midwives state-wide.

Please spread the word and encourage all apprentices, students, assistants, and aspiring midwives to join us at these gatherings. “Each one teach one,” has been a cornerstone of midwifery and we believe that instilling the values of unity and cooperation between midwives from the very beginning is an essential foundation to our sacred work by providing community, opportunities for networking, and sisterhood to those working hard to follow their heart’s calling, just as we did (and still do!).

Right now we are in full blown summer mode, trips to the pool and the beach, watermelon, lightening bugs, harvesting herbs and veggies from our gardens, and soaking up the sun. Summer is a busy, fun time, and for many midwives it provides us with some uninterrupted time with our families that we feel is in such short supply during the school year.

To honor this fun time, and provide a little cool down and respite, we have set our summer meeting for early September in the sanctuary of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This meeting will be relaxed and family-friendly, we encourage you to soak up some mountain summer goodness while you’re in town.

For those of you who live and practice in the western parts of the state, we hope you’ll take advantage of this meeting in Boone and join us for sisterhood and community.

This event is a potluck, please bring a snack or beverage to share.

We are offering an optional Peer Review at the conclusion of the meeting for practicing midwives and their apprentices.

Meeting details:

Sunday, September 3, 2017 from 2 – 4:30pm at the home of Christie Deville in Boone, NC: 

Registration is open now! This is one event you don’t want to miss! They have a great line up of speakers and activities to soothe your midwife’s spirit and rejuvenate you. Please see the Carolina Birth Junkies website for more info, click here.

We enjoyed beautiful weather and community during the annual fundraiser for the NC Friends of Midwives! Please enjoy the pictures and if you haven’t already, join NCFOM on their website.

The North Carolina Friends of Midwives and NC Midwives Alliance invites you to our annual Walk for Midwives fundraiser during the month of May. The Walk will be held in Garner, NC this year and we are expecting to host hundreds of families and midwifery supporters from all across our great State of North Carolina to raise funds for our legislative efforts.  Our goal is  to increase access to midwifery care and out-of-hospital birth options to NC families.

It is a great time to meet families, support our midwives and strengthen the communities that want to expand their options for out-of-hospital birth! We will have henna and face painting this year!!

Call for raffle items! Do you have a unique item or piece of art you’d like to donate for fundraising? Raffle items may be brought directly to the event, all donations appreciated!

Get tickets for the walk here or simply pay at the door: http://www.northcarolinafriendsofmidwives.org/Events

Join us on the Facebook event page here.