In This Issue

About Birth
      Ultrasound - How Safe IS it?
Becoming a Midwife
     Kate McKinney
Our Charis Family
     Esther Smith
Charis Cuisine
     Living Garden Loaf
 Life in Ukraine
   Testimony
 Tidbits from Ebony
     Traveling

To enjoy past newsletters, visit the archives:
Newsletter Archives
 

Our address

Charis Childbirth, Inc.
P.O. Box 6900
North Port, FL 34290

It's been a year since Charis headquarters moved to Florida. If you use our old Virginia Beach address, your mail will not reach us as the post office is no longer forwarding mail.  Be sure to mail your yearly membership fees to the Florida address!

Our Director's Heart

Childbirth is one of the most important events in a woman’s life. Her experience giving birth has the potential to give her great empowerment and confidence as a woman, or to dash her self-esteem and possibly leave lifelong wounds. I have personally experienced both ends of the spectrum in my own four births and have had the sweet privilege of serving hundreds of birthing women over the past couple of decades who have taught me just how very important it is for a woman to receive care that will put her in a position to have the most healthy, safe, fulfilling birth experience possible.

It is because of this that I am committed to caring for childbearing women with the highest standards of excellence and to educating and equipping aspiring birth professionals to have those same high standards. I think all would agree that moms and babies deserve nothing less than our very best.

Childbirth educators and doulas have filled a huge gap that began to grow during the industrial revolution. Before that time, women helped their daughters, sisters, cousins, and friends prepare for birth and would help them through labor and delivery. As countries became more industrialized, families grew apart and were less involved in each other’s lives. Hospitalization and medicalization of birth grew that gap into a huge chasm as hospital policy further separated birthing women from family and friends. As a result, there were fewer and fewer women who knew how to help other women prepare for birth or help them during the birth experience.

After decades of separation and less-than-fulfilling birth experiences, we are discovering that childbirth is an enormously important event in a woman’s life and women desire good memories of that experience. Childbirth educators and doulas have risen to the occasion, are skillfully preparing and tenderly serving birthing families so women can be more actively involved in decision-making and more in control of their experiences.

Childbirth educators and doulas alone, however, are not completely meeting the need. This dissatisfaction with birth has also led to a resurgence of midwifery. More and more women are choosing to birth with a midwife because of the midwives model of care. This increased need for midwives has ushered in a season of increased demand for midwifery education.

Seeing this need for a greater number of skilled midwives to serve families in the US and around the world, in 2007 Charis Childbirth began offering our comprehensive midwifery academics course in addition to our already successful childbirth educator and doula training and certification. We are so proud of our students! It is so good to know that when expectant families choose a Charis-trained birth professional, they receive the excellence in care that they desire and deserve.

At Charis, we are constantly working to ensure the very best in education. From the day our midwifery course was launched, our goal was to become a MEAC accredited school—and it still is! One important step in this process of becoming MEAC accredited is to first become recognized by the state in which the school is located. It is a huge benefit to have our base of operations in Florida, where there is already an established system in place for licensure of direct entry midwifery schools. Some states do not yet have that system in place. Charis Childbirth is in a very good position to receive Florida recognition and licensure and, subsequently, MEAC approval.

In order to be a licensed midwifery school in FL, we must first have a Florida licensed midwife on staff. It has been decided that I will be the one to become licensed in FL (Susan is licensed in VA). In order to become a FL licensed midwife, I must attend a FL licensed midwifery school. Not long ago, I discovered that Jennie Joseph, LM, CPM, a midwife I respect greatly, was opening a new school in FL. I am extremely honored to be one of the 8 students chosen for the inaugural class of Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery. Three years from now, if all goes as planned, North Port, FL, will have its first resident licensed midwife and Charis will be one giant step closer to MEAC accreditation. After that, everything else should move forward toward MEAC accreditation relatively quickly and easily.

Charis is committed to providing the best possible education so that every aspiring midwife, no matter where in the world she lives, can receive everything she needs to be the confident, skilled, excellent midwife that expectant families deserve. We promise the public that we will not cut corners or lower our standards. Our goal is that Charis-trained birth professionals will always be the best of the best!

If you know a Charis student, thank her for choosing such an excellent route toward serving birthing families.   And, to all of our amazing Charis students, I am so proud of each and every one of you and your hard work. Your efforts now will mean the world to the families you serve in the future!

Blessings,
Kristin Schuchmann
Executive Director, Charis Childbirth, Inc.
 
 

The information in this newsletter is for educational purposes only and is not intended to take the place of medical care and advice from your health care provider.