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Volume 8 |
~ News
From "Your Birthing Family" ~ |
Issue 10 |
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In This Issue
About Women's Health
Polycystic
Ovarian Syndrome
Our Charis Family
Terri Henady
Charis Cuisine
Apple Avocado Soup
Charis Around the World
Tidbits From Ebony
Childbirth in Kenya
To enjoy past newsletters, visit the archives:
Newsletter Archives
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It is
with great excitement to announce that Anne Ohlman is our newest
Charis certified childbirth educator / doula!!! Congratulations,
Anne!!! We are hugely proud of you!!! All the families
in Texas are indeed blessed by your gracious heart and skilled
hands! |
Mark Your Calendars
Childbirth Preparation Classes
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Presented by: Birth InSight
Christi Jones (CCE, CD) and Aimee Roberts (CCE, CD)
Seven Week Series
November 7 - December 19
January 9 - February 20
February 27 - April 10
May 1 - June 12
Thursday evenings 7:00 - 9:00
(cost $250 per couple)
Weekend Series
November 1 & 2 (6:30-9:30) and (9:00-3:30)
February 7 & 8 (6:30-9:30) and (9:00-3:00)
May 2 & 3 (6:30-9:30) and (9:00-3:30)
(cost $250 per couple)
VBAC Workshop
October 27th, 4-5:30 pm
(cost $35)
For more information and to
register visit our
website
or call 757-270-0437
Attention Aspiring
Midwives!
You will love the flexible, thorough, distance academics
course offered through Charis Childbirth!
Check it out!
Want to serve childbearing families as a Certified Doula or Childbirth
Educator?
Become trained and certified through Charis Childbirth!
Take a look
at our unique certification process!
If you seek a school that offers the convenience of self-paced distance
learning, personal mentors for each student, a commitment to the highest
excellence in education, a family-like network of students and birth
professionals, and education from a Christian perspective, Charis may be just
the right fit for you!
For more information
Visit the
Charis Web site
for course description and outline.
Our
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Update
Charis Membership
We at Charis are extremely grateful for our wonderful members. This past
year, your dues have made it financially possible for us to creatively
correspond with people in areas of the world where internet is spotty at best.
Having all forms of communication available for us is essential if we are going
to successfully train birth professionals in the far reaches of the earth.
As our community of members grows, there will be more funds available for even
more world-impacting outreach. Thank you!
Membership is due every December 31 for the coming calendar year. So, if
you became a member on or before December 31, 2012, your dues should be mailed
by the middle of December, 2013, to be sure it is received in time. If you
became a member sometime in 2013, then your membership is not due until December
31, 2014.
You can send your
membership form and $30 dues to:
Charis Childbirth
P.O. Box 6900
North Port, FL 34290 |
Our Director's Heart

Todd & Kristin
Schuchmann
“Natural”
Hypocrisy
While walking down the hall of labor & delivery in a local hospital
recently, I noticed a bulletin board with a calendar grid. In each
block was a number, indicating how many babies were born that day.
There was a disproportionately large number of babies born on weekdays as
compared with weekends and holidays. Why do you suppose that is?
Of course, I came to the same conclusion that you likely have envisioned
just now: labor induction. I became sad for the babies who didn’t get
to choose their birthdays. My heart broke for the moms who now believe
there is something wrong with their bodies since they didn’t go into labor
on their own.
I am like the other midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, and consumers of
their services who are critical of modern obstetrics. The natural
birth community spends a lot of time shining a light on the ways modern
obstetrics is failing women and families. Let’s face it, there is much
need for improvement! Unnecessary interventions are a huge problem. In
the case of induction, however, the natural birth community is not much
better than the obstetric world. We criticize the rampant hospital
inductions out of one side of our mouth and prescribe “natural” induction
remedies out of the other side. Are we suffering from a mild case of
hypocrisy, maybe? (By the way, there is nothing “natural” about
induction.)
I wish I had a dollar for every time I have seen a question posted to a
facebook group or in an online forum asking about “natural” labor induction.
These women are tired. Their backs ache. They want to hold their
babies. They have passed the 37 weeks mark, so what is the harm in
giving nature a little nudge? So, the advice flows liberally.
Everything from herbs, homeopathics, essential oils, certain foods, and
castor oil to acupuncture, acupressure, chiropractic, energy work, and
having a midwife sweep the cervix are offered as ways to end the endless
pregnancy and help a momma’s dreams come true. But, isn’t that the
same thing these OBs are doing? Our bag of tricks may contain
different remedies, but aren’t we doing something similar to what we get so
irritated at the docs for doing?
Twenty years ago, women who chose midwives and home birth did so because
they trusted their bodies and their babies and didn’t want the natural
progression of their pregnancy and birth to be interfered with. We just
didn’t see so many healthy pregnant women desiring to end their pregnancies
early. It was an unusual situation for a woman to need to “give nature
a nudge” back then. That has changed gradually over the years and I
believe it is because of the big emphasis on 37 weeks being considered “full
term” causing women to feel that there is something wrong when a pregnancy
lasts more than 40 weeks. My friend Cathy, a seasoned midwife,
remembers the day when many women would go beyond 41 or 42 weeks and not be
a bit concerned about it.
Now, I do understand that, in some situations, labor induction is necessary
and the safest, smartest thing to do under the circumstances; but we are not
talking about those situations. We are talking about the normal,
healthy, low risk moms and babies.
What message are we sending when we encourage labor induction of any sort?
Are we telling women that their bodies are broken? Are we undermining
their trust in Creator God? Are we suggesting that God blinked and
missed the opportunity to send them into labor at just the right time?
Are we reinforcing their need to trust people over God?
I would like to encourage any expectant moms who are reading this to let all
the tension surrounding going “post due” to melt away, to trust God, and
enjoy these last days of your pregnancy. You will hold your baby soon.
And, I beg and plead with everyone else to stop the hypocrisy and resist the
temptation to give labor induction advice or help unless it is one of those
rare situations where it is truly needed for the health and safety of a mom
or baby.
Let’s not be so quick to take matters into our own hands. Let’s help
women regain their trust in God and His design. By not participating
in unnecessary inductions, we will shout to the world that women’s bodies
are designed to perfectly carry and birth their babies without intervention.
Women need to know they are fearfully and wonderfully made by a loving God
who has their best interest at heart in EVERY area of their lives, even in
determining their babies’ birthdays.
Blessings,
Kristin Schuchmann, CPM, LM
Executive Director, Charis Childbirth, Inc.
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-
For the Charis Childbirth Educator, Doula, and
Midwifery students: sharp minds to learn, opportunities for lots of
hands-on learning
-
For the Charis CE’s, doulas, and midwives: rest, peace,
protection, wisdom, discernment
-
For the Charis missionaries and
humanitarian workers: protection, peace, divine guidance, financial
provision
For our directors and
administration: Wisdom, guidance, energy, and provision
from God as Charis enters this season of growth
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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. |
'Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them
from the ends of the earth,
Among them the blind and the lame,
The woman with child and The one who labors with child, together,
A
great throng shall return there...And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD.'
Jeremiah 31:8, 14
~~~
©2013 Charis Childbirth
Services, All Rights Reserved
Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends in its entirety,
leaving all attribution intact.
October 2013
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