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Volume
12 |
~ News
From "Your Birthing Family" ~ |
Issue
5 |
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In This Issue
Charis Family
Marilyn Garman
Charis Cuisine
Garlicky Sweet Potato & Spinach
Charis
Around the World
Childbirth in Kenya
To enjoy past newsletters, visit the archives:
Newsletter Archives
Mark Your Calendars
Charis Workshops
“Communication,
Teaching, and Coaching”
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Registration Form
"Labor Support”
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Registration Form
At Charis Childbirth in North Port, Florida
To register, complete the Registration
Form
and mail it, along with payment, to:
Charis Childbirth
2575 N. Toledo Blade Blvd., Suite 3
North Port, FL 34289
Registration must be received before February 27, 2018
Two workshops
during a two day hiatus to Florida.
Register for both or only one.
It's an amazing time of learning, sharing and friendship!
For childbirth educators,
doulas, midwives, or anyone who would like to improve her ability to support
laboring women and communicate with and educate expectant families.
At our workshops, learning is interactive, hands-on, fun, and interesting. All
Charis workshops are taught from a Christian perspective, giving God the glory
for His marvelous creation and how He so wonderfully created women to bear
children.
In addition to the valuable skills acquired at the workshop(s), you will also
take home with you a beautiful “labor support bag” filled with an assortment of
tools to help you successfully support, serve, and bring comfort to your future
clients as they labor from the "Labor Support" workshop and an assortment of
visual aids and other valuable teaching tools to enhance your future students’
learning experience from the “Communication, Teaching, and Coaching” Workshop
A delicious lunch will be provided for all the workshop attendees to enjoy as
you get to know each other better during a midday break each day of the two
workshops.
The cost is $250 for Charis members and $285 for non-members (includes one-year
Charis membership).
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!
Contact Us
Charis Childbirth
2575 N. Toledo Blade Blvd., Suite 3
North Port, FL 34289
www.charischildbirth.org
Kristin Schuchmann ~ Executive Director
Cell (941)441-6410
http://happyhealthyliving.wordpress.com/
Susan Oshel ~ Director of Midwifery Studies
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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,
2016, your dues should be mailed by the middle of December,
2017, to be sure it is received in time. If you become a member
sometime in 2017, then your membership renewal is not due until
December 31, 2018.
You can send your
membership form and $30 dues to:
Charis Childbirth
2575 N. Toledo Blade Blvd., Suite 3
North Port, FL 34289
For more information
Visit the
Charis
Web site
for course description and outline.
Our Director's Heart

What would you do? A huge hurricane is
approaching and your home is right in the center of the storm’s projected track.
Friends and family who live in other parts of the country are begging you to
leave town and take refuge far from the path of the storm. Your clients don’t
want you to leave. You need to make a quick decision. But, it is not that easy.
You have animals to protect who rely on you for everything but cannot travel.
You have a home and property to secure. You have mommas who are counting on you
for prenatal and postpartum care and your presence when they go into labor. How
long would you have to be gone? Would they let people back into the city shortly
after the storm, or would access be denied for a lengthy time? What would happen
if the city’s midwife was not there in the weeks following the storm? How safe
is your home? Can it withstand hurricane winds? Is there a safe place to go
nearby if flood waters rise? What about your family members? Do they want to
stay for the storm, or leave the state? So many things to consider!
This is exactly what I lived through just recently as hurricane Irma was heading
straight toward my home in southwest Florida.
Ultimately, for me, there was no question as to what I should do. I had to stay.
My son, daughter-in-law, their kids, my mom who had come for a visit from
Virginia, and my daughter left the day before the hurricane to drive to
Mississippi to stay with my daughter and her family. My husband, son, and I
remained behind to hold down the fort. I wasn’t worried about our home; it was
intentionally built to withstand such a storm. I knew I was safe. Everything
outside our home was secured, we prepared well for the possibility of weeks
without electricity by collecting dozens of gallons of water ahead of time (no
electricity for us means no water), we had a plan for “bucket baths” with pool
water, we gathered enough canned soups and other non-perishables to feed an
army, we had gas for the grill, and I even made home made wet wipes. We were
ready!
Irma arrived at my house as a category 2 hurricane—my very first cat 2!—and it
was thrilling. (I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that my inner adrenaline junky
thoroughly enjoyed herself.) The winds were strong, the tall pine trees behind
my house bent way over, but did not break. Even though I could see the powerful
storm blowing through, I could barely hear it due to our home’s solid
construction. The three cell phone towers closest to us went down pretty early
in the storm, making phone calls a challenge. Our internet continued working as
long as we had electricity, which continued to be on until right when Irma’s eye
approached our city. That’s when the stressful moments began.
My client who was around 36 weeks pregnant had just contacted me via facebook
message to let me know she was contracting. She didn’t want to deliver without
me, but the winds were just too strong and the flood waters were rising too fast
for me to risk going to her. We were sending facebook messages back and forth
about what to do. She had her birth supplies; she was ready. Then, a pretty
desperate message came from her husband letting me know he was concerned about
his wife because she had begun shaking. As soon as I received that message, my
electricity and internet went out. I couldn’t reply to this man who felt as if
the weight of the world was now on his shoulders, or, at least, the weight of
his per-term baby could soon be in his hands. Thankfully, I was able to get
Susan Oshel’s telephone number to them via Sarah, our beloved office manager who
had evacuated to another state. Susan was ready and able to talk them through
the birth if my cell phone connection was not good enough. It was getting late
at night and it was dark, so I went to sleep as I prayed for my client and her
baby.
The next morning, I woke up on an island. The flood waters had risen enoough to
flood my street, the vacant lots on both sides of our house, and the big
drainage ditch behind our home. A few hours later, the waters had miraculously
receded and our street was passable. Amazingly, our electricity was only out for
about 4 1/2 hours. I don’t know what crazy person working for Florida Power and
Light was out in the middle of the storm fixing things, but I wish I could give
that person a huge hug!

My island after Irma
I also awoke to a momma who was STILL
PREGNANT! As soon as the storm’s eye passed and the barometric pressure rose a
bit, her contractions eased and she remained pregnant for a few more weeks, at
which time her husband was happy to catch his baby WITH their midwife present.
There was a lot of work to do after the storm passed. We spent the next day
cleaning up storm debris in our yard, which the city had picked up at our curb
before the end of the day. We put all of our outdoor furniture and plants back
out where they belonged, staked up our two moringa trees that fell over, and
eventually drank all the water. We ate canned soups for what seems like forever
since we spent our entire grocery budget on non-perishables and had no money
left over for the foods we really like. (If I never eat another can of Amy’s
soup again, that’s okay with me!). Many appointments with clients had to be
cancelled or rescheduled due to people evacuating or having a tough time
recovering from the storm. The only lingering effect of the storm, for me, was
poor cell phone coverage for a couple weeks as they worked to rebuild the
towers.

My fallen moringa trees
Over the next few weeks, I spent a lot of
time during appointments listening to my clients as they talked about the stress
leading up to the storm and how they managed during and after the storm. So many
were traumatized and are still working through the PTSD.
One of the things that makes midwifery hard sometimes is that our clients and
their needs are taken into consideration when making important life decisions. I
might have made the same decision about hurricane Irma even if I was not a
midwife, but my commitment to the mommas is a big deal to me and it was a huge
part of the reason I did not evacuate with the rest of my family.
I’m grateful for the Holy Spirit, who is completely reliable in giving us the
guidance and direction we need to ensure we are in the center of God’s will. I
was at complete peace about remaining for the storm. There was no fear.
In this season of giving thanks, I am
grateful for God’s hand of protection over my city, my family, my home, and my
clients during hurricane Irma. He is a good Father and takes very good care of
His children.
Blessings,
Kristin Schuchmann, LM, CPM
Executive Director, Charis Childbirth
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For the Charis Childbirth Educator, Doula, and
Midwifery students: sharp minds to learn, opportunities for lots of
hands-on learning
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For the Charis CE’s, doulas, and midwives: rest, peace,
protection, wisdom, discernment
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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
~~~
©2017 Charis Childbirth
Services, All Rights Reserved
Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends in its entirety,
leaving all attribution intact.
October 2017
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