Most importantly, I cut my hair!!! What do you think? :-D A mom cut just for me. Thought i might need a new look now that I have more of a professional image to keep these days. More Before pics at the bottom of the trip to my momma's salon! The pink isn't permanent, but I'll be doing that after family photos coming up! On to more important things...
Birth Trauma survivors and supporters is definitely where my heart is right now and I'd love nothing more than to devote full-time energy to this project. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do so between local activism and home stuffs. Which is why we added admin Shannon to the mix on the Facebook page, swing by and tell her hello! She's really awesome and a survivor herself. I'm grateful for the different voice she brings to our page! I have been working on something REALLY AWESOME and big and, awesome with some just as big people helping out that I can't wait to spill the beans on when I'm able, as well as some older projects I need to catch up on. But it's been slow goings because of other stuffs. I've been quiet for some time, so I wanted to give you an update on what's the scoop with Momma Trauma! Another friend of mine, Kathy Morelli who is an author, licensed professional counselor and director over at BirthTouch, LLC, asked me a question the other day which has been on my mind since. In regards to my local activism, she asked "Is it a part of your Momma Trauma work?" My initial answer was a hesitant No. I needed to think about this.. but when it comes down to it, my local activism IS Momma Trauma. Yes. It is linked in nearly every way. It is about everything I do here at Momma Trauma. I learned as a lifelong Girl Scout (yes, I'm proud of that!!) that we have to make the world a better place. For me, that means not just working to heal myself, but making it so what happened to me during birth doesn't happen to other women starting with my local community. That will be a long road, but I'll never give up. Local activism was why I wanted to start this blog in the first place! Yes, my local activism IS Momma Trauma. The bottom line is that I am a local advocate because I am a birth trauma survivor and because other families deserve their own autonomy and respectful treatment. We have certain unalienable rights regardless of where we are; that is what I continue to fight for here in Delaware and beyond. That is the core of what Momma Trauma is about, it goes way beyond the aftermath which we have come to know as birth trauma. The most obvious way I link Momma Trauma to my local activism, of course, is the updates I place on my blog and the use of that to get word out to my local community and the broader international birth community. I am constantly connecting with amazing professionals both locally and across the globe which is awesome and, well, amazing! So when I'm not blogging on a regular basis, usually it's because local activism has picked up and is preoccupying my "spare" time. I've also picked up a few side jobs to help my family out, so that's of course keeping me busy! Recently, I had the opportunity to sit with some important officials and advocates from the state of Delaware. Since it was a private meeting, I won't go into details, but wanted to let everyone interested know that we are continuing to work hard at getting our midwives licensed, permitted, whatever they want to call it, here in our state. It's proving to be a long and arduous process, but we're (very slowly) getting there. It was a good meeting, dare I say even productive. Both sides of the midwifery debate were present and I think we had some great discussions! I'm looking forward to remaining a loud advocate for our state as I want to see the core issues resolved asap, hopefully within the next year and legislative season. Of course, with anything, there are other issues at hand which will probably take longer since we have to focus on only a few at a time. I'm trying my darnedest to do my part, and although I catch flack from every which way, I keep trying to remind myself and everyone around me that we're all wanting the same ultimate goal: Better health and safety for women in Delaware (in our case). We may go about it different ways, we may have differing opinions, but my fight is for evidence-based care and the rights to make our own decisions. I really don't understand why that's so hard to come by. More often than not (by a lot!), women who make decisions to birth at home, refuse a cesarean, decide to or not to vaccinate or circumcise, these women and families do so with a great deal of research behind them. These are not decisions to be made lightly, but they are decisions which need to be respected. Just as the decision to remain decidedly ignorant to the issues at hand. As a customer of the healthcare system, no matter the care provider, we need to take responsibility to our decisions. We cannot, however, take responsibility if we are not given an option. If we continue to be investigated for having a home birth, if our midwives are being persecuted and not allowed their permits. *steps off soapbox* I could go on and on. Regarding the meeting I attended, Steve Newton, Professor of History & Political Science at Delaware State University, said, "Her demeanor is impressive and her command of her material is outstanding. They may not agree with her, but I don't think they'll ever be able to discount her." I've also been working to promote a public meeting Delaware's Division of Public Health is holding with regards to our midwifery problem. They previously held several meetings across the state with little to no publicizing of these events, which, of course, garnered them little to no support in the case FOR midwifery in Delaware. This was used against us in recent legislative proceedings, suggesting citizens just weren't interested in out of hospital midwifery care. So I'm trying to do my part to mobilize supporters so we have interest at this meeting. That's probably the toughest part of being an activist... mobilization. Folks will say all day long online they support this action or another, but they don't want to get off the couch and actually do something in person about the injustices in our world, in our own local communities. But, it takes activists of all shapes and sizes to make the world a better place! Find a way to stand up for yourself and make it happen! Even if you don't usually have time to get out, like me, and want to make a loud roar from home! What have you done to make birth better in your area? Related: Check out the Delaware happenings Momma Trauma has been working on!
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AuthorWelcome to Momma Trauma's Blog! Thoughts, empowering posts and stories straight from Momma Trauma herself, Birth Trauma families & birth professionals. Archives
July 2015
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