STILLBIRTH AND THE MIDWIFE
The purpose of this program is to really HEAR and LEARN wisdom shared by mama and midwife experts. The title uses the word stillbirth; but we will be discussing the ordeal and return journey from all forms of perinatal loss. This conversation is designed to feel safe and real for all of us to sit with the pain and heartache without flinching or holding back - as our society so often teaches/models. We mamas, midwives and audience members choose to walk into the fire of remembrance with our panel so that we can learn more about fire - NOT get comfortable putting fires out.
Certainly we all know of stories (in and out of the hospital) where less than optimal know-how, skills or procedures resulted in perinatal loss - but that is not the point of this workshop. We are here to acknowledge that perinatal mortality is a part of birth in all locations and midwives have startlingly few resources to heal from the ordeal of loss. We all have a duty to advance our knowledge and skill throughout our careers, but we also have an under-recognized duty to acknowledge that we aren't 'in control' of birth or life. This workshop asks that you sit with this uncertainty and models for the profession the difficult task of truly walking the path of the midwife - straddling the threshold - gate-keeper between worlds. WE ask you to arrive in all your humility and humanity. WE recognize that we are not in charge (despite how much we want to be) and in the deepest way know that WE are not to blame when the outcome is one way, just as we are not to THANK when things go the other.
We start from the understanding that 'even when you do everything right' sometimes (given our resources and information at the time) we can’t prevent death. From this starting point, we are able to break the silence and dig deep into our collective resources for ourselves, our sisters, our mamas, papas, families, and communities. Simply put - this workshop is designed to be a think-tank of healing. Join us...
Certainly we all know of stories (in and out of the hospital) where less than optimal know-how, skills or procedures resulted in perinatal loss - but that is not the point of this workshop. We are here to acknowledge that perinatal mortality is a part of birth in all locations and midwives have startlingly few resources to heal from the ordeal of loss. We all have a duty to advance our knowledge and skill throughout our careers, but we also have an under-recognized duty to acknowledge that we aren't 'in control' of birth or life. This workshop asks that you sit with this uncertainty and models for the profession the difficult task of truly walking the path of the midwife - straddling the threshold - gate-keeper between worlds. WE ask you to arrive in all your humility and humanity. WE recognize that we are not in charge (despite how much we want to be) and in the deepest way know that WE are not to blame when the outcome is one way, just as we are not to THANK when things go the other.
We start from the understanding that 'even when you do everything right' sometimes (given our resources and information at the time) we can’t prevent death. From this starting point, we are able to break the silence and dig deep into our collective resources for ourselves, our sisters, our mamas, papas, families, and communities. Simply put - this workshop is designed to be a think-tank of healing. Join us...
Facilitators:
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Augustine Colebrook, CPM
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Krista Miracle, DEM
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Augustine is a mother, grandmother, and trusted, skilled, midwife of 18 years. She has attended births in hospitals, birth centers, and homes in rural, urban and suburban environments in the US and abroad. Now, she utilizes that breadth of experience to midwife transitions in all phases of life for women and especially midwives. She paves the way for personal transformation with the women she works with, allowing the expansive development of self-confidence, empowerment, and intuition.
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Krista is proud to be a midwife, mother of 6 (between the ages of 6 and 26) and Stage IV Cancer Survivor. Before attending midwifery college, she was a doula and childbirth educator for 13 years. She has written a full training manual for postpartum doulas and commonly mentors doulas and midwives in areas of start-up, marketing and business development. She is an advocate for change in the birth and postpartum world and a partner to many. She just opened Miracle Midwifery in Utah and yes, her last name really is Miracle.
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Mothers Panel
Jennifer Zeliff
Mother to Jude born on July 13, 2012 in Oregon |
Kea Parker
Mother to Anana born on September 14, 2016 in Hawaii |
Lisa Heineman
Mother to Thor born on November 12, 2008 in Iowa |
Midwives Panel
Kristy Hinz, CPM, LM is a Midwife with Choose Love Birth and Breastfeeding. After being a doula for nearly a decade, she became a CPM in early 2017. She sits on the board of the Wisconsin Guild of Midwives and is an active member of the Illinois Coalition for Certified Professional Midwives. In addition, Kristy is very involved in her recovery community and is a board member of the Antioch Recovery Club. In 2011, Kristy sought treatment for her alcoholism and prescription drug addiction and has been sober since. She loves to encourage others who struggle with addiction to get the help they need. She has plans to start a birth worker specific recovery community to provide coping tools to those in our community who face the shame of being a professional with an addiction, and to provide hope that this life is so rich when we recover.
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Valerie Patroni, CPM, LM is inspired to serve families with reverence while providing holistic, well-rounded, women-led care. Midwives have long known this truth: Women Own Birth. Thus, Val helps birth more healthy, vibrant, empowered communities and future generations in her small private practice in Vermont. She in awe of women and honored to walk with them through the whole of their pregnancy, birth and postpartum experiences.
When she's not doing local birth work, she stays busy hiking or snowboarding with her family, gardening and cooking. Her three daughters keep her inspired to find and develop new ways to elevate and empower female youth and raise the awareness and consciousness of human kind. |
Erin Kershaw, DEM is a midwife and herbalist in Pennsylvania. She always had an interest in pregnancy and birth, but finally started studying midwifery when she was pregnant with her youngest daughter in 2012 and knew it was her calling after her own homebirth. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology and political science and completed midwifery studies at WomanCraft Midwifery in Amherst, MA in 2014. She volunteers as the Northeast Representative, Treasurer and General Council Member of The Midwives Alliance of Pennsylvania. She is now pursuing her Family Nurse Practitioner degree so that she can continue to care for the entire family. Erin has a passion for helping people birth at home, especially people of color, the financially disadvantaged and LGBTQIA families.
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Tara Mansius, CPM makes her home in beautiful Oregon City, OR with her husband Brandon and 5 rambunctious sons. She graduated from Midwives College of Utah and became a Certified Professional Midwife in 2017. She was blessed to apprentice with a variety of wise and wonderful midwives at Andaluz Waterbirth Center. Her introduction to birth (other than her own) began in 2006 when she started attending births as a birth photographer, then later as a doula. She has a deep love and respect for women and is grateful to be able to walk beside them through vulnerable and sacred life experiences.
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