Summer 2009Volume 5, Issue 21Hello again,

In the busyness of babies, real-estate transactions and the “birthing” of a new birth center, the Summer issue of the Morning Star Newsletter is going to be short and sweet.

Due to the increasing number of Twin Cities’ clients starting care with Morning Star, we decided to expand and open a second location. We chose to purchase property rather than renting space for the new birth center, and have been in the process of purchasing property at 6111 Excelsior Boulevard in St. Louis Park, Minnesota since February. We are thrilled to announce that the purchase is complete and we are about to begin construction! During these uncertain and volatile economic times, financing was a huge hurdle, and we are so excited to be moving forward! On June 8th we began scheduling prenatal appointments at Blooma, a pregnancy resource center in Edina (www.Blooma.com). Since then, we have rented a beautiful temporary space in Edina that serves as our fully functioning “home”

until construction is complete at our permanent location. We anticipate a grand opening in early

November!

Please Stay Connected! Join our Facebook Fan Page-MorningStarBirthCenter. We also have a Blog (morningstarbirthcenter.wordpress.com) where you can get all the latest info and photos of the work in progress.

Toward better birth,

Paula Bernini Feigal, CPMDirector, Morning Star Women’s Health and Birth Center

Big Summer News!

Birth Announcements 2

News of Interest 2

Blooming: A Poem 3

Page 2 The Morning Star Newsletter - Volume 5, Issue 21

Son, Ryan Paul Roach, April 6, 2009 at 9:03 pm, 6 lbs. 14 oz., 20 in. Born to Karla and Paul of Chippewa Falls.

Daughter, Sara Jo Fallo, April 22, 2009 at 4:42 am, 7 lbs. 15 oz., 21 in. Born to Megan and Joey of Eau Claire.

Son, Sean Mateo Tyger De Gaia, April 23, 2009 at 4:19 am, 8 lbs. 3.5 oz., 20.5 in. Born to Katherine Kelly of Eau Claire.

Daughter, Lily Diane Tarini, April 29, 2009 at 9:35 pm, 8 lbs. 0 oz., 20 in. Born to Laura Bertram and Craig Tarini of Eau Claire.

Daughter, Lucy Alice Wheeldon, May 18, 2009 at 5:23 am, 7 lbs. 15 oz., 21 in. Born to Lauria and Joseph of Boyceville.

Son, Eli Steven Books, May 24, 2009 at 4:46 am, 8 lbs. 5.5 oz., 21.25 in. Born to Ashley and Steve of Ellsworth.

Daughter, Julia Rebekah Ryan, May 28, 2009 at 6:11 am, 9 lb. 8 oz., 22 in. Born to Sara and Winston of Wausau.

Daughter, Annelyse Faith Preston, June 6, 2009 at 8:59 am, 8 lbs. 5 oz., 20 in. Born to Susan and Nick of Eleva.

Son, Jasper James Sky, June 6, 2009 at 3:58 pm, 8 lbs, 13 oz., 21 in. Born to Maren Olson and Isaiah Grinder of Eau Claire.

Son, Lachlan Weber, June 14, 2009 at 8:42 am, 7 lbs. 10.5 oz., 20.5 in. Born to Jessica Lisell and Brandon Weber of Minneapolis, MN.

Son, Kashton Erich Kapfer, June 17, 2009 at 7:22 am, 7 lbs. 0 oz., 20 in. Born to Dominique and Kevin of Eau Claire.

Son, Luther Robert Dettinger, June 29, 2009 at 3:25 am, 7 lbs. 6.5 oz., 21 in. Born to Knelly and Jacob of Rochester, MN.

Daughter, Chavalah Elizabeth Sieg, July 3, 2009 at 3:05 am, 7 lbs. 4 oz., 20.5 in. Born to Sarah and Lewis of Osseo.

Daughter, Rebecca Renae Borstad, July 26, 2009 at 7:11 am, 6 lbs. 1.5 oz., 19 in. Born to Carla and Nathan of Eau Claire.

Daughter, Saoirse Malia Hosman, August 14, 2009 at 11:39 am, 8lbs. 10oz., 21in. Born to Lauren McClain-Hosman and Lee Hos-man of Apple Valley, MN.

Daughter, Sophia Louise Wanke, August 21, 2009 at 8:47 am, 7 lbs. 3 oz., 19.75 in. Born to Kathleen and Richard of Eau Claire.

Menomonie, WI ‡ St. Louis Park, MN

More than 7,000 family members have signed the petition support-ing CPMs in health care reform in just a few short weeks - truly an overwhelming display of support for the skilled, effective, and cost-reducing care that these out-of-hospital maternity care specialists provide.

While the right and the left fight about end-of-life decisions for Grandma, we are worried about the maternity care her granddaugh-ter is receiving. We need to fight to make sure that the needs of mothers and babies are not ignored during the health care debate and that our health care system includes the full range of maternity care providers and settings for all women.

Today, you can take action to raise more public awareness of sup-port for Certified Professional Midwives by joining our letter to the editor cam-paign. It will take just a couple of minutes and be another “push” for ma-ternity care reform that puts mothers and babies in the forefront of the debate.

E c o n o m i -cally, increas-ing access to Certified Pro-fessional Midwives is one of the smartest fixes to the national health care system that we can make. Economist David Anderson calcu-lates that if the rate of births that take place in freestanding birth centers and in private homes increases by less than 10%, we realize an annual savings of more than $9 billion. Plus, along the way, we

reduce disparate outcomes among racial and ethnic mi-norities and provide care at a fraction of the cost of tradi-tional maternity care.

As you may know, Mem-bers of Congress are now back home for the month of August, and it is a prime time to make sure that your elected officials know they should support the effort to include CPMs in the list of Medicaid providers in whatever the final form healthcare legislation looks like.

Letters to the editor are powerful tools for not only communicating with the public, but with elected of-ficials as well. They pay very close attention to what is printed in that part of the newspaper and in the on-line letters forum as well. Please don’t set this aside: visit the Letter to the Editor campaign page <http://tinyurl.com/cpm-lte-aug> to find newspapers in your area and use the talking points to quickly personalize and send your letter to the editor.

Each of us may feel very differently about health care reform, but the one thing we can all agree on is that ALL women in our communities deserve access to maternity care specialists who can save the system money AND who have a track record of improving outcomes for pregnant women who are at risk for having their babies too soon and at low birth weights. Again, thank you for your support! Together, we are

creating change and increasing access to Certified Professional Mid-wives for ALL families throughout the United States!

Stephanie Beck BordenGrassroots Organizer, The Big Push for Midwives Campaign

The Big Push Organizes Letter to Editor Campaign

This poem speaks to the courage it takes to begin healing after a trauma-related experience. It is also about realizing humanity’s interconnectedness and our collective role in individual healing. Across generations, cultures, and creeds, wounds are aplenty and healing is needed. When we broaden

the scope of personal hurt to include all the wounds the world has experi-enced and is experiencing, we can begin to see the necessity of ending vio-lence in its myriad forms; likewise, we can begin to see how each healing-on whatever level-benefits the entire world and encourages a peaceful future.

Blooming When you hurt The hummingbird does not come To my windowsill. The power to heal Brings with it the great demand To dig deep beneath. Feel your strength, and Spread like wings-your body Opening to courage. Know you’re wise, Be the roots that are planted Deep, buried, Under the ground… The growth spilling up from below Fruit trees blooming in sunshine; To feel connected- The ones who have gone before Like you do now, Whispering in your ear- Brings the sun to my doorstep.

by Heather Sevcik

As childbirth professionals, we are honored to be present at a transformative time in a person’s life. The opportunity for the greatest healing is present in this space. May we facilitate this pro-cess and, in doing so, bring about a closing of our shared wounds.

Heather Sevcik is a DONA-certified birth doula. She has a passion for women’s health and aspires to enter a midwifery pro-gram in the near future. Besides spending time with babies and mamas, Heather enjoys dancing and learning about wild and me-dicinal plants. She likes to hum on sunny days, is fascinated with the human body, and currently attends Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina.

Heather was an intern at our Menomonie Birth Center for the first part of the summer, and re-cently had this poem published in Midwifery Today.

Physician Group Pulls the Plug on Women’s AutonomyTHE BIG PUSH FOR MIDWIVES Issues Policy Statement About

What Women in Labor Will Be “Allowed” to Eat and DrinkWASHINGTON, D.C. (August 25, 2009) – Displaying a stunning

lack of regard for patient autonomy, the American College of Ob-stetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued a statement this week declaring that the group will “allow” laboring women to drink “mod-est amounts” of clear fluids during labor while continuing to prohibit access to solid food.

“Once again ACOG has issued a position statement with little re-gard for the evidence or for the ability of women to make decisions for themselves,” said Susan Jenkins, Legal Counsel for The Big Push for Midwives Campaign. “It’s insulting that ACOG actually believes that laboring women should be grateful that they will now be ‘al-lowed’ to have more than just ice chips, when we have long known how vital nutritional sustenance is to mothers and babies not only during pregnancy, but during labor as well.”

Hospitals routinely adopt ACOG position statements as standard policy governing the treatment of pregnant and laboring women, de-spite the fact that a number of the organization’s position statements do not acknowledge all of the risks and benefits associated with com-mon procedures.

“ACOG is asking laboring women to do the physical equivalent of a marathon on the power of a ‘modest’ amount of clear liquid,” said Sabrina McIntyre, mother of two. “Thanks but no thanks. I’ll stick with my midwife and her wisdom of keeping up my physical stamina for such a monumental event.”

Policies restricting food and liquid intake date from an era when laboring women were routinely given general anesthesia and risked aspirating food into the lungs. Modern anesthetic techniques have virtually eliminated this risk, which is further reduced by the fact that only a tiny minority of laboring women, even among those who deliver via cesarean section, actually receive general anesthesia.

“The women I care for eat when they are hungry and drink when they are thirsty, all without asking for ACOG’s permission first,” said Elizabeth Allemann, MD. “Women deserve to be fully informed about what the evidence actually shows, and it’s time that the medical profession abandoned policies based on the outdated and paternalistic idea that patients should play no role whatsoever in the decision-making process.”

The Big Push for Midwives Campaign represents thousands of grassroots advocates in the United States who support expanding access to Certified Professional Midwives and out-of-hospital maternity care. The mission of The Big Push includes educating national policymakers about the reduced costs and improved outcomes associated with out-of-hospital birth and advocating for including the services of Certified Professional Midwives in health care reform. Media inquiries: Katherine Prown (414) 550-8025, katie@thebigpushformidwives.org.

The Big Push for Midwives Campaign | 2300 M Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20037-1434 | TheBigPushforMidwives.org <http://www.thebigpushformidwives.org>

The Morning Star Newsletter - Volume 5, Issue 21 Page 3

We are happy to serve women and families from manycounties of northwestern Wisconsin and easternMinnesota. We are committed to offering holisticmaternity services in the Midwives’ Model of Care©

and to empower women and families throughprinciples of education, communication and shareddecision making.

Morning Star Women’sHealth and Birth CenterMenomonie, WI ‡ Saint Louis Park, MN715.231.3100 612.92.BIRTH

“Wisdom of Ages, Science of Today” ™