Submit your birth story!

Did you have a midwife-attended home birth in Iowa? Want to share your story? Please send your birth stories, along with photos, to be featured on our blog! Send birth stories to: beautifulbirth@yahoo.com.

write your reps NOW!

The deadline to get our bill to the floor is MARCH 5th.

We need you to contact you reps NOW and ask for them to support midwives. Even if you haven't or wouldn't have a homebirth, if you believe the option should be legally available, say so!!!

These reps especially need to hear from you:
Fairfield/Jeff Co.- Rep Curt Hanson needs to hear from you
Knoxville/Marion Co-Rep VanEnglenhoven
Ottumwa/Wapello -Rep Mary Gaskill
Washington-Rep Larry Marek
Sigourney/Ollie/Keokuk Co- Rep Betty DeBoef
Osky- Rep Eric Palmer

There are a bunch of regional letter writing parties happening in the next 2 weeks.

Letter Writing Tips

If your rep is a supporter, write to thank them and ask for their advocacy with their peers!

HF 781 PASSES OUT OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE!!

Hi all,

Great news on the midwifery bill: We passed out of committee in the House!

This is a tremendous success, especially considering the shortened session and the state's current budget concerns. The fact that they even heard our bill is a big deal. We survived funnel week, and we are still in the game this session! This is farther than a midwifery bill has ever gotten in Iowa.

It's also true that we have a lot of work ahead of us. We will really need your help during the rest of this month and next month as we work toward votes on the house and senate floor. Please stay tuned for updates on how to stay involved!

Today's victory wouldn't have been possible without the help of Ida Darragh, CPM, who came to Iowa from Arkansas to educate our lawmakers about CPM education and help us lobby this week. She was absolutely instrumental to our progress. We are still needing financial contributions toward covering Ida's travel expenses - If you can make even a small donation to FOIM today, it would be a big help.
http://www.friendso fiowamidwives. org

Special thanks also go out to:
Megan Day-Suhr, who is consistently present at the Capitol, and is fearless and persistent when it comes to talking to lawmakers about midwives;
Eric Goranson, our lobbyist-consultant ;
Mary Mascher, our bill sponsor;
Everyone who came out to lobby day, baked cookies, wrote legislators, and sent calendars;
And all the wonderful midwives of Iowa who serve our families so lovingly and bravely.

It's such a great pleasure to be doing this good work with you all!

~Monica
Steering Committee

progress!!

We have great things happening in Iowa! First, we are excited that we have bills in both the House and Senate this year, and our House bill has half a dozen co-sponsors. The leap in support for our cause this year is incredible! We were disappointed when our House bill was assigned the the HR committee last week, which has a few members who are extremely opposed to our cause. However, our brilliant sponsor, Mary Mascher, made a genius move yesterday: she resurrected our bill from last year, which had been assigned to the State Gov't committee, and added the new bill as an amendment to it.

This bill passed through subcom yesterday and goes to full committee today at 4. We don't know what will happen, but State Gov't is a much friendlier place for our bill to be than HR would have been, so we are optimistic!! It's been a blessing that Ida Darragh joined us this week, and got to speak to the committee yesterday to educate legislators. All in all, it's been an amazing week for midwifery! We have members at the capitol today to lobby the SG committee, and Ida will be there as well.

Hooray!

FOIM 2010 Calendar - Photos Needed!

We're very excited about a new calendar project we are starting for 2010 and we need your help. We need photos of Iowa home birth families! If you would like your homeborn Iowa baby and/or your beautiful family included as one of our calendar images, please send us your photo(s) in a digital attachment to: foimcalendar@yahoo.com by MONDAY, NOV. 23rd.

Once we've made selections we will be in touch with those families to gather further info, obtain permissions and finalize the calendar design.

It is our goal to have the calendars available for the new year, so the sooner you submit, the sooner our beautiful calendar of Iowa homebirth families will be available!

Any questions you have about the calendar can be directed to the foimcalendar@yahoo.com email. Please forward to anyone you think may be interested in participating.

Thanks!

How You Can Help Foim, #4

In honor of fall, and going back to school - I'd like to ask you to help FOIM today by becoming more educated, yourself, about the positive benefits of homebirth attended by a midwife. We can say it again and again, that birth is normal, and that a healthy pregnancy and birth can easily happen at home -- but it helps to know your facts! Here are some documents that you should check out this week, as a way to help FOIM legalize and regulate midwifery practice in our state:

1. The Milbank Report -- this one is long, but good

2. The Washington State Midwifery Cost and Benefit Study

3. Our FOIM Factsheets on the Yahoo page!

Happy Studying!

-Renee

Amazing Supporters Come Through for Us!

We have been overwhelmed by the response we have had from individuals and businesses who have donated their skills, items, and talent for our fundraiser. With their help we have compiled a diverse Silent Auction for our Labor Day event! We wanted to give you a sneak peek of the auction catalog so you can plan ahead and see what will be available for your bids! We are so grateful for your donations and support. We'll see you on Labor Day!

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Friends of Iowa Midwives Silent Auction Items 2009!!

1) Prairieland Herbs gift basket
2) Moby D baby carrier from The Stork Wearhouse
3) Red Avocado restaurant $50 gift certificate, Dinner for 2
4) One Placenta Encapsulation from Sabbath Davies of Ganesa Birth Services
5) Natural Parenting Fiber Artists knitting gift basket
6) Des Moines Social Club T-shirt and $25 gift certificate
7) Gourmet Wine and Champagne Basket with Truffles and Stemware
8) Blown Glass jewelry pendent from artist Derek Akers $25 value
9) Size 24 mo. tie dyed one piece romper and newborn tie dye set from Foursquare Fibre
10) Infant cloth shoes from Wallypop
11) Children’s Board Book Basket with Homebirth Books
12) Cloth Snack Bag and reusable Sandwich Wrap from Wallypop
13) Glass Magnet Sets from Sarah Nevins
14) 7 Kenneth Huff prints from Amanda McGuire
15) One 60 minute Massage from Zachary Hoover of The Family Tree
16) Gift certificates for one month of adult classes and one month of children’s classes from Roots Capoiera Wellness Center
17) Gift certificate for four beginner guitar, bass or drum lessons from Central Iowa Music Lab-James Biehn $75 value
18) 3 packages of Soap Nuts natural laundry soap from The Stork Wearhouse
19) One pair of earrings from MC Ginsberg
20) Reiki Session by Mia Countryman
21) One handpainted bag from Cover Art by Mia Countryman
22) One glass sunflower picture frame from Amanda McGuire
23) One Japanese Maple or plantings of equal value; including labor to install and a landscaping consultation of the property. By Earth Designs - Beth and Rob Jackson valued at $200, opening bid is $50
24) Two glass candle holders from Amanda McGuire
25) Cross Pen Set and Blank Notecards from Syracuse Cultural Workers from Amanda McGuire and Jessica Bottenfield-Biehn
26) Satchel Paige Wooden Picture Frame from Simply for Giggles
27) Painted Wooden toy Rabbit from Simply for Giggles
28) One hardcover copy of the book “Pushed” from Diane Tinker of Birth Companion Doula Services
29) 6 pewter birth jewelry pieces
30) One piece of framed Birth Art/Kanji from Sabbath Davies
31) One piece of framed Goddess Art from Sabbath Davies
32) ICAN of Central Iowa gift pack including one ICAN 2010 Calendar, and books “Giving Birth” and “Cesarean Voices”
33) Gift Basket from The Possibilities Room
34) CD from singer/songwriter Mary McAdams
35)30 minute Imagine Peace Massage gift certificate- Maggie McGinnis
36) SMASH gift certificate
37) Diaper Dudee Diaper Service gift certificate from Andrea Foley
38) One comprehensive Well Woman Exam including Pap smear from Cosette Boone, CNM $150 value
39) Wildflower Massage gift certificate
40) Gift Certificate for belly dance classes from unda Belly Dance
41) Breastfeeding Basket for New Moms from Lauren Whitehead
42) Handmade hair bows from Sarah Nevins
43) Oasis gift basket w/ 2 t-shirts and $25 gift certificate
44) Oasis gift basket w/ 2 t-shirts and $25 gift certificate
45) Prenatal Massage gift certificate from Inner Balance $80 value
46) Family photograph package from Shuva Rahim of Accent Photographics
47) HUGS Selendang baby sling
48) HUGS Selendang baby sling
49)Size S long sleeve Breastmilk t-shirt & Size 2T shortsleeve Breastmilk t-shirt from The Stork Wearhouse
50)Two 6 month infant tie dyed short sleeve shirts from Wallypop
51) Instant Fiesta Basket with margarita mix, homemade salsa and 4 margarita glasses
52) Kid’s Craft and Snack Basket with Art supplies and workbooks from Jessica Bottenfield-Biehn
53) Belly Cast kit from The Stork Wearhouse
54) Red Avocado restaurant T-shirt
55) WAHM mai tai baby carrier with pink/tan dragonflies from Jenn Bowen
56) Women’s hair cut and 2 products from Blondies Hair Salon
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