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ICEA Certified Educators and Doulas are committed to family centered maternity care and freedom of choice based on knowledge of alternatives. Contact your local educator or doula for classes and labor support.

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ICEA is a long established childbirth education organization providing a comprehensive training program. Become certified and begin the journey to a rewarding career.

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ICEA is committed to offering continuing education and networking opportunities to our certified educators and doulas. Together we can promote family centered maternity care.

An Encouraging Thought

I recently started reading the book Teaching Natural Birth. In it, the author shares this thought about the importance of teaching families about birth:

"We are not 'hobbying' or 'playing house.' We do this not because we like people or like babies, but because there are earthshaking issues involved in the way our culture is giving birth and raising its children...We are playing for keeps and the stakes are high. We are professionals. We matter. Always and indescribably."

I do not view teaching birth classes as a "hobby." I view it as my career/profession. I have noticed a tendency of people outside the "birth world" to look upon it as a hobby however. Reading this quote was a nice reminder that my work is important!

--Molly Remer

Control & Birth

One of the things I explore in birth classes is feelings about wanting to be "in control" or "staying in control" during birth. I ask couples to consider what "losing control" would mean to them and what the benefits of "losing control" might be.

I really enjoy this section from Childbirth with Insight about control and birth:

[with regard to prepared childbirth films and class] "...are instructive rather than enlightening. They confirm a particular teaching method by advocating roles and techniques. Such films obscure the fundamental holistic experience of birth. Couples are not aware that the power of giving birth involves individual surrender to its uncontrollable nature. It is understandable that expectant parents become anxious about their abilities to maintain the kind of control that is expected of them, given that no such control of natural forces is possible--or desirable."

"The actual experience of contractions, like other intense bodily sensations, is extremely difficult to describe...The more completely an expectant mother can experience labor as a unit of body and mind, the more easily she can flow with the process of birth...the more a woman tries to be in control, the more she fears the inevitable loss of control..."

Movement & Upright Gravity Positive Positioning

What many of us have been teaching for years has now shown up in the media, thanks to the Cochrane Review.

A review of 21 studies showed that Women who walk, sit, kneel or otherwise avoid lying in bed during early labor can shorten the first stage of labor by about an hour, according to the new Cochrane evidence review. Women who labored out of bed during the early stages were also 17% less likely to seek pain relief through epidural analgesia, the review found.

Read more at: http://www.news-medical.net/?id=48342

This should be an integral part of EACH class we teach, not just one designated class in a series! Get 'em movin', movin' !

Environmental Pollutants In Infant Formula

It was no April Fool's joke.

As I was driving down to Cincinnati Ohio last week to teach a workshop, I heard on the radio about researchers finding percholate in infant formula. Percholates are salts from perchloric acid and besides being used in rocket fuel (yes, that is what I said!)these salts are commonly found in the ground water of up to 35 states. Plants watered by this ground water are then eaten by cows and that milk is used in infant formula. Percholates have been used for nearly 50 years in the treatment of thyroid disorders. Their impact on newborn infant brain growth and development is not thoroughly researched. The CDC does have a pamphlet on human consumption of percholates (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxguides/toxguide-162.pdf) and there has been testimony in the US House of Representatives on the FDA's Role in Measuring and Assessing Percholates levels in food and beverages: http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/2007/04/t20070425a.html.

Press Release (03-25-09): The Parent’s Journal Public Radio Program and Podcast

We are pleased to announce that Jeanette Schwartz, ICEA President, was recently a featured guest on the nationally-syndicated, Parent’s Journal (TPJ) Public Radio program, and that the Podcast version of The Parent’s Journal is now available online. To listen to this interview, and the full TPJ podcast follow this link: http://www.parentsjournal.com/radioshow

The Parent's Journal Topics & Guests (start times in parentheses)
*5 Free Ways to Fuel Family Closeness- Brook Noel (1:00)
*Social Development in the First Years - Dr. Linda Gilkerson – (06:05)
*Parent's Notes- A Practical Parenting Tip from a Mom or Dad (24:30)
*Childbirth Options- What’s Best for You? - Jeanette Schwartz (29:00)
*Improving Kids Diets While Living in the Real World - Betsy Block (50:58)

Ellen Pruitt
Program Assistant, The Parent’s Journal Public Radio program
information@parentsjournal.com

Sponsor an ICEA Workshop

ICEA Professional Training Workshops

Bring an ICEA workshop to your local area through sponsorship. To arrange a workshop in your area please contact any of our Approved Trainers directly.
  • Basic Training for the Childbirth Educator Workshop
  • Doula and Labor Support Workshop
  • Perinatal Fitness Workshop
  • Postnatal Educator Workshop
The trainers may have different requirements and expenses to conduct a workshop. Sponsors may receive one waived workshop registration with a minimum of 10 paid workshop participants.
    The usual minimum requirements for sponsorship are:
    • Provide meeting space for 10 people
    • Promote the workshop in your local area
    • Provide access to audio/visual equipment i.e. PowerPoint projector
    Please be advised these are general guidelines which are to be negotiated with the trainer that you select.

    ICEA Approved Trainer List

    To arrange a workshop in your area please contact any of our Approved Trainers directly.

ORGASMIC BIRTH SCREENING

Orgasmic Birth / 1 CEU(ICEA, DONA, Lamaze)
Sunday, April 19, 7:00 p.m.
Morton Plant Hospital, Sarah Walker Women's Center, Clearwater, Florida $5.00 Donation Benefits ICEA
RSVP/Questions/Info: FlaChildbirth@aol.com / Candy at 727-787-6072

Opening for Birth

The December 2001 edition of the IJCE contains an article titled "The Pelvis Revisited" by Elizabeth Noble. An interesting article overall, I particularly enjoyed the language of the section titled Opening for Birth:

"Birth is what women do. Women are privileged to stand in such power! Birth stretches a woman's limits in every sense. To allow such stretching of one's limits is the challenge of pregnancy, birth, and parenting. The challenge is to be fully present and to allow the process because of inner trust. How can women find their power, claim it, and stand firm in it throughout? The vertical position comes again into prominence. Women must 'stand up' for what they want and 'on their own two feet' by refusing to take their birth 'lying down'! Being upright is essential for pelvic power--psychological strength, pelvic mobility, gravity's assistance, pelvic pump efficiency, and the hygienic downflow of bodily fluids."

In the September 1999 issue, the article Belly-Dancing Through Pregnancy: A Way to Give Birth and Not Be Delivered by Gaby Mardshana Oeftering caught my eye. In it, she also addresses the needs to build inner trust and to open to birth through physical movement and an active approach to birthing:

Midwifery Memoirs

I recently finished reading and reviewing a great new midwifery memoir, The Blue Cotton Gown by Patsy Harman. This book was written by a CNM who no longer attends births, so it was about the rest of midwifery--the well woman care side. It was very good and I really recommend it.

A few months ago, I also read the very excellent Lady's Hands, Lion's Heart, another new midwifery memoir (this one had lots of births and also lots of drama!). It is was extremely good and I really loved it. The author, Carol Leonard, was also one of the founding members of MANA, so the book chronicles the birth of MANA as well as her journey as a midwife. Interestingly, her husband was a doctor as is Patsy Harman's in the book above. Perhaps that pairing is more common than what I might expect! See www.badbeaverfarm.com for more information (my full review is reprinted there as well).

Also newly released in 2009 is Labor of Love, written by the CNM who was shadowed in the film The Business of Being Born.

If you get the opportunity to read any of these books, I think you'll enjoy them!

--Molly Remer

Perpetuating incorrect information

I was a little embarrassed to learn this week that, "People do NOT remember 10 percent of what they read, 20 percent of what they see, 30 percent of what they hear, and so on. That information, and similar pronouncements, are fraudulent. Moreover, general statements on the effectiveness of learning methods are not credible—-learning results depend on too many variables to enable such precision."

I have read this information in quite a few training manuals and books and have shared such information myself more than once (I think even in an article!) So, it was surprising to discover that this information on retention is an urban legend. Now that I think about it, I'm positive that I heard it for the first time in graduate school (one of the 30% of things I heard that I remembered...;-)

The article explaining the origins of this myth can be found here: http://www.bobpikegroup.com/articles_view.asp?columnid=3618&articleid=53796

And I learned about it from the Passion for Birth blog: http://childbirtheducation.blogspot.com.

--Molly Remer