Caribbean Unschoolers

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Comment by Nicole on September 2, 2011 at 6:46am

hmmm. glad to hear that it's not illegal.

yeah ...thing is with birth centres...u gotta get all sorts of financing.

would the midwife consider just assisting women with home/waterbirthing? i'd look at that if i were here. n she could find community centres to run natural preg/birth courses a few times a yr.....depending on the demand. is she speaking up about the need for midwifery/homebirthing? sounds like u may need some int'l support...at least folks from otha parts of the region....speaking up about it. ya think? that's what we did here. we let midwives abroad know our plight n they have advised us. their support is great. then when midwives fly in for births sometimes they speak with the media... on the radio... in the newspaper. all that makes a difference. often ppl will hear it when it comes from an outsider. sigh.

Comment by Terri Henry on September 1, 2011 at 10:23pm

Home birth not illegal in Dominica but no midwife is fully equipped to do it and so risks losing her job, especially if anything goes wrong. There is a midwife here who dreams of opening a natural birth centre but no banks will give her financial backing on her business plan (a bit too outside the box) I know someone who will birth next month with a midwife flown in.

 

I love midwifes and doula's but it's not my calling this lifetime.

Comment by Nicole on September 1, 2011 at 9:10am

www.familybirthingcentre.net (bdos)

www.mamatoto.net (trini)

Comment by Nicole on September 1, 2011 at 9:05am

since we have no traditional midwives here... we fly U.K./U.S. ones in for homebirths. that works well...4 now. thruout preg women r goin to a government clinic or an ob/gyn for prenatal care.... ya midwife flies in approx 2 wks b4 ya "due date" and stays for 4-5 wks. yes, there r midwives who travel all around the world to service women who dont have access to midwives on their home front. i can put u in touch with some if ya eva in need. ya able to keep in touch with them thruout preg via phone, email n skype. i've told bahamian women that they may wanna consider goin this route until u all have at least one "above board" homebirth midwife in the bahamas. u know? i know 2 homebirth midwives in the US virgin islands who r willing to fly to the bah. (when available) for homebirths. keep that in mind. i can always put u/ya friends in touch with them. from my research trini n b'dos r the only islands that have a midwifery model. u can birth in their birth centres (one per island) or at home. ideally that's what every island should have. that takes lots of sponsorship n more to put in place tho. in the meantime we mid find other ways to have the homebirths we want. we r not alone here.... u r not alone in the bah... terri isnt alone in dom....neitha is my doula(hopin to become a midwife) friend in antigua. we all must work together to build awareness. one day all carib women will have access to the midwifery model ....in some form or anotha. onward we go. step by step. birth by birth we must create that which we want.  i'm not interested in numbers. fact is most women buy into the medical model.  it is what it is. midwifery/homebirthing may neva become normalized in the caribbean like it once was. we gotta accept that. i think our aim must be on simply creating the option for all women. thoughts???

 

Comment by Nicole on September 1, 2011 at 8:55am

terri, is homebirthing illegal in dominica? i have a feelin that in many island sit may not be illegal... yet the perception is that it is becuz out-of-hospital births is no longer our "normal."we've been scared into birthing in hospitals. n it's workin for th emost part. wherever it is actually illegal we need to challenge it. that means that some women have to be willing to go below ground to have homebirths while (alongside others) workin on having the law changed. no sense waiting for the law to change. that could take a few yrs. we aint got that type of time. women (albeit just a few of us) wanna homebirth NOW. it is our birthright. truly. i encourage ya friends to do just that...claim their birthright. like i said i can connect u with doulas in freeport n nassau. www.consciousbirthbermuda.com, www.doulasofbermuda.com, www.meetup.com/Bermuda-Home-Water-Birth-Meetup/, www. healthcoop.net (conscious birth classes) ....these will give u a sense of what our journey's bin like here. we've bin at it since 2004. slow, steady. it's just a small pool of us. the pool is growing tho... n we r making major strides. we showed "the business of being born" in 08 or 09. we had a natural preg/birth film festival (just ova a weekend) in 08 or 09. we also staged Birth (the play) a few yrs back. just building slow momentum. we've made lots of progress. we're averaging 10 or so homebirths a yr here. most r waterbirths. every 2 yrs or so we have a doula training session here. next yr we're hopin to have a midwifery conf. ....in may.

Comment by Nicole on September 1, 2011 at 8:34am

midwifery is a serious calling catrina. so if ya feelin it def think bout it long n hard...in terms of whether it's good fit for your fam/lifestyle. i'm strongly considering becoming a post-partum doula. we'll c. i've bin stallin on becoming a doula since i'm not parent. i think i'm ready to get certified as a post-partum doula. pray 4 me. there is a need for doulas and homebirth midwives all ova the world. i'm connected to sistahs in various parts of our precious caribbean who r workin towards bringing back the midwifery model of care. i def support unassisted homebirth. i just dont feel that women should feel obliged to go that route.   u know? traditional (a.k.a. homebirth) midwives should be available everywhere...in my opinion. for our islands just 2-3 is enough...so they can all take vacations/sick time when they need to. some same we only need one per island....because the demand isnt all that great. at the same time what happens when that one is sick, on vacation or just needs time out. u know? so 2-3 for each carib island makes sense. that way they can each take on clients as they c fit...wheneva they choose. got me? cat, i was told that the college of the bahamas has a midwifery programme. dont know if it's true. i know they have nursing. in any case if they do it's important to find out if they prepare/train u for home/waterbirthing. anotha thing....i'm hearing that homebirthing may b illegal in the bah. is that true? if so that needs to be challenged. big time!!! for yrs here in bermy ppl thought it was illegal. thats exactly what the govt wanted us to believe.cat, find out what u all's law actually says.

Comment by Nicole on September 1, 2011 at 8:25am

Ya welcome sistahs. Np at all. Terri, love ya empowered birth thang. U go! Didn't realize that your midwife has been stopped. Not surprising. Did she help with a few homebirths? Have you found another homebirth midwife there? Any doulas in Dominica? You all need both doulas and midwives....even if it's just a few. Hint, hint Terri...heehee.

 

Comment by Terri Henry on August 31, 2011 at 10:22pm

Oh and Catrina...I considered unassisted birth too. My first child was almost born on our veranda because I left it so late to go to the hospital. I was only there 30 minutes before she was born. The midwife that came to our second birth was amazing support but she has been stopped from doing homebirths. Maybe if I ever decide to birth a #3baby it will be by ourselves! My 2 birthing experiences have been wonderful, fast and simple.

Comment by Terri Henry on August 31, 2011 at 10:19pm

Nicole is always truly amazing with links! Truly a goldmine of information

Did you know I'm hosting an Empowered Birth Blog Carnival next week for Empowered Birth Week? http://onelovelivity.com/childofnatureblog/?p=2268 You may be interested to read and comment on some of the posts that will be featured.

 

onelove

 

 

Comment by Catrina Dugue on August 31, 2011 at 7:36pm

Nicole, you are AMAZING with these links!! Thanks :) I'm offline now for the night, but i will def. let you know what i think of the sites!

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