Two weeks ago I sent this letter off to my local newspaper, Chico Enterprise Record. This morning a friend called me to say it had been published. They cut out a bit, but the main message is there. This is a bad move for Enloe Medical Center -- it shows that despite the practices the facility is trying to implement, by losing their option for midwifery, they don't really care about patient-centered care and holistic alternatives to harsh (over)medicalization when it comes to their mothers and babies. All I envision is, these new, beautifully spacious and accommodating rooms, with private bathrooms, tubs, and a nice place for a partner to sleep, while a woman does not have the option of a practitioner whose goal is to be "with women," during the birth experience.

Here it is:

Chico is losing a valuable resource. Soon, there will be no certified-nurse midwives delivering babies at Enloe Medical Center. Enloe has painstakingly taken the difficult steps toward becoming a Baby-Friendly Hospital (BFHI). This is an arduous process, and once achieved, it will place Enloe on a list of only 77 U.S. hospitals that can boast of such status. This program "promotes, protects and supports breastfeeding." The core tenets include avoiding artificial nipples and unneeded supplements, and keeping mothers and babies together during their stay. This is best for babies.

Enloe has recently adopted the Planetree Philosophy designed to treat patients in a kind, compassionate way, and to put their needs first. This is best for patients.

The Midwifery Model of Care focuses on birth as a normal life event, not a medical crisis where a woman needs saving, perhaps from an iatrogenic intervention. All over the world midwives safely help babies into life, and it has been this way since the dawn of man. Midwives in our area provide safe, gentle, kind and compassionate birth options — whether a certified midwife at a hospital or a community midwife at home. This is best for women.

It is unfortunate that Enloe will no longer have a place for families choosing midwifery care. — Stacie Bingham, Chico

For more information:

Health Care Crisis Claims Chico Midwifery

Enloe Addressing Provider Squeeze

Midwives Should not be Eliminated

Letter to Midwifery Patients and Supporters


If you are in support of women having the option of a midwifery-assisted birth at Enloe, please take a minute to let the facility know:

Patient Service Excellence

I was recently asked how people in general have the courage to go through birth more than one time.

My response:  Are you kidding? When I think over my last birth experience (11-05), I keep wishing I could go back to that last hour of most intense, hard, full-on, kill-me-now labor. While it was hard and intense, what I remember and long for is the closeness that was in that room with my mom, husband, doula, and midwife. The quiet support they offered me. The jokes in between contractions. The anticipation of knowing the baby would be here soon. There was such a special feeling shared between us all -- like there was absolutely nothing else happening anywhere else in the entire world, or universe, more important than this.

Yes, during that intense time I said two funny things I 150% meant.

1) I told my midwife, "I'll let you pull him out with a vacuum, you know."
2) I told my husband, "I don't think I can do this again."

My first baby was pulled out via vacuum after three hours of pushing. I felt let-down and insignificant, like my doctor could not help me push him out by suggesting another position, or just letting me take my time -- it was more like she wanted to get home. My husband knew I would be so upset if I actually did have this baby pulled out that same way, so he knew he would not let me do that (if it were not needed). My midwife laughed, too -- she recognized it as a cry for help and plea of desperation, but not what I really would have been happy with in the long run.

When I said the second thing I meant I could not have another baby after this. My midwife looked at my husband and said, "Do you want to get this in writing?" I held strongly to this until day 6 postpartum -- and then I remember thinking, "I would do it again."

There is just something so incredible about being on the cusp of that life-changing experience. I think I would have 5 labors/births to not have to go through 9 months of pregnancy, that's really where the draining experiences come in my opinion!

Before my first baby, I didn't have much fear simply because I had no idea what to expect. 

After my first birth, and seeing how things went and knowing more, yes I was pretty scared to have the next baby.

After my second I was even more scared -- they say the third birth is a wild card, and I also had this cognitive distortion that, since babies and I were safe the first and second time, something bad was bound to happen now! 

After my third birth I felt like, heck -- they are just starting to get good! Having my third baby made me want to have another one, and I never felt that way before.

1-14-20 Edited to add: I did have a fourth baby, and he was born at home with a midwife (which was a first for me). It was an incredible experience, and I am happy to say now, baby-birthing days are over, and I am just fine with that.

I want to empower her. I hear this a lot. I understand the idea. And yet, I maintain, you cannot empower someone. Where I think we often go wrong is, we say empower, but what we really mean is overpower.

Within the modes of discourse, I have often been a fan of The Essay of Definition. Coupled with this simplistic, overused style, I will add a little pet named, Compare and Contrast.

(Now, the obligatory introduction.) According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, empower means to give official authority or legal power to, or to promote the self-actualization or influence of. Common use: I want to empower her to have a great birth experience.

Many of us would like to think we are such convincingly dynamic childbirth educators, doulas, empowered-folks-who-have-had-great-birth-experiences – that simply through our shared thoughts and feelings, we can convince a person to come over from the Dark Side and want to have something like we had or believed should be had.

To affect with overwhelming intensity the way a person feels and interject one’s own agenda is not empowering, but overpowering. Likewise, to overcome by superior force their intended desires in regards to birth is to overpower them. When, overcome by passion, zest, zeal, and one’s own pre-conceived notions about the way a person should birth, one may begin to provide…more power than is needed or desirable. Yet these are the ways we often try to empower.

This is just not reality-based.

Empowerment is not giving someone your personal tools and teaching them how to build your perfect birth. Empowerment is opening the shed, allowing a person to become familiar with all the tools held within, and then stepping back and confidently trusting they will build for themselves the birth that is right for them, their baby, and their family.