by Claire C. McKiernan I am working on a follow-up to my Celebrate Yourself article for next month. Tell me in which expected and unexpected ways your body changed during or after pregnancy. Please email me at cmckiernan@yahoo.com with the subject title “WBWC: Body” (or something similar, so I know it’s not spam). I will not use any names in the article! Thanks!
*Lucia Ellen Noykos – 7 lbs., 13 oz. – June 26 *Rachel Lorelai Chavez – 8 lbs., 15 oz. – August 18 *Calvin Patrick Herr – 7 lbs., 7oz. – August 22 *Agata Emilia Misior – 8 lbs., 8 oz. – August 27 *Clayton Anderson Jablonski – 7 lbs., 1 oz. – August 30 Cora Sayre Bachhuber – 9 lbs., 8 oz. – September 1 Baby Boy Beeler Furtado – 6 lbs., 11 oz. – September 2 Evan Rodriguez – 9 lbs., 9 oz. – September 8 Silas Copeland Raye – 9 lbs., 3 oz. – September 8 Finn Pearce Carter – 8 lbs., 15 oz. – September 9 Reed Avery Currin – 9 lbs., 8 oz. – September 10 Odin Antonio Ruiz – 9 lbs., 4 oz. – September 10 Evan Michael Pasquale – 9 lbs., 14 oz. – September 11 Emerson Wade Hadley – 6 lbs., 2 oz. – September 12 Josephine Lorraine Higgins – 9 lbs., 12 oz. – September 12 Madison Brylee Miller – 9 lbs., 1 oz. – September 13 Grady Lee McCutcheon – 9 lbs., 4 oz. – September 13 *Solomon David Hollowell – 7 lbs., 5 oz. – September 15 Eloise Elizabeth Green – 6 lbs., 15 oz. – September 16 *Elliott Ruth McKelvey – 8 lbs., 15 oz. – September 16 Henry Winther Bennett – 7 lbs., 7 oz. – September 16 Kendall Claire Ann Lloyd – 7 lbs., 10 oz. – September 18 Abigail Charity Bradley – 8 lbs., 4 oz. – September 20 Juliet Leonard Howell Peréz – 7 lbs., 4 oz. – September 20 Andrew Levi Seagroves – 9 lbs. – September 21 Fletcher Khalil Pineo – 8 lbs., 4 oz. – September 26 *Lillian Sophia Mangione – 8 lbs., 4 oz. – September 26 Jonah Reay Willson – 7 lbs., 11 oz. – September 27 *Laali Singh Lindsley – 8 lbs., 7 oz. – September 30 Cora Josephine Tinkler – 8 lbs., 4 oz. – September 30
by Casey Bradburn When I found out I was pregnant I was excited but also a little shocked and scared. We had barely even been trying for a few weeks. And we weren’t even really trying; we were just finally to the point where we figured if it happened it would be great and we wouldn’t try to inhibit it anymore. My immediate family members have had numerous issues with pregnancies so I thought it would take quite a while to get pregnant. I guess I thought wrong. My husband, Cole, and I now joke that we are probably so fertile that all Cole has to do is wink at me from across the room and I’ll likely get pregnant again. With the good news I called my parents, brother, and sister. They all live 15 hours away so telling them in person wasn’t really an option. I was nervous to tell my sister, who is ten years my senior, and had been having trouble getting pregnant. After a long pause she finally told me that she had just found out that she, too, was pregnant and due the day after I was. Our mother had been begging for grandbabies for well over a decade and my sister and I talked about how crazy it would be for our kids to possibly be born in the same week. My sister didn’t want to tell anyone else about her pregnancy yet and get their hopes up too soon. I also thought this would be best because our mother’s name is Joy and she certainly lives up to it with her excessively jovial tendencies. The sheer thought of how chipper she would be to hear that she had her first two grandchildren on the way at the same time sort of gave me a headache. Now that the immediate family had been informed the next step was to figure out how and where we wanted to give birth. The biggest decision was to figure out whether I wanted to go with a hospital birth, home birth, or birthing center. I did a lot of self searching as to what I wanted the birth to be like. Cole and I try to avoid all medicines and interventions when possible so we knew we would like the birth of our child to be natural. Also, the last thing I wanted to do … Read More
Please join us in welcoming Mariah Velazquez as a CNM at the WBWC! Mariah has been at the birth center since November as a student midwife, then a nurse, and is now transitioning into the role of midwife while Jewell is on maternity leave. Mariah also works part time as a nurse at the WBWC. Mariah was born and raised in Chapel Hill, but moved to Charlotte for a while before realizing she belonged back home. She returned to Chapel Hill two years ago. She completed her undergraduate degree at UNC Charlotte and her graduate midwifery degree at Frontier Nursing University. Married to her high school sweetheart for the past six years, Mariah has a son, Kaiden (5) and a daughter Lilia (3). Lilia was born at home, and Mariah is due with her third baby at the end of March! Mariah enjoys spending all of her time off with her lovely family. What does Mariah like best about the WBWC? “I love the heart of WBWC. I have never seen another practice that truly cares so much about their clients. I love being out of hospital and practicing true midwifery care. I feel privileged to be a part of the practice, and I really cannot picture myself working anywhere else now.”
recommended by Marcelaine Tanner This is my favorite recipe for beans. I got it from my sister-in-law, who shared it on our family recipe blog, heritagerecipes.blogspot.com. I used to think beans were bland, but with this combination of spices I am happy to eat them all by themselves for lunch. You can use the beans in any recipe that calls for beans. Beans also freeze well. I make a double batch and freeze the beans in one-cup portions, which I pull out whenever I need them for a recipe. 2 cups pinto beans (or any beans), sorted and washed 2 tsp. granulated garlic powder 1 tsp. parsley 1 tsp. dried basil 1 tsp. cumin 1/2 tsp. dried oregano 1/2 tsp. dried cilantro (or 1 1/2 tsp. fresh cilantro) 1/4 tsp. cumin seeds 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper 6 cups water 6 bouillon cubes, either chicken or beef 2 tsp. crystallized ginger, chopped (or 1/8 tsp. ginger)–the ginger helps reduce the gas-producing effect of beans Rinse the beans–the easiest way to do this is to put them in a colander and spray them with the sprayer on your sink. Soak the beans. You can do this by placing them in plenty of water and leaving them for about eight hours. A faster way is to put the beans in a pot on the stove with 6 cups of water, bring it to a boil, then turn the stove off and let the beans sit for 1-2 hours. After soaking the beans, rinse them again. Return the beans to the pot and add all the spices and the 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat so that the water is just simmering (I turn the knob to 1 or 2 on my stove). Let the beans cook until they are soft–usually this takes 1 1/2 hours, but it depends on the beans. If you want refried beans, mash the beans using a mixer, blender, or potato masher, adding a little of the cooking water if needed.
by Kaaren Haldeman Welcome to fall everyone–what a gorgeous October! The board met this month to hear our director, Maureen Darcey CNM, speak about her own history and how it has intertwined with that of the WBWC. She took us on a stroll down memory lane to tell the origin story of WBWC and to explain her vision for its future. On October 21, we celebrated our 9th anniversary as WBWC with a party at the Sertoma Arts Center in Raleigh. We had a great crowd and kids and adults alike had a ball. We’ll look forward to the 10 year celebration next year! Thank you to Layne Townsend for her tireless work in securing a place and designing the invitations. Nice work, Layne! Enjoy the leaf-peeping of October before the cool of winter moves in…
Many women are not having important conversations with their health care providers about how to maintain their health during pregnancy (62%) or about preparing for motherhood (80%), according to new research released by the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM). Results from this new survey show a major gap in what women say they want from their health care and what women are getting across a spectrum of health needs. To improve the dialogue, the WBWC is proud to announce Our Moment of Truth™: A New Understanding of Midwifery Care. Through this national truth-telling campaign, ACNM aims to raise the bar for women’s health and re-introduce midwives and midwifery care as important options that should be the norm for women’s health care services in the United States. Midwives are critically important in providing care to women from adolescence to beyond menopause, but their expert knowledge of women’s health is often overlooked. Even though the general public often associates midwives exclusively with maternity care, many women visit a midwife for a range of services before and after pregnancy. This is just one of the many truths that Our Moment of Truth™ aims to reveal. The WBWC is spreading the word! We hope that you too will consider getting involved in this important initiative to inspire women across the country to become active decision makers in their health care. Visit the Our Moment of Truth™ website at http://ourmomentoftruth.midwife.org for more information and an overview of survey findings. Or leave a comment to share your moment of truth.
by Claire C. McKiernan Did you know that October 11th was the first official United Nations Day of the Girl? The day was meant to call attention to all girls, whether they are up against the rules of their society, a lack of access to health care and education, a school bully, an eating disorder, or any of a number of horrors faced by girls–and women–everywhere. This topic naturally leads me to your spider veins. Or flabby belly, or stretch marks, or that weird third eye that developed on your forehead in your third trimester. Pregnancy changes a woman’s body and instead of embracing it, we fight it, deny it, and mourn over it. What does this teach our daughters (and sons, for that matter)? What does it communicate to our partners and to society about women? Many things about pregnancy, child birth, and post pregnancy are not sexy. They are not meant to be. You are not, after all, designed for the mere pleasures of man any more than he should be purely designed for yours. But pregnancy, child birth, and post pregnancy IS beautiful. These moments contain a beauty that is rich in their femininity as well as in their strength. And learning to love your body in spite of the weird and unexpected changes it endures can be a part of this strength. These changes depict the unique story of you and your transformation into motherhood. I’ll get the party started and describe a few strange things that I experienced in pregnancy: I grew a mole. Sometime in the third trimester of my first pregnancy, a protruding ugly thing, about the size of a half a currant raisin emerged on my temple. I accidentally swiped it with my finger nail during the throes of labor and bled like a stuck pig all over the pillow. I returned home with a baby in my arms and a bandage on the side of my head. Thankfully, the mole did not grow back. I sprouted wisdom teeth. With each pregnancy, somewhere in my 2nd trimester, I sprouted a wisdom tooth: four pregnancies, four wisdom teeth. I’d like to say they provided me with extra wisdom, but they mostly required extra time to keep clean, one kept carving into my cheek and giving me canker sores, I developed a cavity in another one, and I wound up needing them all extracted. … Read More