'MOTHERS DAY' WEEKEND 2011

VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER Donate the price of a movie ticket (or more!) through Paypal on this site, Watch 'No Woman, No Cry' on May 7th, 2011 at 9:30pm on Oprah's OWN cable TV network, and help ALL women continue to have access to quality maternity care with The Birth Place, Winter Garden, Florida site where "no one is ever turned away". Become a 'Friend of The Birth Place' - DONATE NOW!

RALLY

In recognition of mothers worldwide - The Birth Place presents a 'Mother's Day Weekend' community event.

May 5th, 2011 is International Midwives Day and the International Conferderation of Midwives (ICM) is holding its 29th annual Congress in Durban, South Africa. 3000+ midwives will converge at this important conference to discuss the state of the world's mothers. Sadly, worldwide a mother dies every minute from complications of childbirth. Even more alarming is the fact that The United States rate is rising and we now fall behind 49 other countries as far as our US maternal mortality rate. We KNOW that midwives are the answer. The world needs midwives, now more than ever.

Join us for a rally at Lake Eola, downtown Orlando on Thursday May 5th, 6pm-7pm to stand in solidarity with midwives from around the world and to recognize the ICM conference and its mission to improve the health of the worlds' mothers and to support our local midwives and womens' health advocates.

WATCH

May 7th, 2011 launches the US television premiere of supermodel Christy Turlington's documentary No Woman, No Cry. Oprah's OWN network will be showing the one-hour documentary which chronicles the stories of women and families dealing with maternal health and mortality, at 9:30 pm on Saturday May 7th. Jennie and THE BIRTH PLACE are featured as part of the American story and highlight the plight of women in Central Florida. You can see women from our practice sharing their stories and battling the odds in order to have a healthy baby and a safe birth. Hosting a "Watch Party" at your home is a wonderful way to educate your freinds and family about this critical issue.

(You can also support our work at The Birth Place  by joining in our VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER and becoming a Friend of The Birth Place. By donating the price of, say, a movie ticket (or more!) through Paypal on this site, you can help us continue our work at The Birth Place (see below for our current campaign), learn about the issue of maternal mortality through watching Christy's powerful film and join in a Mother's Day card writing campaign to petition our elected officials about the problems facing mothers today).

ACT

Christy has launched the Count Me In! initiative on her web site Every Mother Counts. Every Mother Counts is an advocacy and mobilization campaign to increase education and support for maternal and child health. Every Mother Counts seeks to engage new audiences to better understand the challenges and the solutions while encouraging them to take action to improve the lives of girls and women worldwide. Check out her Facebook page as well.

Amnesty International considers this dire situation a human rights violation. The worlds' mothers continue to be in jeopardy but so do American women as well. In the USA maternal mortality is again on the rise due to increased interventions in childbirth and lack of quality and access to prenatal and postpartum care. Several legislative bills are pending which address these concerns. Become active on these issues by helping Amnesty 'Shine A Light on Maternal Health' this Mother's Day.

Midwife Ina May Gaskin works tirelessly to educate the American public about the state of maternal health during pregnancy and birth. She has created a Safe Motherhood Quilt which honors the women who have been lost during childbearing in the last 20 years. You can help Ina May in her quest to share this information.

VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER Donate the price of a movie ticket (or more!) through Paypal on this site, Watch 'No Woman, No Cry' on May 7th, 2011 at 9:30pm on Oprah's OWN cable TV network, and help ALL women continue to have access to quality maternity care with The Birth Place, Winter Garden, Florida site where "no one is ever turned away". Become a 'Friend of The Birth Place' - DONATE NOW!

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OUR 2011 CAMPAIGN is underway!

We are depending on YOU to help us continue this work.

Please go to www.commonsensechildbirth.org for more in depth information on how you can help us help our most vulnerable population - mommies and babies not receiving quality prenatal care. Thank you.

September is National Infant Mortality Month

We need your help! THE BIRTH PLACE TEAM says "We're working for A FULL TERM BABY for EVERY mom"

In order to continue to impact prematurity and low birth weight in our communities we have launched our 2011 Campaign. By SEPTEMBER we plan to reach our goal.

OUR GOAL IS $60,000 – or $10,000 per month for 6 months. Imagine if 500 people gave $20 per month - we would reach that goal with ease!

$90 goes a long way:

• one prenatal visit for an uninsured patient (the average pregnancy needs 14 visits)
• or the cost of one of the many prenatal lab tests (the total lab package alone costs $1200)
• or one half of the fee for an ultrasound
• or one childbirth education series
• or one teen counseling session.

So 66 women could receive quality prenatal care for their entire pregnancy or 25 could receive prenatal care plus a complete lab package, a sonogram, education and counseling.

What is the JJWay®?

For a detailed explanation of Jennie Joseph's JJ Way® maternity healthcare system and to learn about the Easy Access clinic at The Birth Place, visit the Commonsense Childbirth website.

Video: Jennie Joseph explains how The JJ Way® maternity health care system helps women access prenatal care.

2007 Study results of The JJ Way® in action

NO low birth weight or premature babies among African American or Hispanic patients at The Birth Place!

Download the report.