Barbara Harper, founder of Waterbirth International, will be speaking! Don’t miss it! Lots of vendors, including Sweet Child O’ Mine, and lots of free goodies!!

See you at the
Natural Birth and Baby Expo on
Sunday, April 25th,
from 12pm to 4pm,
at the East Lake Woodlands Country Club
in Oldsmar!

Natural birth and baby products and services overflow at this one-of-a-kind event! Keynote Speaker at 1pm: Barbara Harper, founder of Waterbirth International and noted author of Gentle Birth Choices. Health lunch options for purchase, nursing area, demonstrations throughout the day, silent auction (cash or check only), vendor raffles. Just $5 per family! A wonderful way to support your natural pregnancy, birth and parenting choices!

Area Midwife Brings ChildBirth Experience To Comfort Of Home
By Jennifer Silverstein
As a mother of two who were both born at home, FishHawk resident Kim Verbarg became a licensed midwife because, “Their births were the most magical moments of my life, and I’d like to help make every woman’s birth experience just as beautiful.”Her daughters are now 12 and 17, but Verbarg has assisted approximately 200 women and their families in the birth of their babies with her business- Sweet Child O’ Mine.“I believe that women should have quality birth options which include gentle care and individual control over health-care decisions. When control and dignity are returned to women in childbirth, women and families can be empowered and bonded through their birthing experience,” she said. “I love being a part of birth and seeing this process.” As the only licensed midwife in the Brandon area, with a Lithia office for appointments, Verbarg, along with staff Areline Williams and Charlie Rae,  offers full prenatal care, including lab work and ultrasounds, home and water births as well as vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC). Midwife care offers a significant savings and are typically less than one-third the cost of obstetrical care and hospital birth. Maternity care at Sweet Child O’ Mine includes all prenatal exams, home visits, labor and delivery, initial postpartum care, the services of the birth assistant, complete newborn exam, 24-48 hour postpartum visit, a two week postpartum visit, a six week postpartum exam, and filing of the birth certificate. Private Insurance and Pregnancy Medicaid are accepted and  a full pregnancy through childbirth service schedule fee would be approximately $4,000.The company also offers Doula services, a professional labor coach. She attends birth with the mom as her coach and advocate in a variety of settings including at the hospital. Licensed midwives are licensed by the Florida Department of Health, Division of Medical Quality Assurance, with schooling and clinical training, including at least 25 birth observations and 50 labor and delivery managements. Midwives do all of the maternity health care for low-risk women who desire out-of-hospital birth. As long as the patient stays healthy throughout her pregnancy, she will only see the midwife. Services are covered by private insurance and Medicaid.There are also a couple of hybrid options, including the homebirth hybrid option: working with patients who have an obstetrician who they are seeing for their care. If at any time in her pregnancy the patient becomes high risk, she already has a doctor. If during labor she needs physician care, she already has a doctor. “Some women feel like they have the best of both worlds with this option,” Verbarg said.The other option is for patients who qualify for Medicaid who want a hospital birth. “With this option, the prenatal care is with the licensed midwife, and then the mom will go to the hospital for delivery and take the OB on call,” she explained. “The advantage to this is that the mom receives quality prenatal care and education.” For more information or to schedule your free pregnancy test, free consultation or to discuss your birth options, please call 924-6905, e-mail midwife@sweetchildbirth.com or visit http://sweetchildbirth.com.

Full article found in the March 2010 edition of the Osprey Observer and online at http://www.ospreyobserver.com/2010/03/area-midwife-brings-childbirth-experience-to-comfort-of-home/

Saturday, March 27^th, 2010

Noon to 2:30 pm

Paul Sanders Park, 640 W. Bloomingdale Ave (Corner of Bloomingdale & Kings), Brandon, FL 33511

For more information, contact Kim at midwife@sweetchildbirth.com or 813-924-6905.

Midwives are the primary maternity care providers in most of the world today. While it is assumed that Americans will receive the very best medical care possible, the U.S. fails miserably in maternity care. In fact, the U.S. has one of the worst neonatal and mortality rates of developed nations. According to the World Health Organization, the United States ranks 32nd in neonatal mortality and 31st in maternal mortality (WHO, 2008) despite escalating cesarean section rates and spending more on obstetric care than any other nation. When will the United States catch up with the rest of the world?

The reality is that most complications during birth are caused by unnecessary hospital interventions, drugs, and being confined to a bed during labor. When a mom labors at home, she is naturally more relaxed. As a result of being relaxed, her labor generally progresses faster and less discomfort is experienced, so there is no need for drugs. The laboring mom has freedom to move around, eat, drink, or labor/birth in the water. The midwife attends her in a supportive and non-interventive way, monitoring her and the baby all along the way. At home, the laboring mom is the only patient, so she has undivided attention and care, and her risk of infection is lowered. The Licensed Midwife brings to the home all the equipment and medications that you would find at a birth center, including a hand-held doppler, oxygen, resuscitation equipment, IV fluid, hemorrhage medication, and suturing supplies. The midwife is trained to both prevent and handle emergency situations. Only about 5% of planned homebirths transfer to the hospital, and most of these are unrushed, non-emergency transfers. Once the baby is born at home, the baby remains with the family in an environment to which its immune system is adapted, which results in less newborn infections.

For more information on VBAC, recent studies, risks and benefits of both VBAC and elective repeat cesarean, please go to ICAN’s website. There is an excellent article there, found at http://www.ican-online.org/vbac/fighting-vbac-lash-critiquing-current-research.

Kim Verbarg, Licensed Midwife
813-924-6905