Welcome Becky Schayes to our team of midwives!

Becky Schayes, CNM

Becky Schayes is a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) and Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) passionate about providing women access to midwifery care for all of their health care needs, beyond pregnancy and birth. This means office visits with plenty of time to discuss and review options, a warm and open environment where women feel safe and comfortable, a physical space that accommodates medical procedures while never feeling cold or sterile, and continuity of care that fosters connection between the woman and her healthcare provider. 

As a CNM and ARNP she has the privilege of caring for women from adolescence through menopause, providing services from family planning to primary care. Here is a list of some of the services Becky will bring to Birthroot Midwives and Birth Center:

• Well-woman care: Annual exams, Pap, and health screenings. 
• Family planning: Contraceptive counseling and access to all forms of birth control including Intra Uterine Devices (IUDs). 
• Preconception care: Counseling and management of health concerns prior to pregnancy including fertility awareness, readiness for pregnancy, and genetic risks.
• Primary care: Evaluation and management of health concerns such as common cold, urinary tract infections, and thyroid disorders.
• Reproductive Health: Evaluation of menstrual irregularities, screening and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, and management of common vaginal infections.
• Perimenopausal and postmenopausal care: Counseling regarding effects of menopause on all aspects of health and management of common discomforts. 

As a provider at Birthroot Midwives and Birth Center Becky will offer women a place to get all of their health care needs met. She is excited to be working along side the Birthroot Midwives to provide respectful and quality care to the women of Bellingham and Whatcom County.

To learn more about Becky check out her bio on our Birthroot Midwives and Birth Center website. To find out more about Nurse Midwives and their role as women's health care providers go to Our Moment of Truth.

Integrative Resuscitation of the Newborn With Karen Strange

We are excited to announce that we will be sponsoring another Integrative Resuscitation of the Newborn class with Karen Strange on January 8th, 2014! 

As midwives working in an out of hospital setting we cannot emphasize enough how we appreciate and rely upon the skills taught in Karen's class. Not only do we learn how to perform the life saving skills of newborn resuscitation, use of oxygen and pulse oximetry, and benefits of delayed cord clamping, we learn about how these interventions are experienced from the perspective of the newborn. When we embody this awareness and understanding of the newborn it allows us to be conscientious during the resuscitative process while promoting bonding and attachment and minimizing birth trauma.

Karen Strange will be covering Neonatal Transitional Physiology and the evidence-based studies behind the guidelines. She presents a broader understanding of how to think about resuscitating a newborn. This perspective is way beyond the normal AAP/NRP course, and you get “the card”. Karen helps participants "make sense" of how the autonomic nervous system works within us. She provides a process for delivering skills in all emergencies. She demonstrates the baby's perspective and experience of birth, as well as tools for babies regardless of where they are born and what happens to them during the birth. She conveys with clarity and shows us how babies communicate.
Participants will experience a perspective not presented in any midwifery course or training which will expand how one approaches birth and babies.

Bellingham Class - January 8th from 8:45-5:30

Workshop Fee: $240

**Pre-Registration is required

Location: 3 Oms Yoga 
1210 Bay Street, Bellingham

For more information or to register for Karen's course visit http://karenstrange.com

Questions?? Please contact Jessie Bradley at jessie@midwivesinbellingham.com

The Birthmate Birth Stool

When I found out that Susan Willis had a Dutch birth stool for sale, I was beside myself with excitement. To think that this fantastic birth stool that Susan brought back from Amsterdam in the mid 1990’s was here in Bellingham, just blocks from my home and our new birth center was unbelievable. I immediately called Susan to arrange a time to see it, hoping not to appear over eager.

I had to wait an entire day! Monday came and I walked to Susan’s Columbia neighborhood home full of anticipation. I was not disappointed. The birth stool is beautiful and impeccably designed and executed.  It even has a cordura carrying case that looks like a hat box!

Sitting in Susan’s dining room sharing a cup of tea, I realized there is much more of a story to tell than even the perfection and potential of this amazing birth stool. I am grateful that Susan has allowed me to share her story.

Susan Willis FNP, CNM has been in the Skagit/Whatcom area since 1979 working as a midwife and family nurse practitioner. Susan is a shy person who has had an amazing career in our community delivering babies and providing primary care to women and families. Susan was born in Kentucky and graduated from the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. This is the school founded by Mary Breckinridge in 1939 to serve families deep in Appalachia. Susan learned the true meaning of being with woman during her midwifery internships in Kentucky and Cleveland, Ohio.

After graduating, Susan and her family moved to La Conner. They arrived on Christmas Eve 1979 during a gas shortage and were welcomed by Ruth Halvorson CNM, director of the Mt Vernon Birth Center. The Mt Vernon Birth Center, which had opened in 1975, was one of the first facilities of its kind in the country. During the seven years Susan worked there, the Mt Vernon Birth Center averaged 25-35 births per month.  Washington State had only been licensing birth centers for six months when Susan began working there.

Of Ruth Halvorson, Susan says: “Ruth was special. She trained in Scotland as a nurse midwife. She had been a RN in mission service in Africa for years. They asked her to do midwifery training (though she had not thought of it), but it was her true calling. She delivered thousands of babies and while in Africa provided care to high risk mothers and babies who would have likely died without help. Ruth spoke Swahili and had slender, flexible fingers.”

According to Susan, Ruth was the first midwife to deliver babies at St Joseph’s Hospital in Bellingham. Ruth, of course was working in Skagit  County at the Mt Vernon Birth Center and Skagit Valley Hospital. Many Whatcom County families traveled for midwifery care as there were no birth centers in Bellingham and no CNM’s with delivery privileges at St Josephs Hospital. It was to serve these families closer to home that Ruth got privileges at SJH. Ruth’s tenure at St Joe’s did not last long. The stipulation that a physician be present for every delivery attended by a midwife was likely a major factor.

Of her own journey to obtaining admitting privileges at St Joseph Hospital, Susan says, “You know the story, it took years and much research on my part to establish CNM privileges, but times had changed and so I did the first delivery at St Joseph Hospital of the ‘modern era’. “  She calls it the modern era because the requirement that a physician be present was eliminated. On call 24/7 for 7 years beginning in 1998, Susan only missed one delivery but still made it in time for the placenta.  It is fair to say that the work she did was groundbreaking for midwifery in our community.  

Simultaneously, in Holland in the 1990’s, the Dutch midwives rediscovered vertical birth. The Birthmate birth stool was designed by Astrid Limburg for midwives to use in all birth settings, but particularly for home births. I asked Susan how she used it at the hospital. She told me she would share and demo it to patients in the office and take it with her to the hospital if patients wanted it. She would spread drapes on the floor and set the birth stool on top of the drapes. It was quite popular with her patients.

In a few months the birth stool will have a new home at Birthroot Midwives and Birth Center. We will use it much the same way that birth stools are used all over the world. As the excitement builds towards completing the birth center and opening the doors I am very grateful to all the midwives who have walked this path before me. Their courage, perseverance, and creativity are a continuous source of inspiration as we move forward. 

Last week we went to Everett to attend a workshop for midwives sponsored by DSHS. In addition to hearing about establishing paternity in Washington, we were updated about the Affordable Care Act and how implementation is going, especially as it affects women applying for pregnancy benefits.

The take home message is that while people are supposed to apply for healthcare insurance through the Washington Health Plan Finder only 1 out of every 8 applicants successfully complete the online application because of all the bugs in the new system. This is creating confusion and frustration for those navigating through the application process.

Since pregnant women need to receive benefits in a timely manner, we were advised to counsel women to make an appointment with a trained in-person assister. Contact the Whatcom Alliance for Health Advancement (WAHA) to receive more information about the locations offering in–person assistance. WAHA is a nonprofit organization based in Bellingham, Washington whose mission is to connect people to health care and facilitate transformation of the current system into one that improves health, reduces cost and improves the experience of care.

Whatcom Alliance for Health Advancement
800 E.Chestnut St., Lower Level, Suite 2
Bellingham, WA 98225
360.788.6594
www.whatcomalliance.org


Remember that pregnancy medical can be made retroactive for up to three months prior to the application date. This is important to note for pregnant women, who are encouraged to begin prenatal care as soon as possible, even if prior to approval for coverage.

The good news is that pregnant women applying for insurance coverage who do not qualify for Medicaid will still be able to purchase health insurance that will offer a maternity benefit without pre-existing exclusions.  This means that you will be covered even if you are already pregnant when you apply for benefits. As always, read the fine print of any plan before you purchase it.

New Sign at 1600 Broadway

Our Story.....

Ann Tive, licensed midwife and founder of Birthroot Midwifery Service, has been blessed to serve the birthing community in Bellingham and the surrounding area for more than two decades. In 2007 Jessie Bradley began working with Ann, first as an apprentice and student midwife and now as a licensed midwife and practice partner. Ann and Jessie have collectively attended more than 1300 births throughout Whatcom and Skagit counties.

Two years ago, Ann and Jessie began planning to move Birthroot Midwifery Service (from Ann’s home office) into a larger space in order to provide additional services and more resources for birthing families. Thus, Birthroot Midwives and Birth Center was conceived.

Since finding the perfect location in the fall 2012 at 1600 Broadway, we have been busy designing the birth center of our dreams! Our brand new facility provides deep spacious tubs, walk-in showers, room to move, modern and peaceful aesthetics, and many other amenities to support a safe, comfortable, and natural birth. 

We anticipate a Spring 2014 due date for Birthroot Midwives and Birth Center! Check back often for news of our progress and details of services we will offer to our community.