Let’s Play Catch Up!

by Melissa Garvey, ACNM Writer and Editor

We’ve been quiet at Midwife Connection lately, so let’s pick up the pace again by catching up on the latest ACNM news.

• Flu season is on the way. ACNM, CDC, and other professional organizations issued a joint statement on the importance of seasonal flu vaccination—especially for pregnant and postpartum women.
  
  
• Collaborative practice between midwives and physicians is in the spotlight. ACNM and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists are calling for papers on successful collaborative practice models between midwives and physicians. Winning submissions will receive monetary awards and may be published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.
  
  
• Free updated midwifery fact sheets are available. Two of our most popular fact sheets—Essential Facts about Midwives and CNM/CM-Attended Birth Statistics—have been updated and are available online.
  
  
  
• National Midwifery Week is October 3 – 9. Host your own event or join in one of the many celebrations across the country during National Midwifery Week. ACNM has a webpage with tools to help you celebrate, and Where’s My Midwife? is organizing the National Walk for Moms and Midwives.
  
  

Time Out for Good News

by Melissa Garvey, ACNM Writer and Editor

It’s a busy week at ACNM. We’re getting ready to open registration for our Annual Meeting and staying on top of a flurry of midwifery advocacy. In the midst of the activity, it’s been especially gratifying to see a hefty amount of positive press about midwives pop up in my inbox each morning. It feels great to have a chance to pause and revel in interviews well done, stories well told, and an inspiring midwifery mission making a difference in Haiti.

• Judith Rooks, CNM, MPH, FACNM, former president of ACNM, speaks up in the Portland Tribune about rising cesarean birth rates. It’s a balanced article that includes solid statistics and the midwifery perspective.
  
  
• Debbie Boucher, CNM, of Illinois is interviewed in an excellent Fit Pregnancy article titled “Home, Sweet Home.” Kudos to Fit Pregnancy for balanced coverage of home birth.
  
  
• ACNM Senior Practice Advisor, Eileen Ehudin Beard, CNM, FNP, helps women prepare for conception with straight-forward advice in the Vellejo Times-Herald, “Ready, Set Conception: 9 Steps to Prepare Your Body for Baby.”
  
  
• Nadene Brunk, CNM, explains the background and mission of Midwives for Haiti, an organization making a difference in Haiti before, during, and after the earthquake.