Green Midwife Blog Begins.

“Despair shows us the limit of our imagination. Imaginations shared create collaboration, collaboration creates community, and community inspires social change.”

—Terry Tempest Williams

Green Midwife, as a practice name, came about from my love of birth and midwifery and as a result of my research and exploration of the current maternity care system in the United States and ways to make relations collaborative, healthy and more sustainable; and I recognize that midwives can be leaders in initiating the steps it will take to move towards improvement. The name also came as a reflection of the way I live within my own community and the impact I make on the planet.  The health of our environment, as we all begin to realize more and more each day, has a direct relation to the way our future generations will walk on this planet.  My path to midwifery began as a long time desire to be a doctor like my grandfather who caught babies at home, my work as wilderness instructor and guide, and facilitating groups of women through various rites of passage. My journey also began simply on a run with my friend when I was 24 and living in Telluride, Colorado.  So much to be told with a bunch of miles between you and home and a few ridges to get over...

The preconception to this blog came from encouragement to creatively communicate my work of my thesis and writing and work as a midwife and activist.  So, I sat with it and fought off any urge because most of my urges are satisfied through outdoor activities and passions and love. To sit inside and do this is not my idea of a bunch of fun.  Then I started thinking further...I heard myself saying, "This could be a cool little creation."  My sister, Jennifer, encouraged me to go for it being a way to reach out, network and further my practice success.  

My true hope is this blog becomes a place where health care professionals, maternity care providers, consumers, advocates and supporters of healthy birth and improving the US health care, and families can tell their stories and expand the idea and initial points of "The Greening of Birth" (my thesis title).  Therefore, this blog will be a place you can visit to hear stories from around North America and the world as I will have postings contributed from my extended network and hopefully from those not in my network yet.  This blog will also be a place where you can read about the work and ideas of green craftsman and women, engineers, resource managers, writers, builders, farmers, teachers, retailers, and activist and how the strings of a town intertwine and make a strong, healthy network.  This articles from non-health care providers to this blog will start from the community of Bozeman and grow out after we address what we're doing here, how it impacts our living, the health of our families and individuals.  I live in a community that inspires social change and creating this "strong and connected community" is just the ignition.  It will be down the road where the pushing will get tough and we'll all have to bear down and push with all our might.

To me, birth is just the beginning of a beautiful future.  Preconception and pregnancy are two places that men and women and families have the opportunity to expand upon or begin to live in new ways, healthier and kinder ways.  These periods are times when we can re-evaluate the whole picture, and see if the footprints we are laying will create a stronger future or do they just contribute to the messes we've already created.  You don't have to be "green" to live well, but it is the influence of changing our views towards the ways of living sustainability that will make life a more pleasurable place to dwell within.  Please feel free to submit ideas and articles to me via email or post below.  

Now, time for a run in this blustery Montana day where seeds are being sewn.