ABOUT THE EMPOWERING FEARLESS BIRTH CONFERENCE:
This event is not another debate about midwives versus doctors. It's not a conference with an agenda to encourage a lower C-section rate or tell families they need to birth a specific way. It's not solely for birth professionals in any industry. Though a vast source of education and empowerment for expecting couples, it's not even only for those expecting a baby. The Empowering Fearless Birth is for you, for everyone. It is for anyone who has ever thought of birth with some uncertainty – whether you have yet to experience it or have a line kids following you around wherever you go. It is for women and men, married or single. It is for anyone who thinks about what effects society – because birth truly does. No one said it better than the Farm midwife, Ina May Gaskin, a true pioneer and great influence in the birth community, “Birth matters... it matters because it is the way we all begin our lives outside of our sources, our mother's bodies. It’s the means from which we enter and feel our first impression of the wider world. For each mother, it is an event that shakes and shapes her to her innermost core. Womens' perceptions about their bodies and their babies’ capabilities will be deeply influenced by the care they receive around the time of birth.”
The Empowering Fearless Birth event was motivated from several factors. Tennessee offers amazing birth professionals including the previously quoted Ina May Gaskin – winner of “The Right Livelihood” award, creator of “the Gaskin Maneuver,” 2013 inductee to the National Women's Hall of Fame, and nationally recognized speaker. She and many other skilled midwives including Carol Nelson, who wrote and lobbied for the Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) law in Tennessee, have made history, making advances for birthing mothers not only nationally, but worldwide. These incredible trail blazers live and work right here in Middle Tennessee. Tennessee is home to rich birth-related advances between the Farm Midwives, Vanderbilt hospital, and other groups. Now is the time to reach out to these resources, learn from them, and make the choices so many women don't realize they have.
The conference offers a line-up nationally recognized speakers including Stacie Hunt. Hunt trained with the Farm Midwives and has been a member of the Farm Midwifery crew for more than 15 years. She is passionate about releasing fear during pregnancy and in preparation for birth. Having worked as a nurse in a hospital for many years, and as a midwife outside the hospital, she will be speaking about how choosing your care provider can have an incredible impact on your birth experience. See more about Stacie Hunt here.
Cristen Pascucci will also be participating in the conference. Up until her son Henry was born in December 2011, Pascucci was busy with a career in politics, media, and public relations. She left that all behind to dive into pregnancy, birth and a baby. She serves as the Vice-President of ImprovingBirth.org and is on the advisory board for Human Rights in Childbirth, and is working to build a national legal network in the US to bring recognition to the human rights of women in pregnancy and birth. At the conference, Cristen hopes to help women understand and take control of what happens at the birth of their child, by empowering them to educate themselves on the options that will be available to them and all that will be presented on the day of delivery. See more about Cristen Pascucci here.
Joe Valley, owner of www.empoweredpapa.com will also be speaking. He is a birth advocate, certified therapist, and is passionate about educating and empowering fathers to discover their preferred role in the birth of their children. He speaks nationally to birth professionals reminding them that fathers are part of the process, and teaching them how to include them. See more about Joe Valley here.
In addition to these key-note speakers, Panel discussions will be lead by local parents with specific birth experience including hospital birth, cesarean section birth, VBAC, home birth and more. We will also hold the amazing "Dad Panel," where several dads who've experienced different types of birth situations will share their perspective in a Q&A panel format. Classes will be taught by nationally recognized speakers as well as local birth professionals. Topics will include choosing your care provider, planning your birth, choosing a childbirth class, bonding with your baby and others. An additional room will be set up for vendors so attendees can meet local business owners and birth professionals to help prepare them for the birth and parenting experience they desire.
Laura Stavoe Harm is quoted, “There is a secret in our culture and it is not that birth is painful, but that women are strong.” Birth isn’t the beginning or the end of the process. Everything begins months before when two people begin discussion the possibility of conceiving a child. As well as it continues through the life of the child and the developing family core. Come experience this conference and learn how to set up yourself and your child for the best opportunities through life.
Tickets are now available for the March event – with all-day admission or evening only passes. For more information, and to keep up with recent additions and updates, please visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/empoweringfearlessbirthtn.
