AAMI

Midwifery is the Ancient Art of Touching the Future

2010-09-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

Midwifery is

the Ancient Art

of Touching the Future

Ancient Art Midwifery Institute

Honoring the Midwife of Yesterday

Supporting the Midwife of Today

Holding the Door Open for the Midwife of Tomorrow

A Distinction You and I Can Always Be Sure Of

2010-09-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

Advanced Midwifery Studies was just titled The Midwifery Home Study Course when we started as Apprentice Academics in 1981. We were the very first distance academic program. One of our most important distinctions is the fact that we offered the original course and nothing we offered then, or now, is patterned after anything else. It is as important to me to maintain that distinction as it was in October 1980 when I started working on the curriculum and March 1981 when I started publicizing it. There was no other curriculum to look at then, and I do not look at other curriculums now. In fact have never laid eyes on any midwifery curriculum that has come after ours. I have seen my curriculum with someone else's name on it and my copyright whited out. And I have had people who offer other programs admit to me that they "patterned" their program after ours or that they just condensed what we did. As amazed at I am at the lack of integrity in this matter, I have still never been tempted to look at anyone else's curriculum. I am careful not to compromise my integrity in this area. I will never borrow someone else's hard work intentionally.....NEVER.

When Carolyn Steiger heard I was writing a book for beginning midwives at the same time she was also writing a book on the topic, she made the first call and we became fast friends. Her book was published just before a MANA conference in October. Mine was not published until the next June. I was thrilled that she gave me one of the very first copies but I glanced through it quickly, in her presence, and never opened it again until my book was DONE. In the interim, Carolyn asked many times for me to read her book. She was anxious for my opinion. My response was always that I would read it the night I got back from the printer. She assured me that she trusted me and begged me to read it! As wonderful as knowing how much faith seh had it me, it was not enough to cause me to take that chance. I did not want to ever wonder if I had inadvertently changed something or added something to improve upon what Carolyn had already done. If I deposited my book at the printer before I read her book, I would always know, without a doubt, that I had never leveraged anything from her hard work or claimed something as my own that was really hers. As it turns out, our books were quite different and actually very complementary. We are still very good friends. By the way, Becoming a Midwife has been out of print for some time. You may hear a rumor that she has given her permission for it to be photocopied or reprinted but I assure you that is not the case. Contact me if you know of any copyright abuse concerning Becoming A Midwife.

I will end here, coming round to my original point. We have always been original, and will always be original. If you choose AAMI, you can be sure that you are not getting a reworked version of any other course. That is an important distinction.

The Value Of An AAMI Education

2010-02-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

A lot of the talk amongst the staff and students at AAMI centers around the idea of knowing what you need to know so you can stay hands off and have the ability to recognize and act upon abnormal events in labor should you need to.

As a doula I have attended hundreds of births. As a student midwife, I am in the first year of my clinical work. I recently attended a birth as a doula that illustrated over a dozen points for me about listening to mothers a their own best experts, taking care that technology does not exacerbate or even create problems, and responding to the person in front of me as a unique individual.

The birth was devastating for mother and baby because although we transferred into the hospital for higher level care, they largely ignored everything she said and did not connect the dots between the clinical symptoms she presented with and developed over the many hours she was under their care. She is living proof that the hospital mantra "healthy mother, healthy baby" undermines everything that is necessary and true in birth—there is so much more than just the final outcome to consider. I came to see that the comfort level of the staff and OBs was couched in the many print-outs, read-outs, and electronic alarms they surround themselves with. They believe they can save anyone and have no concern for keeping mothers and babies out of the situation where they need to be saved in the first place.

This birth, although wretched in nearly every way, was a pivotal point event for me as a midwife. I learned a lot about myself. Although the birth is a how-to manual of avoiding over-use of technology and under-use of human creativity and mindfulness, the main message for me did not come until I was talking about the birth 24 hours later with dad. He said to me that towards the end I was freaking him out because I was "psychic" about everything.

Here is my AAMI message. I was not psychic. I am knowledgeable. I have learned. I can incorporate. I am not afraid to take the time to observe and listen to mother. I have skills that have been developed which have instructed me to track symptoms and connect them to create a picture. I am trained in normal by being drilled in abnormal. the hospital staff are trained to treat abnormal symptoms with medicines which make the symptom—mother or baby's strongest communication to the provider about their state of being disappear. I am trained to listen to and honor mom's voice about her own health and the health of her baby. The hospital staff is trained to manage labor, delivery, mother and baby in a way which overrides mother's voice and discourages professional creative thought process in favor of what they "do" in a given circumstance. I was not psychic. I was smart, aware, thoughtful and present. This is AAMI training. The births where everything goes as expected: I always think—my AAMI training—look how we do nothing to interfere! But this birth gave me more awareness and insight into the value of the bone grinding quality and volume of academic work at AAMI that dozens of other births could ever have done for me. My intuition and experience have a great partner in the breadth and depth of knowledge AAMI has given me. And I am not even done with the course work yet.

Jodilyn Owen

Icing On the Cake

2009-10-22T05:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I heard from two students about the difference that being a part of this course had made in their HEALTH. It is not unusual for me to get feedback from students that they love what they are learning and who they are becoming.....but to find out that an assignment or a quiz resulted in important information about their own health issues...well that is just Icing On the Cake!
Sometimes the benefits of our efforts are complete surprises! - Carla

Art of Invisibility - The goal of the Trust Birth Midwife

2009-10-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

However, domiciliary obstetrics is the ‘art of invisibility’ and without complications a woman gives birth herself, supported and aided by her midwife. -Jan Pilgrim

I told my clients that the greatest compliment that they could pay me was to forget I was at their birth. I know that Dr. John felt the same way about his clients. His belief that birth belonged to the families he was serving and not to him or any other "authority" made him so much more of a trust birth midwife than many female midwives I know.

You should check out his session recordings at aamishop.com

An excerpt from the original Apprentice Academics curriculum: Practice and Practicals

2009-09-25T02:33:00.000-07:00

This is a short excerpt from a section on practical preparation.....copyrighted 1981 Apprentice Academics The Midwifery Home Study Course...a lot has changed...

PRACTICE AND PRACTICALS

Measure your finger, knuckle to knuckle. Purchase or make a dilatation chart and practice checking dilation with your eyes closed. Become familiar with the “feel” of the spread of your fingers at each centimeter.

Buy or borrow a pelvis and practice pelvimetry. Keep in mind that the real thing feels very different.

Practice labor mechanisms with a doll and pelvis. Use a textbook and go through each mechanism fore every imaginable presentation and position.

Exercise your arms and fingers: lift weights; grip rubber balls; etc. You will be amazed at how important this will be.

Practice good health habits and work on your own nutrition. Midwifery puts a lot of demands on your body.

Attend every local function concerning birth and babies regardless of who is the sponsor. Every class and every meeting will bring you in contact with information and contacts.

Become an expert in some related field. This will benefit your family and your clients and it will make you a valuable resource for other practitioners. You can never know too many people; the more contacts, the better! Many of your future opportunities will come from the contacts you are making now!

Put yourself on every mailing list you can even if the topics seem peripheral now. You may find a connection later.

Organize public presentations of videos and speakers on birth related topics. Use the public meeting rooms at your library or civic center.

Sell birth related books you would endorse at information meetings or health fairs. Contact the Special Sales office of the publishers for bulk discount information.

Submit book reviews for publication in magazines or newsletters.

Write a column for new parents or expecting parents for your local newspaper.

Interview home birth couples or midwives for a “future” book!

exceptions, the universities were closed to women (even to upper class

women who could afford them) and licensing laws were established to

prohibit all but university-trained doctors from practice. It was

impossible to enforce licensing laws consistently since there was only a

handful of university-trained doctors compared to a mass of lay healers.

But the laws could be used selectively. Their first target was not the

peasant healer, but the better off, literate woman healer who competed

for the same urban clientele as that of the university-trained doctors.

...In the witch-hunts, the Church explicitly legitimized the doctors'

professionalism, denouncing non-professional healing as equivalent to

heresy: "If a woman dare to cure without having studied she is a witch

and must die." (Of course, there wasn't any way for a woman to study.)

Finally, the witch craze provided a handy excuse for the doctor's

failings in everyday practice: Anything he couldn't cure was obviously

the result of sorcery."

-Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers

by Barbara Eherenreich and Deidre English

Caution:

2009-09-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

"It is your work in life that is the ultimate seduction."—Pablo Picasso
Be careful......I know this to be especially true about what we do.....It is so easy to become so passionate about birth and helping families that we often put our own families on the back burner....... Carla

AAMI is Fundamentally Dedicated to....

2009-09-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

Ancient Art Midwifery Institute is fundamentally dedicated to the promotion of midwifery as more than a contemporary profession. Midwifery really is an ancient art and we can't forget that there were smart, caring women who came before us. Our generation did not invent this profession and if we don't mess it up, it will continue to exist long after we are gone.

When my days are done, I want to be known as someone who did what she could to hold the door open for the next generation of smart caring women who practice the ancient art of touching the future.

Carla

We could learn a thing or two from geese!

2009-09-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

When flying in a "V" formation, the geese in front create an updraft for the ones behind them. This increases an individual bird's range by 71%. When the lead goose tires, he drops back in the formation and another goose fills in. While flying in formation, the geese in the rear honk encouragement to those leading the flock. When a goose gets sick or tired, two geese stay behind with the sick one to protect it. They don't leave until it can fly again or dies.
(Source: "40 Tools for Cross-Functional Teams" by Walter J. Michalski)

I decided not to supply my original "editorial" for this one. By now, you probably know what I took away from this little blurb! Carla

Class Notes, an AMS publication/Think you CAN!

2009-09-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.

-Henry Ford, 1863-1947, American Industrialist, Founder of Ford Motor

Company

I just want to get this into every fiber of your being.... You will not accomplish much if you are constantly telling yourself that you can’t....I throw a lot of this stuff at you repeatedly because if you ever make it a part of your “picture” of yourself it will work. I promise. I am not asking you to be delusional and imagine yourself in a perfect world with superhuman abilities.....picture yourself as busy, too busy even......but also picture yourself doing an incredible amount of stuff toward your goals in little bits and pieces.....if there are excuses in your picture....take them out.....if there is frustration....look for some ways to reduce it....just keep plugging away and.....do little pieces here and there and make a plan to get bigger hunks of time for your projects....don’t just think it will drop out of the sky....

My suggestion for this week is that you write this on every mirror and put it on your fridge and your calendar and your bulletin board....embroider it on your pillowcases if you have to. Consider it a GOLDEN rule!

Do not let what you CANNOT do interfere with what you CAN do.

From Class Notes, An AMS publication/The $550 Paper Jam

2009-09-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

The $550 Paper Jam

I was on a very tight deadline. I had to get on a plane in less than 48 hours and had 5 System Works, curriculum binders to print and collate. My printer had a bad habit of jamming if I didn’t load the paper in a certain way but it was so time-consuming to do that. I was multi-tasking like a tornado getting ready for this trip. I was working so hard that I was in a cold sweat. I had just loaded the printer with $50 in ink cartridges and a fresh stack of paper and pushed print, when I heard the undeniable sound of disaster. My printer was grinding paper up like a garbage disposal. “I don’t have time for this!” I screamed at the moaning, screeching hunk of junk. I hate gadgets. If it has a cord, chances are I have issues with it. (Anyone who has seen Office Space can guess what my favorite scene is!) I worked for more than two hours trying to extricate the wad of paper that the printer had basically shredded but even with tweezers I could not get it all out.

So on to plan B. Ray rushed to Comp USA and bought a new printer. We wanted the exact same printer so we could use all these ink cartridges on the shelf and not have to load new software. However since it had been purchased more than 10 minutes (well a year ago) that printer was obsolete. We had to buy the next latest and greatest but the same brand thinking that would help us in some way. I cheered up a bit when Ray called to tell me he was rushing home with the new printer. I figured if I did not go to bed at all before my trip, I could still finish. I was bitter about the loss of time trying to do surgery on that cranky printer, but there was still hope.

Ray got home with the new printer. We installed the software and the printer wouldn’t work. We could not figure out why. We spent more than two hours trying to make it work. I believe that if I had money for a live in maid I would opt for a live in computer geek instead! Ray and I together don’t possess one brain when it comes to computers.

My dutiful, but not easily defeated, husband packed the printer and rushed it back to the store. There he learned that the problem was that our system did not have enough memory for the new printer. They could add memory and I could pick the computer up in the morning. But time was short.

My instructions were to unplug the computer and meet Ray with it at the street and he just might have time to get it back to the store before they closed at 9 pm. Just a few minutes before nine Ray sped our ailing computer to the computer hospital, otherwise known as Comp USA, as if his life depended on it.

His instructions were to offer double the normal fee if they could have it ready by 10 am the next morning.

He did. They did. I paid. I rushed the computer back home, installed the software, plugged in the printer and literally finished the last System Works twenty minutes before I had to leave for the airport. After I had boarded my flight I did the math. That paper jam had cost more than $550 for the new printer and new cartridges and installing more memory.

So there is my story about the most expensive paper jam in history. It is not all that interesting, really....but it was oh, so frustrating. And all because I did not take the time to load the paper the time-consuming, but nevertheless, correct way.

If you are skipping steps, not following directions, and not taking the time to do this job right, your time is coming. You may not experience a $550 paper jam, but the course will not go as smoothly as it would if you took your time and did it right in the first place. L cph

From Class Notes, an AMS publication/Carla, the Groupie

2009-09-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

Carla,the Groupie

I am always thinking about how I can help aspiring midwives on their journey. The more steps you take away from the starting gate the less you remember what it felt like there.........so I try to remember what I told my students in the early days because that was what I valued in my own journey.

One of the hardest but most valuable lessons I learned was that the midwives I idolized could be wrong and I had to think for myself. I will give you some examples of how flawed my thinking was.

1) When I started training to become a CCE I attended some midwifery meetings and workshops. Even tho at that point I did not want to BE a midwife, I saw that I did not own the proper midwife uniform and ran out and bought twirly skirts and bandanas for my hair.

I am NOT a twirly skirt person, but I thought I had to become one. And me in a bandana...now there is a picture! Some people look great in a bandana but unfortunately I am not one of them. I looked like I

was having a bad hair day, every day... or a cold onion.

2) While I was training to become a CCE I came to know a

California midwife very well. If she said it, I believed it. didn't look it up. That was good enough for me............even when in my own studies I ran across proof that she was saying things that

were just not true, I did not want to accept it. I loved her and it seemed disloyal to disagree with her on any level, much less admit that she didn't know as much as she tried to make people think. Later, one of my preceptors would ask me a question and then ask why I believed in my answer. If I gave the midwife's

name.....as in "that is what _______thinks." she would ask, but what do YOU think?

3) One might assume that would have gotten me off that groupie track, but it didn't. After I started my own practice, I would come home from every birth and call a well-known, actually famous at the time for having been arrested, midwife and ask her point by

point how I handled things. She had spent a couple weeks with my family and I completely trusted and adored her.

I will never forget how after one of those conversations, my husband asked me how long it was going to be before I trusted myself at a birth.

"You know", he said, "at some point it will hit you that________is not at the birth, but you are. So you have to feel like YOU know enough to be there alone or quit." It hit me like a ton of bricks.

He was right. There is nothing wrong with getting a second opinion from another practitioner during or after a birth.....but I had to stop trying to get a report card.

Learning to think for myself and believe in my own research was such a fresh issue for me that it was the motivation for many of the assignments and procedures I wrote into the curriculum.

That is why a big emphasis for us is to stress that you need to know WHY as well as what!

A sample of what is to come on the topic of licensing, pushing and the future of midwifery

2009-09-18T15:03:00.000-07:00

It is NOT about midwifery. Well, it can be if that is what you really want, but that is just a temporary fix. PLEASE look further down the road. The real solution is to acknowledge a parent's right to choose to birth with anyone or no one. That acknowledgement that parents' own their births — and not the state, nor the medical or midwifery community, is inclusive of the fact that birth is SAFE. In fact, predicated on that truth. We are living proof that surviving birth is not dependent on the credentials of a birth attendant. If we don't tell the truth about birth, who will? All the objections to midwifery and all the objections to home birth are based on a lie. That is what we have to correct and licensing midwives does not fix that misconception. That is why my intention is to keep telling the truth about BIRTH, to one mother at a time, with the confidence that once the mothers know the truth, they will take birth back!
- Carla Hartley

Wanna be a midwife.... but haven't really gotten started?

2009-09-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

Shortage of money, family responsibilities, the lack of time etc etc are real concerns but they are only obstacles because we take the path of least resistance and we use them as excuses...........so figure out why you are using excuses not to start. You can't finish what you don't begin.

maybe you should ask yourself this question...........

If I have not begun, do I really, really want to do this?

Maybe you should join us for a Midwifery Exploration session....

Carla

Can't Say you weren't warned: Malpractice Ins for Midwives

2009-09-18T01:01:00.000-07:00

This RANT was first written sometime in 2000 and tweaked in 2003...revised a bit recently
© Carla Hartley 2009

I can think of few ideas that pose more potential harm to authentic midwifery and the average family's access to authentic midwifery care than malpractice insurance for midwives. (I will be writing about some of the other "ideas" soon!)

The implication of midwives needing MAL practice insurance is incompatible with what a midwife does, in my opinion.

When the topic came up, as it did once in a while when I was in practice, I explained it this way: "I won't be doing anything to be sued for. I won't manage your birth or do anything you don't approve of, instruct me to do, or sign off on. You own your birth. You are responsible for everything that is done by me or anyone else at your birth and you should not have anyone at your birth who you feel any reservation about."
Then I gave them my early version of my "server not saver" speech. I ended by saying that I would not be comfortable with them as a client if they were even thinking I might "mess something up" with their birth. Anytime I sensed even the slightest hesitation from any potential client, I would ask them to call me back after they had interviewed two other midwives and asked them the same questions. If people are asking about malpractice insurance it is a bad sign that they don't have a clear picture of who does what and who owns what in a home birth.

Malpractice Insurance for docs is PROVEN to be bad for mothers and babies. It eliminates choices. The reason that women in many places cannot get a VBAC in the hospital is because the malpractice insurance providers decided that any doc who does VBACs will have their insurance coverage revoked...nice way to decide what choices people have. In my opinion, Malpractice Insurance for midwives is even worse!

Once you have malpractice insurance you have created four monsters....

#1 The insurance company owns you! now the malpractice insurance company determines parameters of practice....not the midwife and for sure not the mothers....Insurance companies are in business for one thing and one thing only....AMASSING WEALTH.... not just money....WEALTH. They are NOT in the business of caring about anyone...They are not in the business of doing what is right. They are in the business of amassing wealth and they are quite good at it. They make lots and lots of money and they do not like paying out and if they do pay out they make it up by raising premiums AND eliminating coverage for any practice that has initiated a judgment. As soon as they have a few midwives sued for any one thing....that one thing will no longer be covered and the midwife will no longer be covered unless she pays a fortune....and only then...'til the next suit and then she has to find another insurance company. So how authentic can midwifery care be if it is determined by insurance companies?
So, what are women going to do who want a vbac but the midwife they have hired is suddenly in jeopardy of losing her malpractice insurance if she assists in the vbac? Or the mom of 5 who wants a midwife attended homebirth but the malpractice insurance cut off is 3 previous births? Or the mom with a breech baby and a midwife who is well known for assisting breeches but now that she has malpractice insurance she can't take breeches anymore. Do you want to look her in the eye and tell her you made a choice that excluded her from your practice........ To tell her you would like to use your well earned skills to help her have her baby at home safely rather than face the sure verdict of a surgical birth but now you can't?

And the second monster:

Malpractice insurance invites litigation. We are a very litigious society and most people just don't understand who they are hurting when they sue. I had a job where I had to interview many patients of a doc who was conducting a survey on a bladder repair surgical procedure involving a little plastic anchor that he was trying to get approved by the FDA. I had to interview all the patients who had that procedure including women who had sued him. Only a couple of the former patients who were disgruntled sincerely believed that the procedure was a failure due to any incompetence, yet several had sued. Most of them LOVED Dr. M and told me that they did not want to sue, but they needed money to pay the hospital bill and it was only the insurance company they were going after....not Dr. M. I was not at liberty to tell them otherwise, but boy I wanted to correct that misconception. Some sued him because they felt like he did not care enough about them personally, so it was their revenge. (This will happen to midwives, too, believe me!)
Some were just disappointed in the results, but knowing Dr. M, I am SURE he told them it was an experimental surgery in addition to all the paper work he had them sign stating that as well. But regardless of what you outline as your limitations and regardless of what you have people sign, they still sue. Most people see no harm in suing someone who has insurance. Read that again. They do not think they are hurting YOU...and think that is why you have insurance anyway....wouldn't want you to pay those premiums for nothing, eh?

Eventually this doctor's malpractice insurance was so outrageous he had to leave the country and go practice in Europe where his malpractice was not so high. He was not a perfect doc but he thought women should see midwives...FIRST.... and only transfer to hospital CNMs if there was a problem...(he thought most women did not need OBs) He was head of obstetrics at a huge Houston hospital , but his mother was a midwife in Italy and he loved midwives.

I attended several dinner parties at his house. Cooking was his way of unwinding. Many times there were other OBs there as well. He often told me that he actually invited them because he thought they could learn a thing or two from me. They did not share his enthusiasm for midwifery but since they wanted to stay in good graces with Dr M because they wanted to be invited back for dinner, there really did not criticize midwives or home birth in my presence. However, they all felt they had some advice I could use. What they got fired up about was the admonition that midwives should never ever ever get malpractice insurance or they would find themselves out of a job. They talked for hours about how malpractice limited their options to really serve patients as individuals and that the spiraling costs meant that they had to work longer hours and make less money and they resented that. What they resented more than anything was that insurance companies were, in effect, creating medical protocol. More than one of those docs eventually quit medicine.and they have all told me that one thing was to blame.....malpractice insurance.

Which leads to the 3rd monster....not only do you need more money to survive in your business BUT you exclude more people who need you.....since malpractice insurance is pricey, can a midwife hold her fees down to something the average family can afford? All families don't have insurance....or want insurance....some just want to pay their own way when it comes to home birth....but if the local midwife has to double what she charged last year because this year she has to pay malpractice insurance......where will it end? Midwives are getting in bed with this monster so they can get what? Usually third party reimbursement....which is a whole 'nother rant. And then there is the common practice of charging insured clients one thing and non-insured another. This is another rant for another time, too.

There is a fourth monster which will only be relevant until malpractice insurance is required for ALL midwives.....the inevitable hierarchy that develops and the class war of sorts between those midwives who have it and those who don't....just like credentials....believe it or not, licensed midwives are NOT, on that distinction, BETTER midwives....but, understandably, if they have it, they feature it in their advertising. Once midwife A carries malpractice insurance and features that in her advertising, the assumption will be made that she is the better midwife, so even more division is likely between the two midwives. And, the general public will make the assumption that the fact that one carries insurance and another doesn't is a measure of competence, and we all know it is not.

Let me sum it up this way: Midwifery Malpractice Insurance is just one more way that the wolf wears sheep's clothing. Midwifery malpractice insurance could deliver a fatal blow to affordable AUTHENTIC midwifery care and that would not be good for midwives, or for the families they serve.
©Carla Hartley 2009

Bekah on her long-term AAMI relationship

2008-09-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

I believe so much in AAMI. I've enrolled twice. During the term of my first enrollment, some family matters cropped up causing me to put my education on pause. While deciding whether to re-enroll or to try a shorter, cheaper program, I felt that there was really no comparison. AAMI gives each student so much in the curriculum, but also in the personal support of Carla and her staff. She truly believes in her mission of creating more midwifes! The staff is attentive and responsive. I've usually received replies within a few hours of emailing my questions, sometimes even when a staff member is supposed to be on "vacation."

Since I've been enrolled a while, I've seen the curriculum through several revisions. I believe the true value of the curriculum is that not only does it provide a rock solid base in academic midwifery education, but it's complete focus is preparing each student for actual midwifery practice. Questions and projects are designed to serve you as a professional, not just a student. Once the course is completed, you will have created all the materials you need to educate clients and support their continued good health from initial contact through postpartum. You will have also learned how to evaluate controversial topics and seek the very best evidence you can find. The value of this course far exceeds the price.

Bekah <><

AAMI # 1885 NC7

Doula, Midwifery student in WI

http://newbirthcs.com/

http://valleybirthnetwork.com/

From AMS Enrollee Vicki Davis

2008-09-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

I am currently in the orientation phase of AAMI. I have been looking at AAMI for 13 years now and finally was able to enroll a few months ago. I can say that I am NOT disappointed. So far it is proving to be challenging and thought-provoking. Just doing the orientation has already stretched me in ways that I needed. I find that when I feel stumped, push through the tough spot and finish a project, I feel an extreme sense of accomplishment. It is good! I have been a stay-at-home mom for 23 years and this is the first real "stretch" I have had since high school. I love being a SAHM, but sometimes, it leaves you feeling a little....oh.....dull. So far, the assignments I have done for orientation have made me realize that I can do this! No only is this going to make me a great midwife, I believe it will make me a better and more confidant woman. Those are added perks! I am very thankful for this opportunity.

Vicki Davis, CLD, AAMI Student #1967

New Life Birth Services

newlifebirth.org

Intentional Student

2008-09-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

Become an intentional student. Determine to learn something from every conversation and every encounter with a midwife, doula, childbirth educator or parent. Well, for one week, let's make that every person you meet. Make a determination that you will never walk away from a conversation without learning something and make a mental note before you take the second step away.

You will have to learn to listen. Ask questions. Even if you are talking with someone with equivalent experience, their experience is bound to differ in some respects.

Listen twice as much as you speak.....you have two ears and only one mouth.

From AMS enrollee Brenda Parrish

2008-09-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

After having served as a direct entry midwife for 14 years, I realized there were gaps in my education and I wanted to enroll in a midwifery school. There were none within driving distance to my home, so I sought a distance learning program. I was a good friend to another enrollee and she always spoke very highly of AAMI. I asked a lot of questions about the way the curriculum was laid out, the types of assignments, how much she felt she was learning, etc. I only heard good things. One of my goals was to prepare for the NARM, but even more important, I just wanted to become a better midwife, able to meet the needs of the women who sought me out for their pregnancies and births. Having been a homeschool mom for all of my children's educational years, I know that accreditation did not necessarily equate to a more superior education, but teaching someone HOW to learn was a lifelong valuable skill. I knew AAMI had an excellent reputation for producing graduates who were very knowledgeable, but also trusted in the process of birth. So, I looked into it more seriously. I withdrew from nursing school and my previous goal of becoming a nurse-midwife and enrolled immediately in AAMI. Not only was it a bargain for all that I am receiving, but I feel I am getting such a quality education.

Brenda Parrish

DEM, CD (DONA), CLC, CCCE

AAMI #1876

Trust Birth

2008-09-06T20:17:00.001-07:00

http://www.trustbirth.com
http://www.trustbirthconference.com

My Other Blog

2008-09-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

birthtruth.blogspot.com

More About Ancient Art Midwifery Institute

2008-09-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.ancientartmidwifery.com

carla@ancientartmidwifery.com

What Is Authentic Midwifery?

2008-09-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

My definition of authentic midwife is one who truly practices "with woman" midwifery...one who trusts birth, one who knows her job is to serve women, not save them. W

2 Thoughts On Success

2008-09-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

#1 • We have what we think we deserve. Self esteem is a major factor in time management and accomplishment of goals. I have a million things on my personal things I want to do list and I am sure that one of the reasons is that I always think I should be spending my time doing something for someone other than myself.

#2 • We think in picture. We simply cannot do what we cannot imagine....image, picture. We have to SEE ourselves as something before we can BE that something. So, we have to change our pictures!

Kathy Reid on her AAMI enrollment

2008-09-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

I am so honored to be a part of AAMI. I spent over a year researching midwifery schools around the country. I examined every web page and read almost every forum thread online that had anything to do with midwifery schools. So many of them seemed so strict and rigid. I'm 39 and I've done college. I didn't want that coldness and disconnection between my passion in learning and an education that was structured for people that are great at test taking and learn in a linear style. So, when I came across AAMI my eyes popped out of my head. It was perfect for me. I learn in an environment where I can really dive deep into the things that are presenting themselves to me today, not two semesters from now. The curriculum is arranged so that you can follow it in a linear style if that suits you best, or even better, study the parts that are speaking to you right now. So, if you have the chance to apprentice with a local midwife, you can be doing research and learning about the things that are also presenting themselves to you right now. You are always moving ahead in your studies and your curriculum, as you see fit. And yet, the curriculum is there to guide you and to make sure that nothing is left unnoticed. It is the most comprehensive program I have found.

It is so perfect for me as I unschool (education through life-learning) my 12 year old son. So, he and I are both unschooling now. We study what we feel moved to study. The materials are very well organized and always offer much more in the form of learning than what is on the page in front of your eyes. The staff are unbelievable and very supportive. The things you don't see in the fine print that you will receive with your enrollment, are access to conference calls with Carla and other staff members, participation in many different yahoo groups, connection with other AAMI students, and direct access to learning all about how to TRUST BIRTH. Carla produced the Trust Birth Conference last March and it was incredible.

I consider this course to be 3D. Most studies involve a question and a correct answer that you memorize. Carla's course is designed to give you an experience with multiple dimensions on every topic. You study from a place of relatedness and wholeness, not from a place of isolated factoids. This makes for such a rich experience and one that you will remember to the depths of your soul. This is where you need to keep all of your learning, so that when you really need it, it is there for you to call upon.

I think one of the most amazing parts of AAMI is learning from Carla. She trusts birth to her deepest core. And to get to that place, you have to really know your stuff. Her course is designed to teach you everything you need to know about birth and also how to be a life learner for the rest of your life. This is good not only for you, but for every mama and baby that will be touched by you in the future.

I'm available by email or phone if you want to talk more.

Love, Kathy Reid
801-878-7196 Home

sacredbirthing@gmail.com