(see July eNews for a review of this book!)

Q: You are a CNM. How long have you been practicing and how did you become interested in mindfulness?

A: I began practicing as a CNM in 1982, so that's 30 years now. But I like to say that I've been paying attention to the birth process for about 45 years, since that's how long ago I was pregnant with my first son and was sitting in a childbirth preparation course in a woman's home in the Berkeley Hills. In those days it was a pretty radical thing to do, to become educated about childbirth-there weren't any classes being taught in hospitals or community settings. I was just so incredibly amazed and moved by what this woman was teaching us about our bodies and the birth process; I thought what a beautiful service this woman is doing. The classes were called psychoprophylaxis for pregnancy-which is what we now know as Lamaze.

About mindfulness, I'd been interested in the relationship between the mind and body, particularly around childbirth, for a very long time. I started out assisting laboring women at home and those women taught me so much. I would observe things during a woman's labor, something I or someone else said or did, that would affect the labor process itself, but I couldn't really understand how it happened. Meditation practice, which is a way to cultivate mindfulness, was a natural outgrowth of trying to understand - myself and others. I remember at one of the first meditation retreats I attended the teacher said "If you want to understand the mind, sit down and take a look at it." That seemed like good advice, and I've been doing that-sitting down and taking a look-ever since. It's been thirty years now since my first silent 10 day meditation retreat.

Preparing Your Pelvis for Birth and Post Partum
By Dr. Jennifer Mercier

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I thought some of you might be interested in this film. I hope to review it for you in the near future as well. 

CONTACT:
Rob Humphreys
Tertium Quid Media, Inc
310.428.1770
rob@trialoflabor.com

INDIE DOCUMENTARY FOCUSES ON BIRTH FROM THE MOM’S POV
Independent filmmakers, Rob Humphreys and Elliot Berlin, have turned to the internet and crowd funding for completion funds for their documentary film ‘Trial of Labor’.

The film centers on four women from the Los Angeles area who volunteered to share their experiences as they approached a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC). ‘We conducted the first interviews with the idea that we could use them to cut a trailer and raise money for a film,’ says Humphreys. “What we hadn’t calculated was just how compelling these stories would be.’ So what started as an inquiry soon escalated into a full-blown film production. “ The women were all due within six weeks and all immediately agreed to be part of a bigger film idea and as you can’t stop nature from taking it’s course... we had no choice but to pile in there.'

The producers threw in every favor owed of them, gathered equipment and crew and followed these women through their births.

The story that has emerged is bigger than the story they were initially after. Inspired by the ban on VBACs in many hospital across the country and the rising c-section rates, the producers initially saught to make a piece that, 'weighed out the pros and cons of VBAC, it was going to be quite academic.'