Thursday, September 24, 2009

Bali Birth Center

Monday, June 1, 2009

Bumi Sehat

Two and half weeks after our first meeting with Ebu Jane (Fund raising director at Bumi Sehat) we were finally able to see Bumi Sehat in action. Bumi Sehat is a non-profit NGO that provides "Gentle Births for a Peaceful Future." It provides completely free care to all mothers and their children because cheap and good pre and post natal care is hard to come by on the island of Bali.

Two of the focuses on our trip to Indonesia are ecology and health care. Due to the recent change from Balinese red and brown rice to GMO (genetically modified) white rice has caused malnutrition in both mothers and babies. This ultimately led to increaseing maternal mortality and less healthy birth outcomes. This staple food of the people stopped providing pregnant women with all the nutrients necessary to sustain healthy pregnancies.

Unlike the US, Bumi Sehat's patients have a 100% breast feeding rate. Breast feeding provides the baby with all of the essential nutrients at next to no cost. Many doctors in Indonesian (and US) hospitals present formula as an ideal option for mothers, for many formula companies offer incentives. Not only does this place an unneeded cost on the family, but the lack of clean and sterile water in Bali causes even more sickness and mortality for children.

Bumi Sehat practices gentle birthing. They believe that violence at birth leads to a violent life and therefore should be avoided. They allow the women to choose the way in which they birth (50% water births) to decrease pain and drug use. They do not perform any vacuum births, circumcisions, or epidurals. Another thing attached to violent births is the clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord and placenta. Many of the baby's blood is still in the placenta upon birth and an immediate clamp and cut depletes the baby of these needed nutrients. Bumi Sehat practices delayed clamp and cuts as well as lotus births (where the placenta naturally falls off in 3-4 days). This clinic also does not separate the mom from the child like many American and Indonesian hospitals do.

Our group was impressed with the cleanliness and proactive attitudes of the clinic staff. They truly wanted what was best for the mother and child regardless of common practices and western ideals. This kind of clinic is the ideal but hard to come by in the states. Many women are not aware of gentle birthing and the clamp and cut procedures. They see the norm and assume that it is whats best, while Bumi Sehat functions to provide the best care as shown through OB/GYN research. Bali's low socio economic status citizens have a tendency to want to deliver their children at home because they cannot afford a hospital or puskesmas (public health clinic). Bumi Sehat offers completely free care which we could see made a huge impact. Unfortunately because of Bali's health care system, the directors of Bumi Sehat feel that it would not be appropriate to advertise. They see that they cannot change the system so they work around it in order to provide the best care.

from here.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

a smancy wedding

the lovebirds.
just a little bear.
a little bear with her dada. they both choose pink.
yes, i could kiss her cheeks and squeeze her arms all day long.
can you tell that we are thrilled? we are! now, smancy are finally united in holy matrimony at our dear outer banks. we've been camping with smancy for about 4 years on the outer banks now. we threw around the idea of them actually getting married there. it was awesome to see it actually come true, all those dreams we had over a fire at the cape hatteras national seashore or on ocracoke. lovely.

they are a light unto my path.
all pictures were taken by my friend, bob witchger who is an amazing photographer and musician and husband and gardener and artist...among other things. feels like yesterday that we were at HIS wedding!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

mama on tour

hey, when did you learn to play the drums? i thought you liked the keys? lots of love, little mama.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

botanical gardens

lilly pad gazing
three girl pile up
storytime on the logs
letting baby sherpa have some space without a leash
introductions...a truce?

Thursday, September 3, 2009

candle dipping at williamsburg

Last Spring, we went to the May Faire at our local Waldorf school. It's so much fun each year but this year was especially awesome because ez really enjoyed making a hand-dipped beeswax candle. We circled around a table alternating between wax and cold water dipping a string between each tub of liquid. On our recent trip to Williamsburg, she got to dip some candles just to color them.
We are looking at the dye color options.

My mom likes a certain candle company store, or should i say 'experience'? the place is huge with a changing sky and snowfall within one part of the compound that houses christmas decor. There is a coupon book full of crazy tourist trap stuff. Well, dipping candles is free with a coupon! Totally free. We were even encouraged (by an employee!) to tear out more coupons from the books at the front door if we wanted to do a couple of candles. Fabulous.

while listening to the instructions, we were very focused.

the first dip. don't you love the guy's face in the background, too? i thought about cutting it out but it really captures delight at watching a focused child learn and create. we could all use a little more joy like that.

the person behind the counter was so patient, kind and considerate with ez. it made me very grateful.

she chose her favorite color, purple! my mom looks on proudly. she was sooooo glad to share the whole weekend with us.