Top 12 Reasons to Come to Cookie Day 2010

12) It’s fun (spreading goodwill always is).

11) Your legislator will never forget your delicious cookies. More importantly, though, he or she will never forget the positive message that came with them!

10) Because our opposition at the Capitol is as active as ever. They’ll be watching us closely. The more midwifery supporters in the building, the more they quake in their boots! (or their alligator-skin Gucci shoes, as Senator Crowell would say)

9) So the media will notice how many of us there are!

8) To educate new legislators about midwifery rights.

7) To thank the legislators who have supported us through thick and thin. If it weren’t for them, midwives would still be felons.

6) To remind the legislators who oppose us that we’re still here, and we’re not going away!

5) Because if you don’t, the Missouri legislature might make the mistake of thinking of that you have forgotten and aren’t watching them anymore.

4) Because your legislator won’t know how much you care until you take the time to drive to the Capitol and meet with them in their office.

3) Because the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Your visit might be the one thing that keeps a legislator on board!

2) To hang out and enjoy a pizza lunch with lots of cool homebirth families from around Missouri.

1) Because it’s only one day out of the whole year, and is that too much to ask? How much did your midwife risk to serve you?

See you there?

Cookie Day at the Capitol - 2009!

Midwife supporters started showing up bright and early laden with boxes, baskets, crates, backpacks, and even wheeled luggage crammed full of hundreds and hundreds of packages of cookies! We lost count of just how many home baked cookies were delivered on Cookie Day, but our estimate puts it around 800 packages, or 400 dozen cookies!

Jen Keifer, FoMM VP, arrived with a wagon load of cookies and children.
Her homeborn baby, David (above) appears ready to go charm the legislators!

By 1 pm, most people had visited dozens of offices with their children and cookies and were happy to sit and listen to special speakers at our rally in celebration of legal CPMs. Many people were especially excited to hear Jennifer Block from Brooklyn, New York and many brought copies of her book, "Pushed" to be autographed afterwards. A number of legislators and various lobbyists showed up to hear her as well.
Above, Halley Watson, Legislative Chair, welcomes everyone and thanks them for coming to celebrate with us.

After receiving an emotional standing ovation from a rotunda full of homebirth parents, children, and their midwives, Senator Loudon spoke about his motivation for legalizing Certified Professional Midwives. He added, "You wouldn't believe all the people I've met through this! I have so many Facebook friends because of this issue!"

Samanda Rossi, President of Friends of Missouri Midwives, surprised Mary and Debbie by coming to the front to recognize them for their years of service and present them with beautiful bouquets, thanking them for all that they have sacrificed over the past four years to make midwives legal in Missouri.

"In their time as unpaid, volunteer lobbyists, they [Debbie and Mary] gave up a great deal for the betterment of families in Missouri and the midwives who serve them. And they did without complaint or of asking for much beyond our presence at the Capitol. They dug deep into their pockets to pay for gas and meager dinners of canned beans and donated food.... After dinner, sleep was scarce and work hours were long as they strategized and planned for the daylight hours ahead...
The intensity and selflessness of Mary and Debbie's work may never be fully understood or appreciated. But the magnitute of their work will resonate each time a midwife takes her CPM exam, each time a mother-to-be locates a legal midwife to assist her patiently and lovingly through pregnancy, and each time a baby utters it's first sounds of greeting upon birth in the great state of Missouri." - Samanda Rossi

The crowd in the rotunda, listening to Debbie tell the story of how her midwife was arrested two weeks before her due date, leaving her with nothing to do but have her baby at home alone or go to the hospital. Debbie spoke of how that experience led her to spend years of her life working to make midwives legal for every other pregnant woman in Missouri.

Debbie Smithey, Jennifer Block, Mary Ueland, Sarah Greek listen to Elizabeth Allemann, MD. "We've hunted midwives down and thrown them in prison for 50 years in Missouri," she said. "Now, we've decided that they shouldn't be criminalized. But what should Missouri do with them now? I suggest that we integrate them into our maternity care system!"

Halley Watson, Debbie Smithey, Mary Ueland, Sarah Greek - the "old" lobbyists and the "new" midwifery lobbyists!

All together with their heroes - Senator John and Dr. Gina Loudon!

Sarah and Mary discuss the Supreme Court ruling with Steve Walsh, reporter for the MissouriNet news service at the Capitol.

An interview for KWMU news. Homebirth slideshow playing in the background.

After the rally, we spent some time in a basement hearing room with
Jennifer Block, discussing the state of our modern maternity care system
and how to reach women with information and options.

Members of Friends of Missouri Midwives and Missouri Midwives Association leadership went to dinner with Jennifer Block at Panera bread to continue our conversation. We are so grateful to Jennifer Block, author of "Pushed: The Painful Truth About Modern Maternity Care" for taking time out of her busy schedule to speak at our rally, and for coming to spend Cookie Day promoting midwives at the Missouri Capitol! Thank you, Jennifer!

And lastly, a picture of Sarah Greek and Halley Watson, the new faces of midwifery seen at the Capitol every day in place of Debbie and Mary's continual presence. Their job is to make sure that Certified Professional Midwives STAY legal!

Thank you so much Halley and Sarah!

Cookie Day, Feb. 13, 2008, Missouri Capitol

Here they come, laden with boxes and bags and strollers full of cookies, all to be given away to lawmakers!

The entrance to the alcove where the action was all morning! Kelly and Laurel behind the welcome table, Jonathan on the left. Summer's squatting in the foreground to talk to a child...

Susan (left) reports back on her visits and cookie deliveries (Mary and Alicia and the right). We're all shocked that she has just had a very friendly 20 minute visit with one of the older State Representatives who's always grumpy and says nasty things about the midwives if he even sees them walking down the hall.
"How did you get in to see him?!" we all ask in amazement.
Susan smiles.
"Well, I was just delivering cookies at his office, when he stepped out of the door and asked if we had brought him his favorite kind, Oatmeal Raisin. I apologized that they were chocolate chip, but said they were good anyway. Then I glimpsed his big plushy leather sofa inside the office door, and pointed at my pregnant belly. In my sweetest, nicest voice I said, 'I'm pregnant and need to put up my feet for a few minutes. How 'bout we go sit in your office and chat?' And then we found out that he is friends with my brother... and soon we began talking about midwifery. He told me what he thought, and I got to clarify some stuff with him... Anyway, I like him, and I think that I'll go visit him again. He just might vote for us!"

Koda, Kyan, Ruth, and Kalee delivering cookies - they were so pleased that their assignment sheet listed Senator Graham's office as one to deliver to. Unfortunately, they didn't get to see him, just his secretary who was very happy with the cookies.

After lunch, and several hours of cookie delivering, those who were still there gathered round in the alcove for a Friends of Missouri Midwives meeting. It was neat to hear from so many new people who showed up for Cookie Day why birth and midwifery are important to them.

Cookies, Complications, Icy Roads, and Lots of Willing Workers!

This year, Friends of Missouri Midwives' fourth annual "Cookie Day" at the Capitol coincided with an ice storm that hit southern Missouri.

The roads in the southern half of the state didn't exactly inspire even die-hard midwifery supporters to venture past their driveways. So, most of the carefully wrapped cookie packages went back into people's freezers to wait for the weather to warm and thaw the roads a bit.

But Cookie Day had been planned for a long time, and half of the state was still planning on coming, so the decision was made to move ahead with the Cookie Plans.

'Twas the day before Cookie Day, and...

Kelly was busy coordinating who was bringing how many bags of cookies, and when they would arrive and making sure that she would be ready to greet crowds of people with directions and lists of their legislators and name stickers and midwife buttons... and she was baking cookies.

Margaret was trying to arrange for a local business/restaurant to donate lunch and drinks for the families who would be busy delivering cookies, talking on the phone to people who didn't understand what they needed to do... and baking cookies.

Laurel was responding to emails, and trying to keep things flowing smoothly, planning the FoMM meeting, trying not to panic when the House operations guy said that he didn't see anywhere that Friends of Missouri Midwives had reserved the alcove for the 13th of February, as well as giving people advice on how to make the best impression possible at the Capitol... and she was baking cookies.

Debbie was busy re-drafting legislation, taking phone calls from happy people, frustrated people and confused people at the Capitol and all around the state, setting up meetings with elected and appointed officials, texting the others who were coordinating Cookie Day, emailing information and bill drafts to the legislators and staff who needed it... and supervising the cookie baking that her children were doing.

Mary was trying to keep 17 attorneys and law students from across the country organized and informed who were busily working (all pro bono) on the amicus brief to counter the AMA's brief that was filed with the Missouri Supreme Court. The AMA's amicus brief alleged that allowing Certified Professional Midwives to legally practice was a threat to the health and well-being of Missouri mothers and their babies. The midwife-supporting attorneys were all working together to thoroughly refute that allegation and inform the Court that midwifery is not dangerous; in fact it is sound public policy. With the deadline for submission to the court fast approaching, things had escalated to a mad scramble online and over the phone as various versions and sections of the brief and interest statement circulated in cyber-space. The fact that Mary's electricity (read: internet, too!) had gone out and her little sisters were busily baking cookies made the day even more interesting

The night before Cookie Day... Debbie and Mary had both made it safely over the icy roads and arrived at La Casa, the "midwives" rental house in Jefferson City - and were busy responding to emails, editing the media alert, and typing up instruction sheets for Cookie Day.

MEDIA ALERT

Homemade Cookies Open Doors to Talk about Home Birth

Midwives supporters come from across Missouri to meet with lawmakers

WHAT:

Valentine’s Day is coming a bit early this year to policy makers at the State Capitol Building in Jefferson City, Missouri. That’s because midwifery and home birth supporters from across the state will come Wednesday with more than 1,021 home baked cookies and valentines, made by home birth families from across the state for their fourth annual “Cookie Day” at the Missouri Capitol. Cookie Day is an effort to show appreciation to lawmakers for their efforts to change Missouri’s currently hostile midwifery law.

Senate Bill 1021 will establish a state regulatory board for licensing Certified Professional Midwives, or CPMs. The bill, sponsored by Sen. John Loudon, R-Chesterfield, is currently being considered by the Senate Pension, Veterans’ Affairs and General Laws Committee.

Missouri’s existing midwifery law is considered one of the most restrictive and hostile in the nation, making the practice of midwifery by anyone other than a physician a Class C Felony.

“Our Annual ‘Cookie Day’ is a fun opportunity for the people of Missouri to come and advocate for midwifery and the right to choose their own health care providers. Of course we always have pregnant women who show up, hoping that this year will be the year when they won’t have to worry about their midwife being arrested for attending their birth,” said Mary Ueland, Grassroots Coordinator for the Friends of Missouri Midwives. “There is a new momentum to our efforts this year as more public attention is focused on this issue, and as it becomes very clear that more and more states are adopting the CPM credential as the basis for the licensure of out-of-hospital midwives.”

WHEN AND WHERE:

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on WEDNESday, FEBRUARY 13 at the Capitol Building, 201 W Capitol Avenue, Jefferson City, Missouri. Cookie Day “home base” is in a 3rd floor rotunda area alcove.

WHO:

Cookie Day 2008 is co-sponsored by the Friends of Missouri Midwives, Missouri Midwives Association, Show-Me Freedom in Healthcare, and Free the Midwives.