Passages Midwifery

This post is for everyone, but particularly our Stony/ Spruce/ Parkland clients! Our neighbour, the Stony Plain Public Library, is hosting a BABY LITERACY PROGRAM! This program is open to expectant parents, and parents with kids up to 5 years. The program is designed to help caregivers learn how to promote reading and bonding at home.

Yes, you can read to your newborn!

This program is not just about promoting literacy; it is also a fantastic opportunity to meet other parents in our community.

And it’s free! And not only free, but you will be given a United Way Kid Kit, which has fun, age appropriate books, toys, and activities to enjoy at home.

OCTOBER 15th and NOVEMBER 19, 10:30-11:00 am. Register at mysppl.ca. Open to all expecting parents and those with kids up to 5 years, not just Passages clients. And bring your kids! Kids up to 5 years are welcome to join the fun, and older kids will certainly love checking out our beautiful new library.

Dear Passages community, a family in our care urgently requires breastmilk donations for their baby! Please post below if you are able to donate for about 1 week and we will reply.

Exciting!! Don’t forget to watch tonight!

CommunityVotes Fort McMurray 2024 Official 2024 Community Voting Awards Platform for Fort McMurray, AB. Where the community votes for their favourites every year.

The organizers need to sell 13 more tickets by tomorrow morning to make this event happen! Looks like a great film. June 5, 7pm Cineplex South Edmonton

Born at Home You are invited to a special one night screening of BORN AT HOME in Edmonton. Classification: PG. Note: new date. Deadline extended. Seating is General Admission.

This is incredibly sad news. I don’t think there is a midwife working today that hasn’t read “The Birth Partner” or been otherwise influenced by her work.
So much love to her close friends and family. Penny changed lives all over the world.

In Memoriam: Penny Simkin, PT

With profound sadness and a heavy heart, DONA International announces the passing of our esteemed co-founder, Penny Simkin, PT, after a brief battle with cancer. Her departure on April 11, 2024 marks a tremendous loss not only to our organization but to the global doula community, childbirth educators, perinatal researchers, families she supported, and the countless lives she touched through her pioneering work in childbirth and maternity care.

Penny's unwavering dedication to supporting families during one of the most significant moments of their lives has left an indelible mark on the field of labor support and childbirth education. Since 1968, Penny, a skilled physical therapist, embarked on a mission to transform the childbirth experience, making it more empowering, informed, and supported. Her tireless commitment to this cause led her to prepare over 15,000 individuals, couples, and siblings for childbirth, directly assist hundreds of families through labor as a doula, and author several influential books that have become staples in the field that have been translated into several languages.

Penny was a visionary and a luminary in every sense. Her work has paved the way for a new generation of doulas and childbirth educators, instilling in them the values of compassion, evidence-based practice, and relentless advocacy for birthing people and their families. Through her profound contributions and co-founding of DONA International, Penny has revolutionized doula care and childbirth education across the globe, leaving a legacy that will undoubtedly endure for generations to come.
Her book, The Birth Partner, remains a beloved resource for anyone involved in the childbirth process, illustrating her commitment to not only the physical but also the emotional well-being of doulas and families during childbirth.

Though she recently stepped back from her professional endeavors to focus on her family, Penny's legacy continues to thrive through the work of the many doulas she trained, the families she supported, and the impactful works she left behind. Her life was a testament to her passion for making childbirth a positive and supported experience for all.

Penny's life was rich not only in professional achievements but also in love and joy. She and her husband, Peter, were blessed with four grown children, eight grandchildren, four many grandchildren-in-law, four great-grandchildren, and a beloved dog, Casey. Her family was her pride and joy, and she cherished the time spent with her loved ones.

As we mourn the loss of Penny Simkin, we also celebrate her extraordinary life and the countless ways she has enriched ours. Her legacy will continue to inspire and guide us as we carry forward her mission to improve childbirth and support families around the world. Penny's spirit lives on in the work of DONA International, in the lives of the families she has touched, and in the hearts of the many who loved her.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to DONA International in Penny Simkin's memory, to continue her life's work of supporting and educating doulas and families. For more information on how to make a contribution, please visit https://www.dona.org/impactprogram/

We invite all who knew Penny, were touched by her work, or wish to share their thoughts and memories to do so by sending them to [email protected]. Your stories and memories will be a great comfort and a cherished collection for her family during this difficult time.

We extend our deepest sympathies to Penny's family, friends, and the many individuals whose lives she has touched. May her soul rest in peace, and may her legacy of love, support, and education continue to flourish in the years to come.

CommunityVotes Edmonton 2024 Official 2024 Community Voting Awards Platform for Edmonton, AB. Where the community votes for their favourites every year.

Let’s start calling a “failed home birth” a successful hospital transfer or even just a hospital transfer.

Because no one failed.

The mom didn’t fail.

The midwife didn’t fail.

The baby didn’t fail.

Today, there was a changing of the guards (of sorts). Years ago I bought my sister a limited edition print of “Not Forgotten,” a piece by Maxine Noel, who created the work to raise money to fight for the missing and murdered Indigenous women. She hung it in her office, until she switched positions and worked out of a location downtown. She lovingly offered to let us hang it until she had a suitable space, as the work is too beautiful to be packed away. It hung in our office, watching over our clients and babies for years.

Now my sister is back in her beautiful office, and I asked if she wanted it back. Of course she did! But when she came to pick it up, she surprised me with this: a beautiful limited edition print by Betty Albert, titled “215.” This work was created after the first 215 graves of indigenous children were found on the grounds of a residential school in Kamloops, BC. That number has grown exponentially. The money raised from this piece is being donated to the Indian Residential School Survivors.

I love this piece so much, and will frame it properly soon!

I love early Christmas presents!

Heather is so excited to be working with second year midwifery student, Serena Humphries, from January to April 2024! 👏🏻

As a teaching practice, we hope all our clients will welcome the addition of a student to their pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience. Reach out to your midwife if you have any questions about the student’s role.

Excellent news for midwives around the world! Midwives are not a trend, we are an intangible cultural heritage of humanity! Midwives have existed and provided care and comfort for women and birthing people for millennia and we will carry on forevermore. 🩷

Earlier today, UNESCO inscribed Midwifery: knowledge, skills and practices on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity!

UNESCO has confirmed what midwives and women have known for millennia - midwives are a core part of the human experience, present across all cultures and geographies.

It's time we resource, enable and support midwives to do this essential work!

Hebammen für Deutschland e.V.

Read more about the nomination: https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/midwifery-knowledge-skills-and-practices-01968

Image: UNESCO application © Jaime Acuña Lezama/Ministry of Culture of Colombia, 2016

UNESCO | The Midwife This is "UNESCO | The Midwife" by berg hammer film on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Emily Kewageshig - Artist

I came across this photo in a box that I thought was lost in our basement flood a few years ago. This is me, at 5 years old, trying to soothe Noreen while she was in labour with my baby brother. 1982!

Birth really was meant to be a family event. A community event. An exaltation of love and joy.

Tonight I was going through an old box of files of Noreen’s, and there was a folder marked “comedy” that’s full of clippings from newspaper comics, print outs of David Letterman’s Top 10 Lists, and riddles printed from her email. I have no idea what year this was from, but I’m guessing sometime in the 90s?

Enjoy 🌈

The way the morning light dappled across our Birtha was so lovely, it reminded me of how beautiful birth can be.

Yes, although birth is hard work, sometimes very messy, and often a little gross, there is a moment when the line between this world, our body, our womb, our baby, and the infinitive are aligned. In that moment power shines on our faces, and we hear it in our roar.

And soon after, the overwhelming joy.

The beautiful part is that sudden awareness that we had that power within us the entire time, and that feeling doesn’t have to go away.

Birth is incredible, however it unfolds. We are incredible.

These two darlings, whose Mums are repeat clients, had their final appointments!! Always so bittersweet 💕

Yesterday I broke my US website for Passages Pools, and after a few moments of frustration I realized it would be faster to build a new page rather than try to correct my error. Of course it took me all day, and I’m still working on it, but it is now live again and ready for orders.

For those who reached out, I’ve sent invoices through PayPal, and if you’ve already paid you don’t need to do anything, your order will ship today. If you haven’t yet paid, you have the option of paying the invoice or place a new order through our working webpage!

For anyone that has a few moments, please take a look at our site and test the links and find the typos! Every click will help Google find our new product page again. Thank you!!!
www.earthmomandbaby.com

August 1st is Emancipation Day, the anniversary of the abolishment of slavery across the British Empire in 1834.

Canada only began officially recognizing Emancipation Day in 2021, and many Canadians are unaware that there were thousands of enslaved people in Canada.

Emancipation Day is an important opportunity to learn about this history, which far too many Canadians are unaware of. It's also an opportunity to recognize the continued struggle for liberation for BIPOC communities and to take action on equity and inclusion.

Learn more about the history of in Canada: https://ow.ly/u6zY50OZRwL

Passages Plant updates!
A sneaky sunflower is helping the beans reach new heights- it’s around 7’ already! And the other day this weird little mushroom popped up in our dracaena plant. But maybe the strangest thing of all: a petunia has bloomed with a pilea I propagated a few months ago. I have no idea where it came from, or how it joined this pot, but it’s taken root and seems to be very happy 💜🌈💜

New flags! And purchased locally from an Métis artist and longtime friend of Passages and the entire birth community in our area, Tracy Bradley. You must check out her other offerings at tracybradleyart.com and www.thequiltbag.gay!

Happy Birthday Canada, from Treaty 6 Territory.
To build a better future, we have to acknowledge our past and work to address the legacy of harm that persists to this day.

It’s possible to both love Canada and do this work.

It’s National Indigenous Peoples Day! Today is a day to celebrate the resilience and diversity of the first people on this land. For settler Canadians, it is also a day to reflect on how we still benefit from the historical wrongs inflicted on First Nations people, and how to use our privilege to help address the injustice.

I’m so honoured that Passages Midwifery is home to two wonderful Indigenous midwives: Melissa Cardinal-Grant in our Edmonton/ Stony Plain office, and Madelaine Amyotte in our Fort McMurray office. Both of these incredible midwives go above and beyond to serve their communities. I hope you both have a wonderful day!

If you are unsure how to mark this day, consider wearing an orange shirt for Every Child Matters, reading about the Indian Act, or attending one of the many events happening around town. Support indigenous businesses, learn a few words in the language of the people whose territory you are on.

When I was googling how to say this holiday in Cree, I found a much cooler saying on creeliteracy.org:
asamik kicawâsimisak ithiniw-isihcikîwin.
ᐊᓴᒥᐠ ᑭᒐᐚᓯᒥᓴᐠ ᐃᖨᓂᐏᓯᐦᒋᑮᐏᐣx
Feed your children Indigenous culture.
(You can listen to the pronunciation on that site as well)

Happy Pride! Visitors to our Stony Plain office can enjoy this lovely new board book, explaining language and inclusivity in a fun way! Note the front cover sticker that says “Includes SURPRISE MIRROR!”
Well, swipe through and you’ll see my surprise! 😂

As of tomorrow, those visiting AHS contracted facilities will no longer be required to wear masks, and this includes all Passages Midwifery clinic spaces. This means that all of our midwives, staff, and clients will no longer be required to wear masks during prenatal appointments.

Some of our midwives have chosen to continue to wear masks, and some have not. However, if you are choosing to wear a mask, your midwife will happily wear a mask for your appointment as well.

And, as before, if you are sick or have cold symptoms, please refrain from coming to clinic. We would rather you stay home and get better! We can do your appointment over FaceTime or reschedule.

Thank you!

Continuous masking no longer required in AHS facilities | Alberta Health Services As of June 19, 2023, AHS will no longer require continuous masking at all AHS facilities, including Continuing Care and contracted sites.