Lick it!

I totally never realized that you could get postage stamps with an American Academy of Nurse Midwifery (ACNM) theme! Check it out!

ACNM Publishes Guidelines for Eating in Labor

One thing that my husband was smart enough to ask on our hospital tour was their standards on eating and drinking in labor. This is something that is really important to me. I am really crabby and tired when I don’t eat and I just don’t think that would be the best way to labor. It seems the American College of Nurse-Midwives agrees with me. They have released new guidelines that say that eating in labor “can provide women with the energy they need and should not be routinely restricted.” To learn more about the guidelines, particularly related to eating and the possible need for general anesthesia, go to Clinical Guidelines for Nutrition in Labor

The following may be helpful as well:
Eating in Labor
Practice Guidelines for Obstetric Anesthesia

Time to Support Midwifery

If you have a moment, you might want to support midwifery. This is from The American College of Nurse Midwifery:

As many of you know, the ACNM has been working on making Medicare reimbursement equitable for Certified Nurse Midwives. They are currently reimbursed at only 65% of what physicians make. NPs and PAs currently receive 85%. The Medicare legislation raising the rates for CNMs may be introduced as early as next week, and they need to recruit as many cosponsors as possible this week.

Please take a few minutes to call your Representative in Congress and your two Senators and ask them to co-sponsor the Midwifery Care Access and Reimbursement Act of 2007 (HR 864 and S 507). If you speak to a staff person who wants more information to be forwarded to them, you can find talking points, the ACNM’s position paper, and the ACOG and ANA letter of support at: http://www.midwife.org/legislative.cfm?id=1090

You can find your Representative and Senators, along with their phone numbers, by entering your address at this link: http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm

More information about the legislation is available at the ACNM web site at: http://capwiz.com/acnm/issues/bills/

Please make the call and ask friends, family and clients to call too!

Kate Harrod is coordinating this effort and would appreciate it if you would let her know what the staff at the office tells you so she can follow up: kate@the-harrods.com

Many thanks!