Chamberlain & Mitchell

Can I just say...I love South Dakota. Our laws concerning midwives need some work, but the beauty of the land and the people are truly amazing. I feel truly blessed to have this opportunity.

It was a great priveledge for me (and a whole lot of fun)to walk today at both walks with Miranda Chaney. I am so grateful that she chose to celebrate her 8th birthday by walking for midwives. Miranda and all her siblings were born out-of-hospital with the help of midwives. Her mother had to travel to another state for her little brother's birth last year in order to have the help of a Certified Professionl Midwife, because there is no way for them to be licensed in SD.

Putting this kind of stress on a family is so unnecessary. Certified Professional Midwives specialize in home birth and are legally authorized to practice in 26 states. 18 states like South Dakota are working on updating our laws. No state that licences CPMs has ever recinded its laws, because the midwives there are having excellent outcomes and saving families and the health care system a great deal of money. Some of these laws have been around for over 20 years. South Dakota families are just asking for what has already proven to be safe and cost-effective care in other states.

It was wonderful to have such a diverse group of walkers today. The young and the old enjoyed each other's company as we walked along the banks of the Missouri River in Chamberlain and right past the one and only Corn Palace in Mitchell. One young mother, who is preparing for the birth of her first child, was so enthusiastic about the great care that she is receiving from her midwife, that she convinced her 2 teenage brothers to walk with her. We were so pleased to have them!

Thanks so much to Len & LaLainya Lambright for hosting our Mitchell event at their Dakota Prairie Grocery. This is such a neat store! It has everything from locally grown produce to a deli and is located on Sanborn Ave, one of the busiest streets in Mitchell. In the three hours it was up, hundreds of folks saw our Walk for Midwives banner at this great location.


As our base of supporters keeps growing, so does my hope that soon South Dakota families will be able to hire a skilled midwife whether they want to give birth at home, in a hospital or in a birth center. We still have a ways to go, but we'll get there, because we won't give up. We'll just keep taking it one step at a time until we reach our destination...healthy moms & healthy babies thanks to the integration of Certified Professional Midwives into our healthcare system and an increase in the number of Nurse Midwives available.