Midwife Connection

by Cassie Moore, ACNM writer and editor

Too often during the holidays, we use material goods to substitute for what really matters: our time and attention. Would you rather get a restaurant certificate from a friend, or have that friend call you and give you a pep talk when you’re feeling really down? Would you rather have a piece of expensive jewelry from your spouse, or have your spouse spend some quality time talking with you at the dinner table every night, sans Blackberry? It’s the relationship that matters, not the tchotchke.

I think most midwives and their clients would agree. After all, midwives listen to and support women—you don’t need a lot of fancy stuff to do that. Midwifery’s value is in the time and attention that midwives give to their clients.

This holiday season Team Midwife is offering your clients the opportunity to give a little bit of that time and attention back to you and to midwifery. Between November 21 and December 20, each person who joins Team Midwife will be able to choose a midwife whom they would like to thank with a holiday card. The holiday card will feature a message thanking the midwife for his or her excellent care and will feature the client’s name. ACNM will handle addressing and mailing all cards.

See www.teammidwife.org for more details, and feel free to post a link to this blog on your Facebook or Twitter, or include the article promoting the holiday campaign and card in your practice’s newsletter. You can also print out Team Midwife flyers and posters for your office—grab them at www.midwife.org/TeamMidwife-gear. And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Team Midwife is on a mission to promote midwifery and all the benefits midwives offer moms and babies. By joining, Team Midwife members help communicate the value of midwifery to the public and advance legislation and policy that promotes the health of women and infants. Membership costs $15 annually, and members receive a monthly e-newsletter packed with information about pregnancy and other women’s health topics, as well as badges for their blogs or Web sites.