I am pleased to have been invited to speak to a local meeting of Soroptomist International about professional midwifery training; what it involves and how it benefits women worldwide. Unless a baby decides to come that day, it will be at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday March 17, 2012 at the Goldendale Library.

Expectant parents, if you are wanting to get on my schedule for a home birth, please check for availability. I know other midwives, and are happy to help you with a referral, but regret to say that I cannot take any more births during these months, unless Kristin or I have a cancellation or gain another licensed midwife to work with us before then:
            January 2012 - full
            April 2012 - full
            June 2012 - full

These months still have openings available:
            1 in February 2012
            1 in March 2012
            1 in May 2012
            1 in July 2012
            4 in August 2012


A side-note to the schedule being so full: I recently stopped to count the numbers, and apparently a tipping point has been reached. Now more than half of my home birth clients are in the medical profession. Hmm...

It is with great delight that we welcome new students, & soon a new midwife!

Adria Fuller

Adria is a new midwifery student attending courses at ATM. She lives in Stevenson, Washington and is currently attending apointments with me in The Dalles and births in the Gorge. She has already shown herself to be a great asset for my clients, and will make a wonderful midwife. (Photo coming soon!)



Shauntee Henry


Shauntee is coming to us from Birthwise in Maine, where she is a senior student.

She is currently attending births with Certified Midwives in New York City, and is looking forward to a more personal type of practice where she can learn additional traditional midwifery skills such as herbal medicine.

We are hoping for Shauntee's arrival in 2012!



Jaime Shertzer


Originally from Long Island, Jaime comes to us from Maternidad La Luz in Texas, where she is a senior student delivering babies in their birth center.

She has many skills to bring, including experience as an EMT and phlebotomist. When she came out to interview, she fit right in and quickly became a member of our family.


Jaime will be arriving in March 2012!



Omossalmeh Missaghian


Selma was with us for the summer of 2011. She is re-certifying for licensure in the United States in 2012 (she is already permanently licensed in 2 other countries), and comes to us with decades of birth experience both in and out of hospitals.

She not only has a wealth of knowledge from delivering several thousand babies, she has a very kind and gentle touch that is truly a reflection of her nature. We hope she is able to return soon and join us permanently.

This lovely baby was her first birth with us!


We are looking forward to these students becoming valued members of our community, and eventually associates in our midwifery practices! Many thanks to our wonderful clients for giving them such a warm welcome.

And here is a delightful contribution from Sarah Heany, a student who moved far away before she could start attending clinical training with me; papers on my 3 most commonly used herbs in pregnancy, reprinted and published here with her permission.     Comfrey   Nettles   Red Raspberry Leaf     Enjoy!

Show your support for the guardians of normal birth with this bumper sticker!

Some clients have posted comments in our Guestbook.

Here are links to some of our clients' blogs about their home births:
The Home Birth
Pax's Birth Story
Samuel's Birth   and   Samuel Now

And guess who is the 2000^th Certified Professional Midwife in North America?   Click Here.

Now to see the number of CPMs hit 3000!

Latest News from MANA:

"Every mother counts, and health care is a human right." These are the final words spoken by Robin Lim, through tears, at the star-studded ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles where she accepted the 2011 Hero of the Year Award last night. Robin Lim is an American midwife who helps thousands of poor Indonesian women have healthy pregnancies and births each year.

In 1995 Robin founded Yayasan Bumi Sehat (Healthy Mother Earth), a non-profit village-based organization that runs two centers in Aceh and Bali. At Bumi Sehat, Robin and her staff provide over 17,000 health consultations for children and adults each year. To ensure access to healthcare and gentle birth experiences, Robin offers midwifery care to all who seek her services, many of whom cannot afford to pay. In that case she offers prenatal care, birthing services, and medical aid for free or on a donation-basis. Her clinics welcome approximately 600 new babies into the world each year. The mission of Bumi Sehat is "to reduce maternal and child morbidity and mortality, to support the health and wise development of communities ... and to work in partnership with people to improve quality of life and to improve peace."

At the awards ceremony Robin, known affectionately by the local Indonesian people as Ibu Robin/Mother Robin said, "Every baby's first breath on Earth could be one of peace and love. Every mother should be healthy and strong. Every birth could be safe and loving. But our world is not there yet. On our earth, 981 mothers in the prime of their life will die each day. All of us can help change that. We can save lives together, mothers and babies. Every mother counts and healthcare is a human right." Robin said, "The midwives of the world need your help, because they are the bridge to safe motherhood."

"I do believe we can build world peace -- one baby, one mother at a time," Lim said during the ceremony. "I found my life's purpose really is love. If I wasn't living for love, every minute of every day, what is the point?"

The CNN Hero of the Year was chosen by the public after an 11-week vote on CNN.com. For being named Hero of the Year, Lim will receive $250,000 for her cause. That's in addition to the $50,000 she and the rest of the top 10 Heroes each received for making the Top 10. We extend a hearty thank you to the midwifery community and supporters who voted regularly to make Robin Lim the CNN Hero of the Year. Robin's Bumi Sehat Foundation will receive her winnings to build a new clinic and continue the extraordinary work she is doing in Indonesia.

~ Personally, she has been my hero since seeing this video. It was striking to watch how her gentle dignity and inner beauty outshone all of the glamor and glitz at that ceremony. An award greatly deserved. ~Lorri

Moms Are Us & Kids 2 is gone, and Rebekah Pierson is now doing all home births! See her new website Wild Rose Clinic.

She is still doing the same full family practice in her new clinic location in Kennewick. Patients who want or need hospital births will be delivered by Dr. Perry at KGH, and for those who want home births Rebekah will have plenty of help during this wonderful transition.

Click HERE to listen to the first interview on March 25, 2011 of Lorri by the lovely hostess Dr. Evelyn Richardson on The Doctors Radio Show.

Click HERE to listen to the second interview on April 1, 2011 on The Doctors Radio Show.

Click HERE to listen to the April 8, 2011 interviews with Dr. Richardson on The Doctors Radio Show. The first half of the show is with lactation expert Ginna Wall in Bellevue Washington, discussing the importance of breastfeeding. The second hour we finally got Kristin Eggleston online to talk about birth!

Calling all knitters, folks who want to learn how, and who want to get involved in a wonderful charity program:

Read about Knitted Knockers prosthetic breasts for breast cancer survivors, and why they are needed. Then help create a group in your area! If you are an experienced knitter you can help teach those who are not, and if you cannot knit or come to meetings then you can still donate organic yarns and knitting needles, beverages and snacks for the group, help watch children while their moms are knitting, and/or tell your friends about it.

Kristin has generously donated the use of her lovely office in Prosser as a meeting room for a group in the valley. If you live close enough to Prosser and interested in joining, please email her.

Gorge Family Wellness Center now has a new website (click to view). Dr. Shawna Hasel is a family practice naturopathic physician in The Dalles, Oregon. And yes, she does do pediatric care! Visit her site to see all of the other services she offers.

All vaccinations should be HALTED right now, and forbidden to resume until proven clean and safe. Why?

Read this article and see: Cow Fetuses Contaminated Vaccines, FDA Did Nothing

Excerpts:
"Are contaminated vaccines being injected into our babies? Many parents may be surprised to learn the answer is likely yes."

"...a person given the polio vaccine contaminated with diphtheria phage actually could contract diphtheria."

This year's Health Fair included a showing of Rikki Lake's movie "The Business of Being Born" at Prosser's historic Princess Theater, followed by a public question/answer session about birth.

Many thanks to the speakers and vendors who made this a great Fair, and to the lovely folks who attended - especially our clients and their beautiful babies, some who traveled a long way to be there!

Participants included:
  ●     Heidi Robel, ND: Alternative Vaccine Schedules.
  ●     Richard Eggleston, MD, Ophthalmologist and Anti-Aging Medicine.
  ●     Angela Sullivan, DC: chiropractor and homebirth client.
  ●     Doulas for Birth & Postpartum: several local doulas to answer questions about labor support.
  ●     TKCuddlers: cloth diapers, accessories, and boutique children's clothing.
  ●     Daily Trends Accessories: Sara Daily's Baby Slings & other things.
  ●     Car Seats: certified technician Jess McGregor provided demos and information on proper installation.
  ●     Justin Farnsworth brought some of his beautiful artwork; hopefully some will soon grace the office.
  ●     Douglas Farms: the nutritional importance of local organic and grass-fed meats, how to order.

There were several more wonderful vendors that I will post soon, along with links to their information. (Give me a few days to recover!) If you want to participate next year as an educational speaker or a vendor, please contact us by spring!

For Immediate Release: ACOG ANNOUNCES PLANS TO STOP ELECTIVE C-SECTIONS
April 1, 2011

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) announced today it is devising a comprehensive plan to lower C-section rates in the United States. C-sections in the U.S. have gone up 700% since they were first measured in 1965, when the C-section rate was only 4.5 percent.

"The nation's C-section rate has been rising steadily for the last eleven years. It's now over 31 percent," said an ACOG spokesperson. "This is a deplorable situation that harms women and their newborns." An organization that advocates for quality healthcare for women, ACOG is asking obstetricians to halt elective C-sections. "C-sections should only be a last resort. They should never be performed for the convenience of the doctor," the spokesperson said, "or for financial or liability reasons."

Since the use of electronic fetal monitoring has been shown to increase unnecessary C-section rate without any proven benefit to the mother or infant, ACOG is also calling on American hospitals to stop the routine use of electronic monitoring during labor. ACOG's new guidelines encourage women to have freedom of movement during labor, labor standing up or squatting, and to eat and drink at will.

"Cesarean can save lives. But doctors and consumers have to remember that this is major surgery that carries major risk," the spokesperson said, pointing to the example of 29-year-old Abbie Dorn, who suffered severe hemorrhaging and brain damage after her uterus was nicked during a Cesarean section at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (2006), 32-year-old Diane Rizk McCabe, who died following complications from a Caesarean section at Albany Medical Center Hospital (2007), and Karen Vasques, 27, who died during a C-section at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (2008).

Maternal mortality has risen every year in the United States for the past 25 years, while over the same period the rate of C-sections has gone up 33 percent. "The skyrocketing rate of C-section in America has had devastating consequences," the spokesperson said. "ACOG, the most highly respected organization of obstetricians and gynecologists in the United States, is leading the fight to stop it."

{{{Ah, if only this were true.}}}

So much for ACOG attacking Home Births again! Ouch! This one is not an April Fools joke.

I knew this was coming as soon as I saw the study published by Wax, which foolishly included the study that caused poor Pang to go down in infamy among his own peers for "most poorly constructed study ever published". It made me wonder how much someone had to pay Wax to let his name be ruined in such a manner, and how long it would take for experts to tear his study to shreds. Not long.

The Wax study is even so far off in the numerical calculations (which are all wrong - they didn't even do the math right!) that it brings the fabulous old quote to mind - "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

Read the latest report on Medscape about how badly the truth must be twisted or ignored entirely to try to make hospital births appear to be safer than they really are, compared with home births! Read the pdf version HERE.

In case some of you are wondering why we advise Vitamin D testing and supplementation to you, here's a site devoted to research on Vitamin D that has lots of information - Vitamin D Council's News page. For those who have heard the scare tactics about the safety of Vitamin D, there is also great information on their site about toxicity.

Not only does D have long-term health implications for things like cancer, it also is part of determining the health of your baby in utero and while breastfeeding! Low maternal levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream and breastmilk can cause rickets (yes, it's back!) in the baby at birth and early childhood, autism symptoms in the 1-2 year old, and allergies in children. What's really upsetting is that both mom and baby can be protected by mom's consumption of vitamin D (it's cheap and easy--how often do you hear THAT outside of a bar?). Instead, we are using "life-saving, nutritionally correct, and affordable" infant formula, which IS supplemented with some vitamin D; we encourage the decline of breastfeeding because we think breastmilk is nutritionally deficient; we sidestep maternal health issues like preeclampsia and bone density; we are spending loads of money on testing and treatments for autism and allergies, in addition to all that worry; and we are placing even more blame on parents for not being good parents. All so unnecessary!

We hope you all take some time to look around the Vitamin D Council site...AND take your vitamin D3!!!

Judge for yourself, by the reactions that doctors are having to a threat to this income source; click HERE to read the article. Keep in mind that the actual rate of necessary C-section surgeries is far lower than what these doctors are inflicting on mothers. A Cesarean section is a precious, miraculous, life-saving procedure when it is needed. When it is not needed, it is an unspeakable travesty. And yes, that is my well-educated personal opinion!

I have been asking for decades; "If humans are so evolved, then why do we give less consideration to our mothers and newborns than we do to our animals?" Beth Barbeau addresses this question beautifully in her insightful article in Midwifery Today, truly a must-read.

Lobby Day 2011

Your midwives were busy again this February, talking with state legislators to try to protect your access to high-quality midwifery care.


If you want to know more about your local Representatives and Senators, don't hesitate to ask us how it went and how to contact them.


Here is an album of photos taken randomly at the Capitol during our 2 days there. If you were also there, and have any photos you are willing to share, let us know!

Our Midwives Clients & Friends Potluck in January 2011 may have been the best one yet, with over a dozen families attending. Huge thanks to our hostess, Renee, for the gracious use of her lovely home! Don't miss the next one - sign up on our spam-free Mailing List (see link to the left) to be notified of upcoming events.

Silver Sage Herbal Tinctures now has an online shopping cart with secure payment options! And you can also make payments for your midwifery care there, by selecting "Other Payments" and choosing Highland or Sunrise! This means that if you really need to for any reason, you can now use a credit card.

This took a monumental amount of work, since I am my own webmaster. Check it out and let me know what you think - NEW Silver Sage STORE.

We are very sad to hear that the Cascade Women's Healthcare Associates in Yakima will be closed by the end of the year. From all reports, Dr. Smigaj has been fighting hospital politics that have become overwhelming. This creates a serious problem, since the nurse-midwives at Cascade were seeing a large percentage of pregnant women in the area, who now are left without providers, in particular without midwives until these wonderful CNM's find new clinics.

While the midwives at Cascade only did hospital births, we greatly enjoyed having them as a resource for mothers and often referred clients to them who needed additional care. We only do home births, and normally do not like to accept late transfers of care, but under these circumstances both I and Kristin at Sunrise Midwifery would be willing to consider doing so for mothers who may prefer home births with Licensed Midwives rather than change to a new non-midwife hospital-only provider.

Politics like these hurt patients, and it is a tragedy to lose Cascade. Midwives of all types were already in short supply here. We are very, very sorry to see you go, and hope that all of the midwives find excellent new positions and continue serving our community.

Kristin delivered this handsome baby. It was a wonderful day; Lorri was busy at another birth at almost the exact same time - we traded the beautiful sound of newborn babies crying over the phone! Captured in a lovely slideshow; Click Here to view.

"Midwife Who Saved Hundreds of Newborn Babies from Nazis to be Honored".

"The late Polish midwife Stanislawa Leszczynska will be honoured in a display at the 5th World Prayer Congress for Life in Rome next month for her heroic efforts in saving hundreds of newborn babies from a brutal end at Auschwitz. ... During her time at Auschwitz, Leszczynska delivered over 3,000 babies. ... During Leszczynska's entire time at the camp, no mother or baby died under her care."

Even under the most horrid conditions; starvation, hypothermia, rats, no medicines, little water, unbearable stress - this midwife still had a far better mortality rate than the best hospitals staffed by her would-be oppressors. (So much for the idea that midwives have good outcomes only because they serve low-risk clients...)

Please Click Here to read the article about this amazing woman and how she defied her captors. If you want to read her own words, click here.

Thank you to Dr. Heidi Robel, ND, for an excellent free presentation on thyroid functioning and testing! We also had a very nice informal peer review that included many of the area doulas - something we will plan again soon for the future (get on our mailing list to be notified of dates, see form below). The Clients & Friends potluck afterward at Heidi's was also lots of fun - hope to see all of you at the next one!

We want to thank everyone who came to our first Health Fair on April 18! It was a beautiful day, the vendors and speakers were very nice and offered a wealth of wonderful information, and we all had fun.

If anyone wants more information or contacts, please email us and we will send you what we have: Group B Strep, Hormone Imbalances, Vitamin D & Omega-3, Doula Care for Birth & Postpartum, Pregnancy Massage, local Grass-fed & Organic Meat Farms, Custom and Vintage Bicycles, the latest information and research on Location of Birth and Safety & Benefits of Home Births & Waterbirth, Solar Water Heaters, Juice Plus Food Supplements for pregnancy and family health, Herbal Tinctures, Maternity Supplies for pregnancy and newborn care...and even the plans for a future Birth Center in Yakima! If you have questions about any of these or want to know where to find them, just ask.

"For some birthing families, there no place like HOME"   Nice story posted 4-30-2010 in the Grand Junction Colorado Free Press. Click Here to read the article.

"New bacteria on the rise"   A new report shows how a once-rare bug has rapidly turned into the top bacterial threat in hospitals throughout the southeast–and quite possibly around the nation. This one is even worse than MRSA, as if we really needed more reasons to have our babies safely at home! Click Here to read the article.

Click Here to watch the interview with Kristin and one of our recent clients in Yakima, Feb. 22, 2010.
Here is a link to the written story on KIMA TV's website: Click Here.

"Vitamin D better than vaccines at preventing flu, report claims."   "The risk of children suffering from flu can be halved if they take vitamin D, doctors in Japan have found. The finding has implications for flu epidemics since vitamin D, which is naturally produced by the human body when exposed to direct sunlight, has no significant side effects, costs little and can be several times more effective than anti-viral drugs or vaccine." Read the article HERE.

Click Here to watch "New Moms at Risk": Why are a growing number of American moms dying shortly after giving birth in hospitals (and only in hospitals)? Posted March 4, 2010. After reading this one, see the next article below, "Lessons at Indian Hospital..." for a reality check about this trend, and how a small hospital is using midwives to prevent it!
The related link mentioned in the story is HERE, at California Watch.

Click Here to read an article in The New York Times, March 6, 2010, describing how midwives and tort reform (no malpractice worries, the single most important reform that is NOT in the "Health Care Bill" in Congress) have slashed the C-section rate in one small older hospital in Arizona. In spite of demographics which should make them higher risk, they are outperforming other hospitals to an embarrassing degree. Chalk up another one for the midwives! This is in sharp contrast to the rise in maternal deaths in the hospitals with the ever-higher c-section rates (see ABC News link above to "New Moms at Risk"). Obviously all of those c-sections are NOT necessary.

Someone has been thinking about us. Click Here to read a nice little write-up about us midwives who deliver in Yakima. Many thanks to Lisa Russell for posting that article!

Click Here to read a wonderful article just published on Medscape's website, Feb. 25, 2010, setting the record straight once and for all about the many studies on the safety of home birth. If the internet is acting up and you are unable to get to the article, click HERE to read the article in Adobe. This one is so good, I had to put a link here too, but a permanent link will stay up on my "Home Birth" page as a resource. Studies are posted there in chronological order.