Why Not Home?

Hello, Friends! It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, hasn’t it? The reason — even reasons — for this season of silence are far, far from meaning nothing’s going on over here!

But none of those reasons are what this post is about, actually.

I’m actually posting to announce I’m way up in northern Minnesota at a sweet little rustic campground, sandwiched between the endless gray of bewitching Lake Superior and the miles upon miles of Boundary Waters wilderness and…

And at 6:00 Wednesday evening, July 17th, I’ll be hosting a screening of the film, Why Not Home? The Surprising Birth Choices of Doctors and Nurses, at the Grand Marais 4H Community Building with Sadie Sigford, the only homebirth midwife serving this remote swatch of the North Shore. My daughter, Hannah Simmons, a Michigan midwife, will be there as well, as will all three of my grandbabies!

If you’ll even be close to the area that night, do your best to come on by! We hope to address the concerns the families of the area in and around Grand Marais may have about birthing at home with this incredible 78-minute resource.

If you’ve not yet seen the film, here’s little about it from the producers themselves:

Why would doctors who attend birth in hospitals chose to have their own babies at home? What do they know about birth that others don’t?

Join Jessicca Moore, filmmaker and nurse practitioner, on a compelling journey through maternity care in the United States. Told through the lens of doctors, nurses, and midwives, Why Not Home? Examines the latest evidence on risks and rewards of different birth settings. The film presents a balanced and accessible view on the latest research, along with moving personal stories of medical practitioners faced with big decisions for their own growing families. Viewers are challenged to move beyond preconceived ideas, and to envision a fresh future for maternity care in America.

“Honestly, I thought people who birthed at home were crazy up until I got pregnant. It was drilled into my head during (medical) training that home birth was not appropriate for anybody. So it took me a long time to be able to come around and say actually, there are a lot of benefits there and this is what I want.” –Michelle Minikel, MD

“Why Not Home? Captures the beauty of natural birth in a way that is so hard to articulate. It shows inspiring stories of how medical professionals can collaborate to make birth better, and how women can be empowered in the process.” –Jessica Taylor Goldstein, MD Family Medicine Obstetrical Care Provider and Resident Educator

For resources and information visit whynothome.com