Clips

It’s 2006 and you can have your baby any way you want—in a hospital, at home or in a birthing center. With a doctor, midwife, doula or combination of the three. And if you have that baby at home there are even more choices. “One of the beauties of being at home is you can do what you jolly well want,” quips Roberta Gehrke, Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM).

Some women want to lay down and not move a muscle, others want to run around. Some don’t want to be touched or even looked at, while others embark on touch therapy during labor. Gehrke remembers one soon-to-be mother who “wanted me to hold onto her belly and pull down during the contractions.”

“I try to give as many choices as possible during the birthing process,” says CNM Mikelann Caywood Baerg. That might include a water birth, reflexology, acupuncture, homeopathic remedies, singing, dancing or silence. Or none of the above. It might mean changing your mind and heading to the hospital or forgoing the planned natural birth for some pain killing drugs. It’s the mother’s choice.

Baerg’s own delivery was difficult and it was what spurred her to become a midwife. She gave birth three months early to a two-pound infant after being airlifted to a hospital in Salt Lake City. Her own midwife couldn’t go with her, but she was assigned one at the hospital and for her, it made all the difference. “She couldn’t change my problem, but she was there to support me. Mothering while you’re becoming a mother is so important,” she says.

Not everyone thinks it’s safe to give birth at home. Recently a Bozeman woman delivered her child at the hospital. “Everything went fine for me, but if there was a problem, I definitely wanted to be in the hospital, with a doctor. I was less concerned with emotional support than with getting this kid out healthy.”

“I can guarantee safety, knowledge, support, and I will be the one who’s there,” says Baerg. In fact, CNMs do many of the same things as doctors, including prenatal care, writing prescriptions, and follow-up check-ups.

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Midwifery is an old art, practiced in ancient Greece and mentioned in the Bible. It was one of the only medical practices dominated by women, and up until the 18th century midwives cared for mothers prenatal, during delivery and postpartum.

By the mid-18th century a division grew between midwives and surgeons as the modern scientific/medical process was viewed as a more valid method for bringing a new baby into the world. Eventually midwives were persecuted—even burned at the stake as witches. Doctors and hospitals replaced midwives as the appropriate care for birthing.

Mary Breckinridge, a pioneering nurse who founded the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS), fueled the resurgence of midwifery in the United States. In 1929, she brought British nurse-midwives to FNS as the first nurse-midwives in America. Then, in the 1930s two school of midwifery opened; one—Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery—is still in existence.

The popularity and acceptance of midwifery increased dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s. According to the American College of Nurse Midwifery, the number of CNMs in practice jumped from 275 in 1963 to 1,723 in 1976, to 2,550 in 1982, to over 4,000 in 1995 and 7,000 today. (See sidebar for explanation of the types midwives and required training).

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“The environment for midwives was a little more hostile in the past,” recalls Baerg, “Today (the medical community) is really wonderful and it’s because we’ve worked really hard.” Because of that perceived hostility, Baerg said midwives would wait until the last minute to get doctors involved in a troubled birth. Now, midwives call ahead at the first sign of a problem to give the hospital staff time to prepare.

Midwives are specific about who they’ll work with; it must be a healthy, low-risk pregnancy. That means parents cannot be smokers, expecting twins or multiples, have a breech birth or any health problems that might endanger the baby.

Even though midwives have lower rates of cesarean sections and episiotomies, some women are more comfortable in a hospital setting with a doctor. Many midwives attend births in a hospital, as do doulas.

“A doula’s job is to make the mother’s experience a positive experience,” says Certified Birth Doula, Marianne Donch. To that end, doulas provide the couple with emotional support, knowledge about the process, referrals to useful resources and aid in communicating with the birth team.

“One big piece that is missing (in the medical model of birth) is the continuity of one person being there, getting to know the couple and their wishes and dreams. A doula can help get that realized as much as possible,” explains Donch.

Donch had what she describes as a “long, difficult first birth” in which she feels she could have used the support of a doula. “I didn’t have a lot of help and could have used that one on one support.” She had a doula during her second pregnancy and discovered “there can be great joy in the experience.”

Melissa Summerfield, a client of Donch, chose to use a doula partly because her mother died when she was fourteen years old. “I felt I needed someone to give me the support that my mother might have given me,” she says. After doing her own research and finding studies that show women who work with a doula have better success and a lower rate of Caesarian sections, Summerfield was convinced.

Summerfield and her husband appreciate Donch’s approach. “She empowers the parents and gives us the information we need to make informed decisions, I’m not as frightened about giving birth and feel so much stronger.”

Both midwives and doulas agree that less intervention in births and more one on one support can make a big difference for both the mother and the infant. And ultimately, what alternative birthing methods can provide is more choices, good care and healthy babies.

Sidebar
From the American College of Nurse Midewifery (http://www.mymidwife.org/)

Certified Nurse-Midwife
Certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) are licensed healthcare practitioners educated in the two disciplines of nursing and midwifery. They provide primary healthcare to women of childbearing age including: prenatal care, labor and delivery care, care after birth, gynecological exams, newborn care, assistance with family planning decisions, preconception care, menopausal management and counseling in health maintenance and disease prevention.

Certified Midwife
A certified midwife (CM) is an individual educated in the discipline of midwifery, who also possesses evidence of certification according to the requirements of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM). Like CNMs, the CM provides primary healthcare to women of childbearing age including: prenatal care, labor and delivery care, care after birth, gynecological exams, newborn care, assistance with family planning decisions, preconception care, menopausal management and counseling in health maintenance and disease prevention.

Doula
The doula's role is to provide physical and emotional support to women and their partners during labor and birth. A doula offers information, assistance and advice on topics such as breathing, relaxation, movement and positioning. Perhaps the most crucial role of the doula is to provide continuous emotional reassurance and comfort. Doulas do not perform clinical tasks, such as vaginal exams or fetal heart rate monitoring. Doulas do not diagnose medical conditions or give medical advice.

Balance
September 12, 2006

“The common bond we all share is the desire to live a healthy active lifestyle and to promote that lifestyle among the community and ourselves,” declares the Team WinS website.

Team WinS (Women in Sports) is a Bozeman-based sports team for women of all ages, levels and abilities started by women who were looking for sponsorship and community support for their biking, according to Board President Carolyn Rouche.

These days Team WinS sponsors 4-6 women a year to compete in a variety of sports. “We look for love of sport, interest in competition, enthusiasm and a willingness to share their expertise with other women,” explains Rouche.

In return for having their race entries and travel expenses paid, among other benefits, sponsored athletes mentor fellow women athletes, contribute to the Team WinS newsletter, help at sports-specific clinics and are involved in the community.

Kara Crissifulli and Jen Mygatt are two of the 2005 sponsored athletes. Meet the other three below.

Ginny Heimann (age 62) —Running, Fly-fishing and Nordic Skiing

As Ginny Heimann looked down the starting line at the Masters World Cup in Brusson, Italy this February, she tried to get the other women to smile. “They were all so focused and intent,” she remembers.

“It was the most incredible experience,” Heimann says, “skiing with women from countries all over the world.” And she had her best times in the 10K, 15K and 30K skate skiing races.

Friends encouraged Heimann to apply for the Team WinS sponsorship and Heimann liked the idea of women supporting each other, trying new things and doing their best, even if that doesn’t mean coming in first place.

“I’ve met women of all ages and the camaraderie of the organization is contagious,” Heimann says with a smile.

Heimann has been running for years. Before moving to Bozeman in 2000, she met with four women every morning to run, network and support each other. She had raced in marathons and half marathons; running was an integral part of her life.

Running is still important. As part of her sponsorship, Heimann ran one race a month during last year’s running season, as well as regular training runs.

In 2001, Heimann picked up Nordic skate skiing. With a pair of borrowed skis, she “stumbled around and practiced for the first year.” The second winter she decided to ski the 51K American Birkebeiner in the northwoods of Wisconsin. “Just to finish it was my goal,” Heimann says, “and to enjoy every moment.” Not only did she finish, she went back the next year and cut an hour off her time.

Only five years after learning to skate ski, Heimann headed to Italy for the Masters World Cup. Being of Italian decent, Heimann had always wanted to travel to Italy, but she didn’t want to “sit on a bus and tour around. I wanted to have an adventure,” she says. So, she visited relatives, explored Turino just before this year’s winter Olympics and competed with the best skiers in her division.

While the Team WinS sponsorship has motivated Heimann to enter more races, she says, “It’s nice to be sponsored, but it’s nice to volunteer, too.” To that end, she has helped lead skating and shooting clinics, and aided in promoting other Team WinS events.

When her sponsorship ends this month, Heimann says, “I’m still going to stay involved, there are so many great clinics and being a sponsored athlete has been a very rewarding experience.”

Anita Moore-Nall (age 45)—Running, Biking and Nordic Skiing

“It’s a little vacation for me,” says Anita Moore-Nall of skiing 50 kilometers on the Rendezvous Trails in West Yellowstone and of riding a bike 157 miles over two passes through the Big Hole Valley.

As a Team WinS sponsored athlete, Moore-Nall is able to do “more of the same things I usually do,” she says. That means more running, skiing (Nordic and Telemark), and biking.

Moore-Nall competed in a variety of events under the sponsorship including RATPOD (Ride Around the Pioneers in One Day), Jim Bridger Trail Run, Teton Classic, Boulder Mountain Classic, Montana Senior Olympics and more.

And she likes to go long. “I like the longer distances because you don’t have to be as fast,” she laughs. “After you’re out there (doing endurance sports) for awhile it releases all your stress, it makes you feel better and it’s fun,” she adds.

But more than just a place to get away, participating in endurance sports is way to set a good example for her two children: Tom, age 12 and Stella, age 10. “It’s good to give (kids) an example of their parents staying active, so they are active, too,” says Moore-Nall.

Her children have followed her example well. Both children are alpine skiers and join her on local running club (Big Sky Wind Drinkers) fun runs. Last winter Tom skied in his first skate ski race in Anaconda and this year his sister did the same.

Moore-Nall has been running since high school, biking since she was in college and picked up skate skiing three years ago after attending a Team WinS skate ski clinic. This year, as part of her sponsored athlete duties, she helped teach the skating clinic as well as shooting and Telemark ski clinics.

As well as the benefits she personally gets from being a sponsored athlete, Moore-Nall hopes her enthusiasm and love for sports spreads. “I want to make women more aware of sports. You don’t have to be a number one athlete to be sponsored.”

Suzi Berget (age 27)—Running and Biking

Growing up in suburban Minnesota, Suzi Berget never saw women participating in sports after they got married or had kids. “They never went outside except to start their cars,” recalls Berget.

Berget grew up playing fast-pitch softball, tennis, canoeing and hiking, and doesn’t want to give up the healthy, active lifestyle, now. “It is so important for women to see that you don’t have to change your lifestyle because you’re married or have kids,” she says.

Team WinS has provided a forum where Berget, and other young women, can meet other women who serve as role models for a positive, active life—at all ages.

Berget had started an informal road biking club for women when she was approached by a friend to seek sponsorship from LUNA (the company that makes LUNA nutrition bars). In 2004, Berget and three other women, were awarded the sponsorship and became one of the first five LUNA Chix teams in the country.

Montana LUNA Chix host bike rides, bike maintenance clinics and raises money for the Breast Cancer Fund with an annual concert at Bogert Park. But, Berget was “looking to become more involved in the community,” she says. She was looking for a group that encompassed more activities when she found Team WinS. Berget says, “It is so awesome to run with some of the most incredible women in the community.”

As a sponsored athlete, Berget competed in running races and big bike tours including the RATPOD and the 260 mile, two day Tour of the Swan River Valley West. Berget doesn’t consider herself to be very competitive, instead she focuses on being outdoors doing something she loves and getting other women excited about those activities.

During the summer, LUNA Chix and Team WinS co-sponsored a Monday night mountain bike ride led by Berget and Team Wins member Mariann Van Den Elzen. “It’s a nice bridge for Team WinS and LUNA Chix, and a good way to get both names out there,” Berget says.

Berget began seriously biking about four years ago after getting frustrated with following her friends around on mountain bikes. “I felt like I was always getting pushed to the limit instead of progressing and developing skills,” remembers Berget. She switched over to road biking to focus on the skills she was missing. “I could road bike independent of other people, there’s a lot more freedom there,” she says.

Now, Berget “is in love with” climbing, biking and Telemark skiing. And while she loves the sports opportunities Team WinS provides, she really appreciates “meeting other women in the community—whether they’re aggressive in their sport or not.” Berget says, “I want to make sure that women have an environment to try something new and to reach their goals.” And that means more than just getting the car started on a sub-zero day.

Balance
March 28, 2006

Eight years ago Chris Furtak hadn’t lifted her body off the floor in Crow pose. She’d not stretched her back in Downward Dog. Nor had turned upside down in Shoulder Stand. She worked out everyday at the gym, sweating away and maintaining her fitness level. Until she read an article that espoused the health benefits of yoga and decided to give it a try.

“It was kind of an accident,” Chris says of her entry into the world of yoga that has become her life. Now sixty-five years old, Chris teaches ten classes a week at her home studio to about 100 people.

Chris, and her husband Paul, have converted their west Bozeman home into a yoga studio that has a calming, but at the same time, energizing feel. Chris calls the studio Aspen Ark after the twenty-plus aspen trees surrounding the house and the feeling of refuge and gathering she hopes it provides.

The rough cut walls are supported by reused timbers from a bridge in Oregon and adorned with wooden masks, crosses and tiny white lights. A fountain drips water in the background and everything is stored neatly away in baskets.

Above the once living room, now yoga practice area, is a loft that holds Chris’s looms and craft supplies as well as the new living room and a bedroom. After getting into a yoga practice, Chris and Paul replaced their couch with floor cushions which more comfortably supported their yoga-trained bodies. “We’re like hippies,” Chris laughs.

But more than teaching poses, or asanas, Chris exemplifies the spirit of yoga by living her life simply and giving back to the community and the world. “I’ve been so lucky,” she says, “It’s time to give back”.

Yoga student Jeanne Miller says, “There are hundreds of yoga teachers in Bozeman, but (Chris) donates all her money to charities and it’s infectious.”

In fact, Miller and other students have been inspired to give more because of Chris’philanthropic spirit. Her giving is the pebble that has created ripples of generosity in the lives of her students.

There are eight limbs of Buddhism—including loving kindness, breathing, concentration, mediation and the physical postures—and Chris is especially strong on loving kindness. Her yoga classes are given on a $5-$10 donation basis and all the money she collects—minus costs for the yummy organic snacks she serves and yoga props and materials—is given to charity.

Last year Chris and her students gave $10,600 to Heifer Project International and Bread for the Journey International. Both programs exemplify what Chris believes: helping people to live better lives. Heifer Project International helps impoverished families become more self sufficient through gifts of livestock and the training of their care.

Less well known is Bread for the Journey International which teaches neighborhood philanthropy through seed grant giving, practical assistance and encouragement to new projects which build and strengthen the local community.

“Chris lives what she preaches,” says another student, Carol Merica. “Being around someone like that makes you want to be a better person.”

Chris also gets the wish list from the Livingston Humane Society and passes it out in class. Students bring the items on the list and Chris and Paul deliver it the shelter where they recently adopted two new puppies. “I think they were kind of surprised when we pulled up with a truckload of stuff from their wish list,” laughs Chris.

During a yoga class Chris might mention the food bank is low or that someone needs assistance. “If someone needs something,” says Miller, “Chris tells us and everyone can pitch in.” “She makes it easy for others to give,” adds Merica.

Chris’s giving nature stems partly from her upbringing on a dryland wheat farm near Lewistown. She recalls a feeling of mutual dependence where neighbors helped neighbors regardless of differences.

As an adult, Chris ran a yarn store, sold handmade goods at crafts fairs and taught elementary school before coming to yoga.

After training briefly in Seattle, Chris decided to teach herslf yoga. She reads everything she can find on the subject, watches videos and attends the annual Yoga Journal conference. While many in the yoga field are concerned with their teaching lineage, Chris describes herself as “mongrel self-taught” and avoids the politics and divisions sometimes found in mainstream yoga.

“I think she’s a really great teacher,” says Miller, “And she’s kind of fiesty.” Merica agrees, “She’s an amazing teacher, and really devoted to what she does.”

Chris’s classes incorporate teachings from yoga leaders across the board. One day students may focus on Baron Baptiste, while another day the practice may be based on ancient texts.

Each solstice and equinox is celebrated with 108 sun salutes (a series of postures). Students on mats fill the room and move through forward bends, downward dogs, planks, chatarangas, cobras and more while Chris calls out the movements and Paul keeps count by moving pennies and dimes back and forth.

But yoga isn’t just about helping others; it’s improved Chris’s life, as well. “It’s kind of restored me to myself. Yoga is like a thread that gets you through the maze, and boy, this world is like a maze to me.”

Inspired by Chris Furtak? Contact either of the following organizations:
Heifer Project International @ www.heifer.org
Bread for the Journey @ www.breadforthejourney.org

Balance
February 28, 2006

The lights inside the South Gym at Montana State University are buzzing loudly, so loudly that it sounds as if it is inside my head. To my left, a college class bounds up and down on steps, sneakers squeaking on the highly polished floor. In the midst of all this noise and movement Rod Cline leads us in the slow, meditative movements that are Qigong and somehow, all of the hubbub disappears.

We lift our left foot a few inches off the floor and slowly glide it through the air, forward and to the left. Then we place the foot gently on the floor, transfer our weight to our left leg, pick up our right foot and slide it forward. Arms are at elbow height. We are cranes skimming across the water.

Actually, we are a group of women, all over fifty years old—except me—taking a Young at Heart Qigong class. In Chinese, “qi” means energy and “gong” means skill or practice, making Qigong the practice of cultivating energy.

“I had heard of Tai Chi,” remembers Elsie Rinker a twenty-plus year participant in Young at Heart, “but not Qigong.”

Cline explains, “If you think of Qigong as your hand, then Tai Chi is your thumb.” Qigong is a broader aspect of energy practice. While your thumb (Tai Chi) is different than the rest of your fingers it still has the same focus.

The other Qigong “fingers” include movement (such as Crane Skims the Water), meditation and hands-on healing. While Qigong has been practiced in China for thousands of years it is new to many in the west and it is primarily the movement aspect that is been taught and practiced here.

Qigong originated thousands of years ago by Taoist monks who were being robbed as they sat in meditation. By developing a series of movements that allowed them to meditate and move at the same time, the monks were able to protect their belongings while still working on enlightenment.

The Young at Heart group is less concerned with protection from robberies than the other benefits of Qigong. Qigong improves posture, balance and joint function, according to Cline. Participant Helen Frazier agrees, “The slow movement gives you that balance that you sometimes do not have. I don’t think most of us are used to that slow movement—there’s strength in that.”

After the first class a few of the ladies thought, “We haven’t done anything,” recalls Rinker, “But then I went home and sat in a chair for two hours; I was so stiff.” Frazier concurs, “I’ve been taking aerobics and strength training for years and this is unique.”

Balance
January 31, 2006

“As we interact with other cultures we learn a lot about ourselves,” says Ann Matney, Italian teacher at Alliance Française. In a room at the Emerson Cultural Center, students gather on comfy blue couches to learn languages, interact with different cultures and end up discovering something about themselves.

The Alliance Française was formed in Paris in 1883 and there are currently 1,135 Alliance Françaises in 130 countries, including Kazakhstan, Malawi, Mongolia and Cuba. In the United States alone there are 130 Alliances and more than 20,000 students. Each branch is run independently and bound with a common purpose to the Paris Alliance.

The Alliance has a double mission of teaching the French language and linking local cultures and the French-speaking world. Bozeman Alliance Director Brigitte Morris adds, “The Alliance Francaise is a non-profit international organization whose goals are to promote the French language and culture and to foster friendly relationships between the two people."

Morris explains that she founded the Alliance Française de Bozeman in 1987 “as a multi-lingual language school to promote the French language and culture.” She soon found that Bozemanites had an interest in additional languages, so the Alliance “geared itself to promote more languages and cultures and expanded its center to a multi-language school and cultural center,” says Morris.

Six years ago the Alliance began offering Italian classes, then Spanish classes five years ago, and Chinese classes two years ago. Last year Portuguese classes began.

While Morris is tri-lingual, the non-French classes are taught by a variety of women with different backgrounds. Sally Sanchez, Spanish instructor, graduated from Montana State University with a degree in Spanish. She moved to Madrid, Spain with the intent of staying for six months. Nine years later she finally made it back to the United States.

“You think, ‘I’ll never use my Spanish here’,” laughs Sanchez, “but, little by little things come up.” After five years teaching at the Alliance, Sanchez is still excited about her classes and students. “They are fabulous people! I always learn something from them,” she asserts.

Sanchez teaches beginning and intermediate classes using books, hand outs and lots of conversation. Like all Alliance classes, they are small—six to twelve students. Many join the classes because they are hoping to use Spanish while traveling; others took language classes in high school or college and are looking to get back to something they enjoyed when they were younger.

Michelle Flenniken, one of Sanchez’s students, is planning a five month trip to Mexico, Central and South America when she finishes school in June. Traveling “is such a different experience when you can chat with people on the bus,” she says.

In addition to improving her Spanish, Flenniken has appreciated getting to know the other students. “I get to meet people that I normally wouldn’t run into in town.” After two years together in Sanchez’s class bonds have formed. Flenniken, classmate Linda Young and others get together at a coffee shop to speak Spanish and go over homework. Through presentations in class they have learned about each other’s lives outside of class.

Young first started taking Spanish when her son was going to Chile as an exchange student. As part of the exchange, the Youngs would be hosting a Chilean student, and she wanted to be able to communicate, both in South America, and with the exchange student staying in Bozeman.

Matney, the Italian teacher, also feels like languages have tied her more closely to others in Bozeman: “I’ve been able to get to know people better in the community by teaching them.”

Matney thinks part of the reason Alliance Française classes are so well attended is that Americans are drawn to European and South American cultures and expectations. “In America there isn’t a way of doing things that’s culturally agreed upon, or if there is, it’s really loose,” she explains.

As a seventeen-year-old, Matney spent a year in Italy and was struck by the culture shock she felt. “When you go into a coffee shop in America you can ask for anything, there are no limitations,” but she remembers asking for an Americano in Italy and being refused because the coffee seller didn’t think it would taste good. “There’s no way that would happen in America, if you want to buy something they make it happen.”

Matney believes “you feel less alone in a culture like that,” where the rules are spelled out and there is a specific way of doing things.

The Italian group bonds, appropriately, over coffee every Saturday at the International Coffee Traders, where they can order anything they want. “You can get so much grammar and use up that part of your brain,” Matney says, “then you need the repetition.”

The repetition that comes up when talking to students and instructors at the Alliance is how much they love languages and culture. The Alliance has grown because of Morris’s devotion to French and other cultures. As the volunteer Director she hosts French book clubs and panel discussions about different countries and cultural activities. Book discussions in Italian and Spanish start in January and March.

French-born Morris moved to Bozeman twenty years ago. She says, “I wanted to be involved with French culture, and later on with languages.” And she found a relatively large Francophile community in Montana. The Alliance now has 100 members and about 70 language students. They also offer translation services in French, Spanish and Italian. Morris says they have translated everything from scientific papers, to historical and legal documents.

Learning about languages, cultures, each other and themselves, students and instructors at the Alliance Française have gained much from speaking other languages. “I get so much out of it,” Sanchez says with a smile.

Balance
January 03, 2006