Ricki Lake Weekend

I just had the most amazing weekend! On Saturday I was given the privilege to watch a sneak preview of Ricki’s latest documentary, More Business of Being Born. This time around there will be four films, and we were showed the first two in the series. Both were absolutely fantastic. They offered great insight, had the perfect amount of humor, touched on sensitive topics, and best of all, educated. Theories were proposed and it truly got you wondering about our current maternity care system. I am confident that women around the globe are going to be touched by these films and that the birthing world is slowly going to be turned around in a positive direction.

I also purchased Ricki’s latest book, Your Best Birth, and was able to meet her and get an autograph.

I have just browsed through it briefly, but I cannot wait to sit down and read it through. It isn’t a book that emphasized the “right” way to birth. Instead, it informs women of all of their options; from the un-medicated homebirth to the scheduled cesarian…and everything in between. I left the screening in such a blissful state and honestly cannot wait to give birth once again. I almost got teary eyed just thinking about it!

On Sunday I had the amazing privilege of attending a private luncheon with Ricki and a number of birth professionals in our community. I got to mingle and speak with doulas, childbirth educators, midwives, chiropractors, L&D nurses, and more.

It was held at the most beautiful lodge I have even seen that overlooked a lake. It couldn’t have been more fitting! However, it was a tad overwhelming with all of the mounted animals staring down at us. The cabin was as Alaskan as it gets and truly would have been a hunter’s dream come true. I joked with a friend that we were of bunch of women obsessed with new life, being thrown into the room of death. But I wouldn’t have chose a different location…it was amazing to say the least. The weather was perfect, the people were fabulous, and the day was everything I hoped it would be. Not to mention, the food was delicious and in great supply! It was an honor to speak with Ricki again on a one-on-one basis, but even more importantly, I made connections with some amazing like-minded women. I was able to put faces to people that I knew of, learn a bit more about services we offer in the community, and learn how we can successfully work together to benefit pregnant women.

Dr. Elrod is such an inspiration and his desire to integrate midwives and ob’s into a successful partnership is something that I hold true in my heart as well. He and his wife Tara are also expecting and the excitement of their upcoming homebirth brought such a calming energy into their hosting. They could have chose to keep Ricki to themselves and enjoy a private baby shower, but instead used this opportunity as a means of integrating our already wonderful birth community! Tara came by to thank everyone for attending and when I was speaking with her she knew who I was from my blog. For a moment I was speechless and couldn’t believe that she knew who I was. It felt like such an honor for someone so promising and up-and-coming in the birth community to know of little 'ol me! So Tara, if you are reading this, thank you for co-hosting such an amazing event. It was an absolute privilege to be a part of something so special!

Being pregnant myself in a room full of birth junkies sure got me lots of attention. Ricki grabbed my belly and told me that she just couldn’t get enough of me! I was given compliment after compliment about how beautiful I looked pregnant and it never got old. Being in a room packed full of birth professionals gawking over me reminded me how blessed I am to be a women and how much of an honor it is to create, nurture and birth a baby. There is absolutely nothing more beautiful!

I came home in such a high that I ran over to my husband and kissed him. I thanked him for watching Lucas all weekend and giving me the opportunity to experience everything I did. I went on and on about the day and I’m sure he got tired of hearing it all pretty fast. The combination of having one last weekend to myself, meeting Ricki, and connecting more into the birth community had me on cloud 9. I look forward to working alongside these amazing people and growing as a birth professional myself. I am so passionate about my chosen line of work and my desire to make a difference is now greater than ever.

Thank you to everyone who made this weekend a reality!