VALENTINE'S GIVEAWAY WINNER!
I realize that by choosing to host this type of giveaway I put myself in a very difficult position!!!! Choosing the winner was really, really hard!!!
Believe me, I took this very seriously!
http://youtu.be/erAG4YY7Vak
You ALL deserve a MamAmor, every single family should have one! I have no doubt that the benefits of having a MamAmor around are tremendous to every child, -girl or boy-, so I will continue to do my best - in one way or another - to bring a doll to as many families as possible, one doll at a time, -that is my mission-.
Thank you for sharing your stories, I spent a great deal of time reading every single one, and some, several times. I am so amazed by the strength, dedication, trust, perseverance, but specially the "love" you have for your children, families and communities.
Thank you for the wonderful poems! You are so creative! What an amazing honor to have you dedicating your precious time writing these beautiful words!
Thank you for the videos! Loved seeing the faces behind the words, it is so great that technology allows us to have that option as well.
Thank you for the letters! The dads entries killed me! Wow...there are so many amazing men out there!
Thank you for sharing your pictures and photo albums, some of them accompanied by wonderful birth stories.
And THANK YOU for passing the word around about MamAmor Dolls, your continue support is so much appreciated!
I am convinced that Anastasia is going to live in a loving home and community, and that she will stand for what she was created for. I am sure she will be played with in away that empowers and teaches women, children and families that birth is normal, that women have the right to choose where, how, and with who they want to give birth, and that breastfeeding is beautiful. I hope you agree with me on this one, even if this doesn't send Anastasia your way.
Anastasia, her baby and toddler are going to live in Utah with Audrey Bird, her family and community.
Here it's why...
My Name is Audrey Bird, and I am a midwife in rural southeastern Utah! I am the ONLY midwife in my area for several hours in every direction, and the only alternative to a hospital birth aside from unassisted childbirth (which is what most women had to do before I came along). I cover by myself two counties and the edge of the Reservation to the south of us.
While we have mostly great supportive doctors here- our hospitals are tiny. Like one story, 20 rooms tiny. So while the drs are fabulous, their options are severely limited by insurance costs. There is little to no childbirth education classes and very little breastfeeding education. We also have a lot of young women becoming mothers for an area so small. Anywhere from 15-early twenties being mothers for the first time. And a lot of them go into birth pretty much blind.
As a young mother myself- my first was born in the hospital at 19- I understand the fear, and being mowed over because of age. I was very well educated and prepared-but they still instilled fear and uncertainty in me and ravaged my first birth experience. I came out of that experience with a purpose- to stop this kind of advantage-taking and misinformation from happening wherever I could. I became a midwife. It took a lot of sacrifice from my family, and myself- but I finally got there. I moved back to this corner of the state to provide a much-needed service to the women in my area.
Unfortunately- its been slow going . I really need a bit oif better levertage to get into this community. I think that opening free educational classes for these girls and women would be a blessing to this community. There really are no other resources. Ive heard from girls begging for VBACs (our hospitals will not allow them) because they went in young- were told they couldn't push out a baby because they were too small- and ended up with cesareans Most women out here have on average 5 children. That is a LOT of repeat cesareans Not only is it life threatening but they are being robbed of their births from the very start.
With Anastasia I can use her as a resource with my scraped together CBE materials (you all know how much those are) and start branching out in my community, helping more and more women than just those ‘crunchy mamas’ who want to homebirth.
I also now have an (almost oh my word) one year old daughter. Maybe one day she will follow in my footsteps and continue the tradition I set for her. If she does- Anastasia would be used not only in one generation of midwifery care but several.
Your work has touched the lives of so many, and made a huge difference in the birth community. Id love to be able to share Anastasia with my community. Thank you so much!
Here is a video of me-saying basically the same thing. But you can sort of meet me (and my four year old who video bombs it lol)
While we have mostly great supportive doctors here- our hospitals are tiny. Like one story, 20 rooms tiny. So while the drs are fabulous, their options are severely limited by insurance costs. There is little to no childbirth education classes and very little breastfeeding education. We also have a lot of young women becoming mothers for an area so small. Anywhere from 15-early twenties being mothers for the first time. And a lot of them go into birth pretty much blind.
As a young mother myself- my first was born in the hospital at 19- I understand the fear, and being mowed over because of age. I was very well educated and prepared-but they still instilled fear and uncertainty in me and ravaged my first birth experience. I came out of that experience with a purpose- to stop this kind of advantage-taking and misinformation from happening wherever I could. I became a midwife. It took a lot of sacrifice from my family, and myself- but I finally got there. I moved back to this corner of the state to provide a much-needed service to the women in my area.
Unfortunately- its been slow going . I really need a bit oif better levertage to get into this community. I think that opening free educational classes for these girls and women would be a blessing to this community. There really are no other resources. Ive heard from girls begging for VBACs (our hospitals will not allow them) because they went in young- were told they couldn't push out a baby because they were too small- and ended up with cesareans Most women out here have on average 5 children. That is a LOT of repeat cesareans Not only is it life threatening but they are being robbed of their births from the very start.
With Anastasia I can use her as a resource with my scraped together CBE materials (you all know how much those are) and start branching out in my community, helping more and more women than just those ‘crunchy mamas’ who want to homebirth.
I also now have an (almost oh my word) one year old daughter. Maybe one day she will follow in my footsteps and continue the tradition I set for her. If she does- Anastasia would be used not only in one generation of midwifery care but several.
Your work has touched the lives of so many, and made a huge difference in the birth community. Id love to be able to share Anastasia with my community. Thank you so much!
Here is a video of me-saying basically the same thing. But you can sort of meet me (and my four year old who video bombs it lol)
http://youtu.be/erAG4YY7Vak
Audrey, please send me your postal address at mamamor.dolls@gmail.com
Thank you all for participating!
And don't be disappointed! There will be another Giveaway soon! I just have to think how to make this easier....Suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
Love to all!
Adriana
Comments
You are such an inspiration and an immensely caring person. Keep up the hard work. You are making a very important difference for so many women in your area and though we have never met and I am very proud of you!