Chris near Philadelphia---a cradle of the prepared childbirth movement of
of the>1960s.  Where are the strong women of yesteryear?


Chris
 It was one of those Philadelphia women who helped bring the prepared
childbirth movement to Atlanta in the late 60's and was my CB educator
(1974)and later my mentor as I became an ICEA educator and advocate for the
childbearing family.  Anita and Alan Sims and their three boys were
wonderful movers for this area.  Many years later I had one of Anita's sons
and his wife in my class and they experienced a beautiful unmedicated NSVD
(in the hospital no less,  it can be done)  just as we had with Anita's help
in 1974. And to help this couple with the breastfeeding experience that
lasted 18 months with that first baby.  It is so good to be in a community
long enough to have such a circle come around. Then to see the influence
this young woman has had on her friends had been so rewarding.  The fire has
not gone out,  but the passions that we shared have not blazed as brightly.

During lunch recently at the hospital this was a topic of casual
conversation among those of us at the table mostly  CNMs and CEs "Where are
the strong women of yesteryear?"   I remarked that if women today had to
cross the country in Conestoga  wagons.....California would still be a
wilderness!"  One of the CNMs snorted in disgust "Mississippi would still be
a wilderness!!"

Beadie Cambardella RN IBCLC FACCE
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never giving up in Atlanta GA (largest state east of the Mississippi River)