Tea Time with Jo |  I Need Your Support (fundraising post)

UPDATE: As of 01.27.2025, I was able to fundraise enough funds to enroll for this course and order books. I am so grateful to my community and supporters who helped make this dream happen. I will keep this blog post up for a few more weeks just so everyone who knew of it can be updated with the progress. Thank you all for your support in this endeavor. I truly have no words to express my gratitude.

Original Post:

I have been wanting to work in the midwifery and birth work world for a very long time. In fact, the first thing I wanted to do straight out of Acupuncture school was go to Midwifery school. At the time, it was physically impossible for me to work and attend midwifery school at the same time. In recent times, I have felt the desire to be in the birth work space reemerge and looked into various Doula certifications. Again, it wasn’t good timing and I decided to place the idea on the back burner. 

In December, I became aware of a course offering from the same folks that offered the Doula training I had my eye on. They call the course “Birthkeeper Midwifery Cohort/Quantum Midwifery”. This course is completely virtual and self paced but is designed to take place over the course of a year. While all the modules are online, there are regularly scheduled live calls with elder midwife Whapio and her colleagues to go over the material. The completion of this course would certify me as a “Professional Childbirth Consultant & Family Advocate”. 

The idea of having the wisdom of elder midwife Whapio passed down to me (and others in the cohort) fills me with joy. I would be absolutely honored to be a keeper and sharer of this knowledge. The reality of my situation though is that I’m not currently in the financial position to sign up for this course. The only way I can consider taking it is with outside help. This is why I am humbly asking for your contribution. The cost of the course is $3500 and the estimated cost of required books is $500. The course starts Feb 1st 2025. That means I have less than 30 days to get registered!

Q&A

If this is an online course, why do I want to attend this course now?

It is the last time that elder midwife “Whapio” Diane Bartlett will be teaching this class. While her thoughtfully chosen colleagues will continue to teach her offerings in the future, I have wanted to sit at the feet of this elder midwife, and absorb as much knowledge from her as I possibly can, since the moment I learned about her. Her views on conception, gestation, birth and postpartum align greatly with my own. In addition, I have yet to find another comprehensive program that ties in the physical with the spiritual the way hers does. I’m including more info about Whapio in the Background & Context section below, if you are interested in learning more about her or why I am interested in this knowledge. 

How will it benefit my community?

The short answer is that I will gain more knowledge and wisdom that I can apply in my practice to continue serving women, and my community, in even more dynamic ways. In addition, preserving this sacred and ancestral knowledge, and disseminating it in the community helps to keep this traditional wisdom alive. 

As many of you know, being in the reproductive health space is my passion. I love supporting women through menstrual issues, reproductive health issues (not just fertility but all things womb health), pregnancy wellness, postpartum wellness, perimenopause and menopause. Traditional Chinese Medicine is the lens through which I mostly approach wellness. However, those who have worked with me also know that I value a more integrative approach. They know that I have a significant amount of western medicine training that allows me to help them navigate things like blood work, supplement recommendations, how to advocate for themselves at the doctor’s office, useful home remedies, etc. 

This course allows me to widely broaden my understanding of the womb continuum through the lens of elder midwifery wisdom. This includes an even greater understanding of:

-The female anatomy/pelvis

-The use of homeopathy for female focused conditions (in general but also for pregnancy and postpartum), 

-Gestational complications and managing them holistically (hypertension, pre-eclampsia, diabetes, etc)

-Fetal development, heart tones and position in the pelvis

-All things placenta

-The different stages of birth

-Complications of birth (shoulder dystocia, twins, breech, etc)

-Support for fathers and partners

-Breastfeeding support

-Postpartum support

-The spirituality behind each trimester and phase of birth

Being able to dive into these areas from the lens of elder midwifery gives me a much more complete understanding. It bridges the gap of East and West while also incorporating the spiritual; something that is left out of every other course I have come across. By gaining further understanding in these areas, I also get a better grasp of how trauma in these areas can lead to future presentations of disease. Having this foundational knowledge, integrated with my TCM training, enhances my ability to support conditions in peri-menopause and menopause that may have originated from pregnancy and/or delivery. 

Why am I not using a crowdfunding website?

Crowdfunding websites take a percentage of each donation as part of their servicing fee. Whenever I am contributing to a fundraiser of any kind, I like to know that every penny of my contribution is going towards the intended purpose, and I imagine you would want to know that too. I understand that not being able to see the amount that others have donated may cause some of you pause. I would like to think that you have gotten to know me well enough to know that I am a person of integrity. I pledge to be open about the contributions that I receive; sharing a running total to those who inquire; and/or sharing the progress towards my goal on my Instagram page. I also pledge to take down the posting on social media once my goal has been reached and make an updated post acknowledging that it has. 

What will your contribution go towards?

I’m seeking help with covering the cost of the course ($3500) along with some extra funds to cover the cost of the books required for the course. I’m factoring $500 for the books. This takes into consideration being able to purchase several of these books in used condition. The total amount I am humbly asking for support with is $4000. The link for the course shared above is the direct link to the website for this offering. You’ll be able to see all the information for the course, including the cost and the required books. I have zero interest in being anything other than transparent. If you have difficulty accessing the website, please let me know. 

What happens to my Acupuncture practice?

I love my one-on-one sessions with patients and plan to continue offering these sessions for the foreseeable future. Once completing this course, I’ll have even more knowledge and insight to better serve my patients and community. 

Where to make contributions?

***Contribution details removed as goal has been reached***

More Background & Context

Whapio has been practicing midwifery for over 40 years. She starts all of her lectures by giving gratitude to the Grand midwives of the south, including Margaret Charles Smith who influenced her learning. These grand midwives practiced outside of the modern medical model. There are many reasons for this, one of them being, the current paradigm didn’t exist back then. Women gave birth under the care of other women. The concept of seeing a “doctor” for pregnancy is fairly new. In many instances, these midwives worked in rural areas where there was no access to medical facilities. Modern Western Medicine Obstetrics and Gynecology has only existed for roughly 100 years (and the history of it is quite brutal and heartbreaking). Prior to that, women were giving birth in their homes with the guidance and support of their local midwives. 

Modern medicine would have you think that clinical management of gestation and delivery would be safer; unfortunately, it is the opposite. The US ranks the highest in infant and maternal mortality rates of all developed countries, with the majority of those disproportionately affecting the non-hispanic-black community. 

For contrast, Margaret Charles Smith is said to have practiced midwifery for over 30 years, attending approximately 3,500 births and never having a case of maternal mortality despite her patients being overworked and undernourished (her patient population consisted largely of black mothers in the south including the time period during the 40s and 50s when segregation was very much in full swing). 

Whapio also gives ode to French doctor, Dr. Michel Odent, who coined the idea of “undisturbed birth”. He saw that better outcomes were coming from births that weren’t being managed or pathologized. He understood that “birthing in sovereignty” was paramount. In current times, even natural variations of birth (like a breech presenting baby) are considered cause for c-sections simply because Obstetricians are no longer being trained in the delivery of breech babies. They are however, being trained in the surgical intervention of a c-section for just about anything. The increase in c-section rates in the US is concerning, especially when we are not seeing better outcomes for mom and baby. Instead, we are seeing higher incidences of complications and birth trauma. That’s not to say that c-sections don’t have their place; they absolutely do and they can be life saving. However, when the average c-section rate in the country is over 30%, it becomes questionable that 30% of those undergoing a major surgical procedure (c-section) are truly having an emergency. 

Whapio, and many other midwifes and doulas, will tell you that they have observed that gestating women don’t want to be “managed”, rather what they are wanting is reassurance. They want to know that things are progressing well. They want to know that someone is looking out for potential complications and educated in how to manage them and when to refer to western medicine. They do not, however, want to be seen as someone with a disease, simply because they are undergoing the very natural process of pregnancy. Many women trust in their ability to conceive and give birth, and again, are just looking for that reassurance. My role after the completion of this course is to show up as the presence of reassurance for these women and their partners and families. 

If you have made it this far, thank you so much for reading until the end. Even if you are not able to contribute, I hope that you have at least gained some new insight into the world of birthing. I do want to add that it’s not just about birthing though. It's about the tradition of women caring for women. Caring for the womb space never ends in this ancient practice and it is my intention to learn as many of ways of providing this care as I can. 

If you are able to contribute, please know that you have my heartfelt gratitude. You know your girl is a scholarly queen (aka nerd) and I am eager to soak up all of this knowledge and do right by your contribution. May the universe return your contribution 10 fold and bless you with whatever it is that you need to pursue your endeavors. 

With Gratitude, 

Jocey :)