After a beautiful, hot and hazy summer, the much needed fall rain has started to arrive… Yay!
Those of you with breastfeeding babies mark your calendars – Sat 29 September, 2018 10am – 12pm and plan to attend a fun event that celebrates breastfeeding at North Vancouver’s Hope Center. See invite below. This year Vera Berard is planning on attending and looks forward to seeing previous and current clients and babies that are breastfeeding.
Saluting all that have used midwifery services and wishing you well!
2018 celebrates two decades of regulated midwifery in British Columbia. I have been delighted to meet young people that I welcomed as babies and to hear their parents’ fond memories of their early parenting days. Witnessing individuals grow into parenthood is a joy and a perk of my work! Previous clients’ reminiscences touched my heart, as did Facebook messages celebrating BC Midwives. I feel fortunate to be walking alongside women and families during a transformative time in their lives and to be sharing this sentiment with colleagues. We love what we do.
This year, I also had fun joining in the Canadian Association of Midwives (CAM) 2nd Dance for women, babies and midwives with my office assistant Jazzmin Nagy and Quayside Village (QSV) community that has housed midwifery services for over 15 years and shares a 20 year 2018 celebration with BC Midwives. Quayside Co-housing was built in 1998. I reckon since my practice has rented the office, at least 600 women and families have sat in QSV foyer waiting to see a midwife.
I look forward to meeting and developing partnerships with many more!
Enjoy the videos linked below. Thank you to all that participated in this happy celebration. I appreciate Madiba Nelson Mandela’s words “IT IS through music and dancing that I feel at peace with the world AND at peace with myself”. Excited to experience more music and dance…
1) QSV Dance
2) CAM’s 2018 International Day of the Midwife compilation in celebration of women, babies and midwives.
Living is about spiraling back to beginnings and endings. Leaves falling and buds growing.
I thank all that have touched my heart and ‘wish everyone a year of transformative delight… a quiet house and a calm world, beginning in your heart …’ Love these words brought to my attention by a colleague Kelly Hayes RM, taken from author Sarah Ban Breathnach. I trust they are ‘wonderful to read and hold close to enwrap you in a hug and a hush…’ I like thinking of 2018 as ‘a fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of delight and self-discovery…’
I am ‘carving out a quiet interlude for myself in which to dream’ and agree with Sarah that ‘only dreams give birth to change’. Women give birth to babies that make change in today’s world more necessary than ever. Yours in trust and peace ~ Vera
Breastfeeding mammas – mark your calendar – Saturday, 30 September 2017
Plan to attend VCH fun annual celebration for breastfeeding babies and their families. This free event is taking place at the Hope Center on St Andrew’s and 13th Street. It starts at 9.45am and ends at noon. RSVP is helpful for catering purposes.
For more information or to register contact:
Janice Sampson
– Tel 778 886 8024
– Email janice.sampson@vch.ca
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There are countless ways that birthing women have touched my life and provided me with inspiration through my own trials. The end of 2016 and earlier part of this year brought challenges of a lost car and an injury. Both resolved with good endings and affirmed my belief in community and the importance of positive thinking. In the later challenge, an occupational hand therapist encouraged me to let go of fear and reframe injury pain to that of strengthening, healing sensations. Enabling me to persevere through uncomfortable exercises and over time, to notice improvement. My wonderful family and friends from near and far provided needed distraction. (more…)
Celebrating Breastfeeding Mothers and Babies!
Free Family Event: Prizes! Snacks!
Pre-register or Drop in
15th Annual
North Shore Breastfeeding Challenge
Saturday, October 1st, 2016
10 am to noon
Lynn Valley Library
1277 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver
“Breastfeeding: A Key to Sustainable Development”
For more info or to Pre-Register for this Free Event
Contact: Janice Sampson – janice.sampson@vch.ca or Call 778-886-8024
Eventbrite: North Shore Breastfeeding Challenge 2016
Social Media: #nsbreastfeedingchallenge2016
2016 SUMMER NEWS, AS WELL AS FALL AND WINTER ANNOUNCEMENTS
Since our return from holiday, I continue to enjoy crocheting. My crochet critter menagerie has grown to include two mythical unicorns, as well as four snails. Folk have been curious to know why, of all creatures, snails. Well, I value small creatures as much as large ones. I like snail symbolism too. Being one of few creatures that carry their spiral houses around with them, symbolically snails represent the cycle of life. Including finding one’s home within oneself, taking time to enjoy and make the best of life’s journey. Furthermore, snails are considered symbolic of fertility, abundance and things coming into fruition – what could be more apropos reminders to a midwife holding the space for women and babies and whose work requires patience and flexibility. (more…)
Who gets to leave a solo-midwifery practice and go away from home for an 8-week vacation? I am that fortunate being… When my husband decided that he wanted to spend a small retirement windfall on a trip back to our motherland (for his brother’s 70th birthday and to connect with our respective family members and old friends), in some of Africa’s beautiful and pristine wilderness areas. I had my doubts… ‘Could my practice be covered for that long? Could we afford the cost of vacation and covering a business?’. ‘This is important to me…’ he responded. Visiting Botswana’s Okavango has been a life-long desire of his and an experience that I agreed could easily be added to my bucket list. The African bush and wild life is a love in my life too. I also recognized that we needed time together and that we shared a desire to connect with our roots.
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