Here is a recent newsletter I sent out 🙂

Hello Birth Friends,

Big news! Or a few big points of news perhaps. The first really huge announcement is that we now have up to 12 month payment plans available for both our Birth Warrior Project and the Indie Birth Midwifery School program. In the past when we have set these up it was a total administrative nightmare, and we found a workable solution for both us and our lovely community. If you are someone who has been interested in either of those options and were waiting on finances, just hit reply to this email and let me know, and we can get you started as soon as you’d like!

The other big announcement is that my family is going to Ecuador in October and I’m going to be volunteering at the New Life Birthing Center in Vilcabamba for about a month. I’m super excited about this opportunity to midwife in another culture, and to hold space for the Ecuadorian midwifery students there that will be taking over the running of the center once they finish up their training soon.

We will also be scouting some different locations in Ecuador to see if we might want to live there part time if we fall in love! Last winter here in Minnesota I did the least amount of traveling away from the snow, and the cold mixed with the ‘rona madness made me so claustrophobic with the kids that I’m not sure I can do it again! At least not while they are this little. I decided I am taking time off call from local births through at least February, which was a big decision and feels super right.

So in that spirit, in this week’s newsletter/peek inside my life, I’m sharing more about the New Life Birthing Center, the places we are going to scope out in Ecuador, some favorite suitcase packing advice I’ve found as I stress read about organizing, and the Spanish program I settled on to help me refresh and expand my limited Espanol.

Comment below or email margo@indiebirth.org and tell me if you especially love any of this – I love hearing from you!

Love,
Margo

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New Life Birthing Centers

These folks are the real deal! They have multiple birthing centers and food programs in countries that are most in need of respectful, low intervention birthing practices to help curb high maternal and neonatal mortality rates.

If you want to read more about them or donate to their work (button to do so is on the bottom of their home page!) you should definitely click through the link. I’ll be at the center in Vilcabamba, which I’ve been told serves a mixture of local, expat and refugee women. Some of the local hospitals have incredibly high cesarean rates (and high post cesarean infection rates), and there is also a disturbing practice of routinely giving women hormonal contraceptive implants without informed consent, and the center helps remove those for the women that have ill effects.

Click here to check it out

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Here’s a beach town.

Olon

I think Olon might be the town I’m most excited to visit in Ecuador. I’m linking to a travel video about it. Walking barefoot through the sandy street to breakfast? Fried potatoes and cheese? (those details might have been in a different video, I’ve watched too many!). Count me in. We are planning to also check out Mindo, Canoa, Ayampe, Cuenca, and perhaps some cocoa and coffee farms along the way.

Check out the Olon video here.

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Pack for a Family with Just One Suitcase

I am someone who deeply enjoys when things are organized, but also is not great at actually organizing things (or maybe I just don’t have the energy anymore???). So when I find articles like this one, it is such gold for me. There’s no way we are bringing more than one checked bag, and I am so psyched about packing cubes now.

I also have a very amazing friend who is going to make me an easily packable activity treasure trove for the flight so Aero hopefully doesn’t lick anyone. Bless her heart!!!

Click here to read the article

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Here’s a new payment plan option!

Payment Plans are Here!

Yep, that’s right – we are now offering up to 12 month interest free payment plans for both the Birth Warrior Project and the Indie Birth Midwifery School. We have to set these options up manually, so you won’t see them on the website when you try to check out. SO if you are someone who has been waiting for this option, just reply to this email to get more information and work out your next steps (applications still required for the IBMS).

Email margo@indiebirth.org to express interest, get more details and get set up with your next steps.

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Spanish Course

Rocket Language

Both Russell and I are doing this course, and are aiming to get through at least the beginner course before we depart. I have really enjoyed listening to the conversation based lessons in the car and on walks, and have been pleasantly surprised how much Spanish is floating around in my neurons and just needed to be coaxed back to the surface. I spent hours researching which one to take, and I highly recommend this one! I’m also planning to watch How I Met Your Mother in Spanish as per the recommendation of a lovely Indie Birth reader.

Learn more here.

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A Quote to Ponder.

“Because women (and men) have lost touch with the process of birth, women have no idea that they are engaged in a spiritual path driven by their biology.”

– The New Return to the Great Mother: Birth, Initiation, and the Sacred Feminine

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We are continuing our Pay What You Can offering for 13 Moons: Epic Education for the Birthing Year. Students will have instant unlimited access to the content for all 13 Moons. Great no matter where you are at in pregnancy, and also great for pre-conception, postpartum or just because you’re a birth nerd! Please share widely with anyone who might be interested by forwarding this email or sharing the link indiebirth.org/13moons
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