ChildbirthSolutions and Georgetown University Present
Born in the USA

A Provocative Look At Having Babies In America Premiering February 7, 2001 "This is the best film on birth in America that I have seen, showing all sides, achieving true balance and empowering women and families." - Marsden Wagner, former director of maternal and child health, World Health Organization.

(Georgetown, Washington, D.C.)- Each year, approximately four million babies are born in the United States, the vast majority in a hospital with a physician in attendance. Three out of every four Americans becomes a parent, yet most of us know very little about the process of giving birth until we actually experience it. Until then, most of what we know is based on hearsay, misconception and TV sitcoms. Born in the U.S.A., produced and directed by filmmakers (and parents) Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider, explores the current state of birthing in America-one that is far more medically-based than many experts think necessary. Born in the U.S.A will be shown February 7th at Georgetown University at 7:oo p.m at the Research Auditorium in the Research Building. Following the film, there will be a panel discussion with the following experts: Doris Haire, president of the American Foundation for Maternal and Child Health,; Julianna Fehr, Director of Midwifery, Shenandoah University; Bonnie B. Matheson, President and CEO, ChildbirthSolutions.com: and many more. Admission charge will be $5 and 50% of all proceeds will be donated to Virginia Birthing Freedom.

The state of birthing in the U.S.A. is complex and controversial. While we now routinely use technology that saves countless lives that might have been lost just ten years ago, this technology has led to one of the highest C-section rates in the world: one in five and more than half of all births involve some type of surgical or operative procedure.
Are all of these procedures necessary? How much technology is appropriate for the average, low risk woman? Can this technology actually create complications? If we as a nation spend more per birth than any other country, why do we still have one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the industrialized world? Are the full range of safe options- including midwife-assisted births at home and in birthing centers available to all women?

Today, many traditional hospitals and physicians are rethinking their policies, midwives are making a slow but steady comeback, birth centers are opening and people are finding out that there is more than one way to give birth in America. Born in the U.S.A. provides a look at birth in a hospital, at home with a midwife, in a birth center, water birth and c-section.

For more information on this showing, including bio's of speakers, directions, parking, etc.., please log onto www.childbirthsolutions.com or call Lisa Jakobsen at 540-364-9023.

February 2, 2001

Vice President of ChildbirthSolutions.com speaks at Birth Options Conference

Williamsburg, Virginia/December 9, 2000 - Pam Cass, Vice President of ChildbirthSolutions.com was a guest speaker at the Birth Options Conference at William and Mary College in Willliamsburg, Virginia. The conference was sponsored by Families for Natural Living, the William and Mary Women's Studies Department, Virginia Birthing Freedom and Voices for Healthcare Freedom.

Speakers and topics included: Katherine Prawn, PhD - Feminism and Birth; Christa Craven, MA - Political Activism and Anthropology: Broadening the Scope of the Anthropology of Birth; Patty Ogden, AAHCC - Empowerment through Childbirth Education; Pam Cass, CD - Safety, Security and Support with a Double; Adele Scott Wilson,LNM - Thirty-Three years of Homebirth Experience; Blair Conger, CNM - The Midwifery Center at DePaul Bridges the Gap between Hospital and Home; Ellen Hamblet, VBF - Current Legal Status of Midwives in Virginia and the Grassroots Efforts for Legislatives Reform.

The purpose of the conference was to educate women of all of their choices concerning pregnancy and childbirth. "It was nice to be exposed to such diverse topics, all pertaining to women's issues," said Cass.

September 28 , 2000

ChildbirthSolutions.com: Website empowers
pregnant women

Middleburg, Virginia/Sept. 28, 2000/ Pressbox.co.uk - EDUCATE YOURSELF is the philosophy that fuels the fire behind the new website, ChildbirthSolutions.com. The new site focuses on empowering women to educate themselves about all aspects of pregnancy and childbirth. Founded by Bonnie Matheson in 1999, ChildbirthSolutions concentrates solely on pregnant women and expectant families by providing information on preconception, pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. Through this site, pregnant women have access to authentic, balanced and neutral information from leading childbirth experts. They are able to search the site without getting bogged down in advertising gimmicks and misleading one paragraph articles about a subject. "Our goal is to return childbirth to women by allowing them access to all of their choices and options, thus enabling each woman to make their OWN informed decisions." states Matheson. ChildbirthSolutions.com is encyclopedic in scope while at the same time offering "a unique sense of community." The site features birth stories, bulletin boards, Dad's page and an interactive glossary. "I believe this (the interactive glossary) is one of the best features of the site," states Vice President of ChildbirthSolutions Pam Cass, "You can highlight a word that you do not understand and the meaning will pop up for you. This ensures us that no one will leave our site without a clear understanding of what they were researching." Realizing that most women today are Internet savvy and use the Internet as their information and service storehouse, Matheson has included Shopping shopping mall on the site, also. Shopping offers everything from baby products to gourmet foods to camping equipment. "I want to make ChildbirthSolutions.com the first place the expectant woman goes to find the childbirth information and support she needs. I expect it will become one of the most trusted names in the vast reaches of cyberspace," says Matheson.

August 28 , 2000

The Plains, Virginia/August 28,2000/HealthNewsDigest.com -A new Internet site, ChildbirthSolutions.com, now offers expectant women and their families cutting edge information, resources, products and services, which allow them to participate fully in what its founder and president describes as the most profound experience of their lives. ChildbirthSolutions.com President Bonnie Matheson says, of the site, " Many women never really understand what it means to have a baby until after they have one. Childbirthsolutions.com has the potential to change that." The site covers information on planning a pregnancy, pregnancy, birth and one - month postpartum. It will showcase the most well respected experts in the field with articles and abstracts from leading doctors, midwives and birth attendants as well as childbirth educators. It is not often that an Internet site is launched by a person who seems so right for the job. In the case of Matheson and ChildbirthSolutions.com, the pairing is unmistakable. Until recently, Matheson was Executive Director of the Institute for New Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center. She is the mother of five children and the grandmother of nine. And she has decades of child birthing expertise as well as being a writer and lecturer on the subject " She's a visionary," says Dr. Candace Pert, a renowned neuroscientist at Georgetown University's Institute for New Medicine. She credits Matheson with helping to find funding for a promising new AIDS drug and goes onto say that "this institute would not exist today were it not for Bonnie's determination to create it." Matheson's strong interest in the areas of both traditional and complimentary medicine, along with her vast experience in the area of childbirth, has led to the creation of Childbirthsolutions.com. The new site will provide access to medical and health practitioners: it will allow interactive communication among expectant and new mothers; and it offer a full service shopping mall for pregnancy and childbirth - related products and services. "The website will showcase the most well respected experts in the field - with articles and abstracts from leading doctors, midwives and birth attendants as well as childbirth educators," says Matheson. With some 3.9 million women giving birth to babies each year in the U.S. alone, Matheson points out that the site offers advertisers and e-marketers a unique opportunity to reach highly targeted and receptive audience. " The potential numbers we can reach are as high as 46.8 million individuals- when spouses, parents and other family members and friends of the expectant mothers are counted." ChildbirthSolutions.com intends to be encyclopedic in nature while at the same time offering" a unique sense of community." There will be interactive chat rooms and bulletin boards and, by early summer, childbirth classes will be offered for a fee. " I want to make ChildbirthSolutions the first place the expectant woman goes to find the childbirth information and support she needs. I expect it will become one of the trusted names in the vast reaches of Cyberspace." ChildbirthSolutions.com - A Backgrounder ChildbirthSolutions.com's goal is to provide mothers-to-be from all over the world, with everything they want and need to know about having a baby. Founder and President, Bonnie Matheson, a mother and grandmother herself, wants to also make sure that information is conveyed in a manner that captures the incredible emotions involved in the birth of a child. Information about the website and plans for it include: Offering information on planning a pregnancy, pregnancy, birth and one-month postpartum Showcasing the most well respected experts in the field with articles and abstracts from leading doctors, midwives and birth attendants as well as childbirth educators. Providing easy access to every type of medical and health practitioners; interactive communication with other expectant or new mothers; and a full service shopping mall for pregnancy and childbirth related products and services. Offering products and services in a special section called Shopping where baby and maternity clothes, baby furniture, car seats, insurance, birthing supplies, videos, to name a few can be found.

August 21 , 2000

Kathleen McClelland of Midland, Virginia, sponsored by ChildbirthSolutions, participated in the Avon Breast Cancer Walk held May 5 - 7, 2000. One of almost 2,800 walkers to complete the three day, 60 mile trek from Fredrick, Maryland to Washington, DC, McClelland helped to raise 6 million dollars for breast cancer research. The walk was an emotionally charged event as most of the participants were walking in honor of loved ones whose lives had been challenged or taken by breast cancer. Kathleen said, "So much love! So much sisterhood (although perhaps 10% of the walkers were men)! Everyone had a story about why they were walking. I walked behind a woman whose t-shirt said, 'I'd walk a 1000 miles for another day with my Mom' with a picture of her beautiful mom on the shirt." McClelland is a Certified Nurse Midwife and personally walked in honor of a close friend as well as all the other women she has known who have been stricken with breast cancer. ChildbirthSolutions was honored to have an opportunity to support this effort to help women everywhere and continues in their mission to educate and benefit women worldwide.

March 28, 2000