Bearing Witness

Call For Authors - New Due Date: Oct 23

2011-10-17T14:22:00.007-04:00

Due to many requests, we are extending the due date for submitting contributions to:

Sunday, Oct. 23

We welcome all stories of joyful births, and any and all stories of the postpartum period.

For details see June 27 post below.

News!

2011-10-16T22:37:00.009-04:00

Bearing Witness is on the "We Recommend" list at Toronto's The World's Biggest Bookstore!

And, 10 copies are now available in the Toronto Public Library.

We received a wonderful, heartwarming story from one of our contributing authors, Lesley Dasilva:

"I had forwarded a copy of Bearing Witness to my friend in Massachusetts last August. When I visited her a month later in September I had asked her if she read the book and she told me no. She has polyps and had been trying to conceive for a couple of years with no success. This same friend texted me last December letting me know she was pregnant. I made a joke saying that it was the book but I knew she hadn't read it and when I said that she corrected me and told me she had read it after I left. So in a matter of three months she got pregnant. I think the book helped calm her mind and open her up more fully to the feelings of empowerment that Bearing Witness so beautifully expressed. I think it's important for women to know they are more than what society or others perceive them to be...your work is critical and I am glad there will be two other books to remind us."

Thank you Ann Douglas!

2011-07-03T20:42:00.004-04:00

http://www.having-a-baby.com/news/2011/6/30/attention-doulas-joyful-birth-and-postpartum-wisdom.html

2011 Call for Authors

2011-06-27T23:10:00.007-04:00

Following the success and excitement of our first anthology, Bearing Witness: Childbirth Stories Told by Doulas published by Fox Women's Books, we are inviting contributions to the next two books in the series:

Bearing Witness: Joyful Birth

and

Bearing Witness: Postpartum Wisdom

Deadline: October 17, 2011

What to Submit

1. First person perspective narrative stories or poetry.
2. Submissions should speak about the doulas perspective and role.
3. Style guide: All submissions must have a title. Word count 5 to 5,000 words. Please submit work in a MS Word document, double spaced, Times New Roman, 12pt font.
4. Contributors must respect client privacy. Please do not use real names or situations that are so specific that they are easily associated with a particular individual. For stories that are specific, contributors are solely responsible for obtaining written permission from the individuals discussed within your submission.
5. Please include a short biography of a maximum of 50-100 words including any contact information you would like to appear in the book(s) if accepted.
6. Contact Information for Editors. Please provide your mailing address, phone numbers and email with each submission. If your contribution is accepted we may need to reach you on short notice.
7. We will accept more than one submission per contributor and encourage you to submit to both proposed new books if you are moved to.

Importance of Narrative Stories

The feedback we received on the first Bearing Witness book is the strength and honesty of its narration. We want to build on those strengths with the subsequent books. This increases the opportunities that our stories will be used within institutional and training programs including recommended reading lists for our sister doulas. As with the first book in the Bearing Witness series, these books will be targeted toward doulas, midwives and expectant families, in addition to women's studies programs, introductory midwifery courses, and women's health courses in allied health studies schools.

We are looking for personal stories told in the first person of how you felt, what you saw, funny stories, things that made you shake your head, things that kept you up at night, your reasons for persisting as a doula or why you quit, what inspires you, what you carry with you and think about with regard to your clients, your joys, difficulties, why you only do home birth or hospital birth, or support postpartum families or only birthing families. We want to hear it all. What it is like to be a doula, to work hands on with women and birthing families in such a traditional and supportive role within the modern obstetrical and midwifery models; to bear witness to their journey, their suffering, their joy and their transformation into mothering. We want you to rant, to philosophize, to share what your gut tells you, to share your visions of birth and postpartum. We appreciate very real, tangible stories of your own experiences, in your own words and voice and from the perspective of the very unique and valuable role that doulas play.

Where to send your submission

Please send your submissions by attachment to Lisa Doran lisa.doran@barefoothealth.ca.

Acceptance of your submission

1. The General Editors for the work are Lisa Doran and Lisa Caron. The Editors will review all the submissions for editorial content and consistency within our theme and will choose suitable submissions for our final draft to be submitted to Fox Women's Books.
2. Payment for the articles, if accepted, are honoraria of one copy of the book(s) that contain your submission.
3. We will contact you by January 1, 2012 if your submission is to be part of the collaboration.

This can be a notable publication addition to your CV/resume and broaden your publishing credits. Contributors to our first book have found that Bearing Witness opened new opportunities within their communities to promote their doula practice and have held book readings and book signings as well as media interviews.

Please consider contributing to this series of collaborative stories that will help explain and define the role of a doula within the circle of care that women choose in modern maternity care. Help contribute to the discussion through your submission, as we endeavor to enlighten the reader to the experience of being a doula, our motivations, our dreams for birthing women and our strong and unique collective voices.

Warmly,

Lisa Doran and Lisa Caron, General Editors
lisa.doran@barefoothealth.ca
lisacaron@sympatico.ca

Book reviews, reading lists, next call for authors

2011-04-01T16:42:00.005-04:00

Today I was greeted in the mail by DONA's International Doula magazine. To my delight, this issue includes a review of none other than, Bearing Witness: Childbirth Stories Told by Doulas.

AND...

To date, Bearing Witness is recommended reading for:
- The Simkin Center at Bastyr University http://www.seattlemidwifery.org/simkin-school/birth-doula-texts.html

And required reading for:
- PALS http://www.palsdoulas.org/become-a-doula/required-reading-list/
- Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Toronto
- Healing Arts Learning Organization (HALO), Kitchener ON

Do you know if Bearing Witness is on more reading lists?

And coming soon...

As we announced at the Ina May Gaskin Conference last weekend in Toronto (see our last post), our publisher is asking for the next book in the Bearing Witness series. Watch for the call for authors for two books: Joyful Birth, and The Postpartum Period Through the Eyes of a Doula.

Spring has sprung!

Midwife Ina May Gaskin in Toronto

2011-02-11T05:33:00.003-05:00

We are hosting world renowned midwife Ina May Gaskin in Toronto!

Our own contributing authors, Isabel Perez and Julei Busch had a vision to bring Ina May to Toronto. Isabel was trained as a midwife by Ina May as you may recall from her interview with Crescence Krueger, A Life in Birth. Isabel contacted Ina May and Lisa Doran and I happily took on the monumental task of organizing the conference.

Join us as Ina May speaks to pregnant, pregnant-to-be and new families on Friday night, March 25, and to birth professionals on Saturday, March 26, 2011.

For more details and to register to to our website http://birthconferences.com

Seating is very limited.

Hope to see you in March!

Required Reading Lists

2011-02-11T05:28:00.004-05:00

Bearing Witness is officially on 2 REQUIRED reading lists so far:

PALS (a large doula organization in the northwest US)
http://www.palsdoulas.org/become-a-doula/required-reading-list/

Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine

Watch the list grow as we learn of other organizations who have added the book. We have no way of knowing all the lists it could be on. Please let us know if you hear of any. Thank you!

Toronto Star book review

2010-10-01T12:09:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Bearing Witness was featured on the front page of The Toronto Star's Living section in renowned parenting author Ann Douglas's debut column, The Mother of All Baby Columns. Ann interviewed several people in the book.
http://www.thestar.com/searchresults?AssetType=article&stype=genSearch&q=bearing%20witness%20childbirth&r=all:1

Official Book Launch

2010-09-06T17:16:00.005-04:00

Lisa Doran and Lisa Caron

are delighted to invite you to join us in celebrating the birth of our book:

Bearing Witness: Childbirth Stories Told by Doulas

Thursday, September 30, 2010

6:00pm to 8:00pm

Parentbooks 416-537-8334

201 Harbord St. Toronto, ON Canada

Drop in for light refreshment, meet the anthologists and

purchase a signed copy of this beautiful collection of stories.

RSVP to lisacaron@sympatico.ca or 416-305-3789.

Hosted kindly by our friends at Parentbooks.

Bearing Witness is published by Fox Women's Books.

Available for sale at Parentbooks.ca, and in

North American bookstores in store and online.

The List of Contributing Authors

2010-06-18T14:01:00.006-04:00

We are pleased to list the 45 amazing women that contributed to Bearing Witness:

Amanda Spakowski, Angela Brown, Anne Simmonds, Autumn Fernandes, Beth Murch, Carol Niravong, Catherine Tammaro, Christy Swift, Cindy McNeeley, Crescence Krueger, Diane Tinker, Heather Mains, Heidi Scarfone, Hilary Monk, Isabel Perez, Janice Preiss, Jennifer Elliott, Jessica Porter, Jill Ritchie, Julei Busch, Katarina Premovic, Kelly Ebbett, Kimberley Fernandez, Kristin Peres, Lara Stewart-Panko, Lenka Pedwell, Lesley Dasilva, Leslie Chandler, Lisa Caron, Lisa Doran, Marcie Macari, Maurning Mayzes, Melissa Bone, Melissa Cowl, Melissa Harley, Michelle Cormack, Mona Mathews, Nelia DeAmaral, Nicola Wolters, Rean Cross, Samantha Leeson, Shawn Gallagher, Sofie Weber, Stefanie Antunes, Tara MacLean-Grand, Toby Neal and Tracy McCannell.

It's here!

2010-06-01T22:24:00.009-04:00

Lisa Doran ND and Lisa Caron CD & PCD (DONA) are thrilled to announce our anthology, the first of it's kind, Bearing Witness: Childbirth Stories Told by Doulas.

Join us as we uncrate and get our first look at our book!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDVePSFh7TQ

To purchase a copy, please contact us directly at lisadoran@rogers.com or lisacaron@sympatico.ca, or your local bookstore or online bookstore.

The first in the Bearing Witness anthology series is a collection of stories and poems written by birth doulas sharing their perspectives on childbirth as seen through the eyes of a doula.

Professional Praise for our book:

"This lovely book of doula experiences is nourishing, inspiring, passionate, and wise. I recommend it highly and hope that it finds a wide audience."
Ina May Gaskin, Author, Spiritual Midwifery, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, and Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding.

"A remarkable book full of courage and wisdom. Every labouring woman should have a doula at her side."
Ricki Lake, Producer of "The Business of Being Born" and Co-Author of "Your Best Birth"

"Birth narratives provide a vital perspective, often quite different from, and sometimes more valuable than, that provided by scientific evidence. The stories, poems, and dreams of the doulas who contributed to this book are truly fascinating. They supplement the birth narratives of mothers, midwives, and doctors, and add a new dimension to our understanding of the miracle of birth."
Murray Enkin, family doctor, obstetrician, childbirth educator, clinical epidemiologist, professor, senior author, A Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth, now retired from all and enjoying life.

"Doulas provide care from their hearts as well as their hands and that is so evident in this transformational collection of stories that will make you cry, laugh out loud, and perhaps even make you angry as you identify with womens' tales of birth. Please read every story to better understand the "real" side of birth. There is healing and love in the pages of this book, which will eventually leave you with a message of hope."
Barbara Harper, RN, CLD, CCCE Author, Gentle Birth Choices, Founder Waterbirth International

"This anthology of birth stories is just what we need as an antidote to birth as risky business or nothing more than an opportunity for unwanted side effects or as an accident waiting to happen. The authors are almost all doulas, with a smattering of artists and writers and other disturbers of the peace. The stories range from beautiful, transformative and poetic to horrible and associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. Throughout they have the ring of a deep truth and are positive even when troubling indeed. The doula is the central character and mediator in most of the stories and the "medical model" comes in for some serious, and well-deserved bashing. While the system of support for women in labor is in serious trouble, this powerful book contains the seeds for a rebirth of a movement--one in which the woman with her supporters is at the center, while we professional caregivers are only there as facilitators. It is time for stories to replace statistics."
Michael C. Klein, MD, CCFP, FAAP (Neonatal-Perinatal), FCFP, ABFP, FCPS. Emeritus Professor of Family Practice and Pediatrics, University British Columbia & BC Children's & Women's Health Centre. Sr. Scientist Emeritus, Child & Family Research Institute. Director Clinician Scholar Program UBC Department of Family Practice

"If you want to get to know what birth doulas are all about, read Bearing Witness, a series of birth stories and poems by doulas and others that tell it all. The stories are touching, inspiring, joyous, sad, spell-binding, suspenseful, and frustrating. Most are written by doulas who are dedicated, reliable, resourceful, and diplomatic; they recognize their scope of practice and know how to work effectively within it to help women to a safe and satisfying birth as they define it. Some are written by burnt out, angry, frustrated birth activists who are sickened by mainstream maternity care as practiced today and who have little respect for the professionals who work within that system.

Taken as a whole, this book covers the joys and challenges of the birth doula's role in North America. It will help expectant parents know how doulas think and feel, and they may be helped to think about the qualities they most want in a doula. As doulas read this book, it will feel like sitting in a circle of doulas as they share the rewards and frustrations of their work. And for other maternity care professionals, this book reveals how doulas think and feel as they work side by side with caregiving staff who have more power and different responsibilities than the doula, but likely less knowledge and understanding of the woman's wishes, concerns, fears, strengths and weaknesses.

A gripping book written by the doulas themselves..."
Penny Simkin, Childbirth Educator, Birth Doula, and author of "The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions"

"Doulas are in a perfect position to bear witness, to see what happens at birth -- they are present, institutionally powerless, but there to be with the woman no matter what. They see the good births and they stand by as obstetrical demands destroy the hope of a good birth. Listen to their voices carefully -- they have much to teach us."
Barbara Katz Rothman, Professor of Sociology, City University of New York and Visiting Professor, International Midwifery Pre-registration Program, Ryerson University. Katz Rothman's most recent book, co-authored with Wendy Simonds, is LABORING ON: BIRTH IN TRANSITION, Routledge, 2007.

"Childbirth is an ordeal of nature. It can be an empowering experience for a woman, or can be devastating. But it is not neutral. The doula accompanies a woman on this journey, assuring a more transformative, than negative outcome. These stories reflect the depth of caring and commitment that doulas provide, that has the potential to change lives."
Gayle Peterson, PhD http://www.makinghealthyfamilies.com/ Director of Training, Prenatal Counseling and Birth Hypnosis. Author, An Easier Childbirth, Birthing Normally and Making Healthy Families.

Printing!

2010-05-14T09:46:00.001-04:00

The book is being printed as I type this post! Stay tuned!

Cover art

2010-03-15T00:42:00.008-04:00

Digital cover illustration: “Tree of Life” by Catherine Tammaro http://www.catherinetammaro.com/

Hello all!

What do you think of our beautiful cover art by well known Toronto artist Catherine Tammaro?

Keep in touch.

Praise for Bearing Witness

2009-12-02T14:24:00.001-05:00

Hello All!

A brilliant Toronto artist, Catherine Tammaro has designed a beautiful piece of artwork for the book cover inspired by a contributor's placenta print. See more of Catherine's work at http://catherinetammaro.com

We also wanted to share the wonderful words of praise we have been receiving from professionals in the birth world. Some of the following quotes were sent off to the U.S. book sales reps for the spring sales catalogue meeting in New York City this week: (see June 1, 2010 post "It’s here!")

All the best, Lisa C & Lisa D
LisaCaron@sympatico.ca
LisaDoran@rogers.com

The Final Phase

2009-09-21T11:45:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone! Happy Equinox!

We are now entering the final phase of our Bearing Witness project. We have 38 wonderful submissions now being edited and preparing to go to print. We are hoping the book will be launched early next year.

Together we have made this book into something absolutely incredible. This book will be a significant piece of work to raise the general understanding and awareness of what a doula is and what we bring to a birth. It speaks strongly and honestly to women's experience of birth today in modern maternity care. This book will have a wide audience of both birth professionals but also the general public. What our contributors have chosen to discuss and bring to the table with their poetry and their stories and their humour and their disappointments is an engaging, thought provoking, and very readable book.

One last final call for authors - we could still squeeze some pieces in if we receive them by September 25. See the first blog post for submission guidelines.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Lisa Doran lisadoran@rogers.com
Lisa Caron lisacaron@sympatico.ca

Call For Authors

2009-04-15T19:10:00.001-04:00

Dear Doula Friends,

We are inviting contributors to the collaborative book:

BEARING WITNESS: Birth Through the Eyes of a Doula, a new 200 page collaborative work which will be published in 2010

This work will be targeted toward doulas, midwives and expectant mothers and will include 20 essays on what it is like to be a doula, to work hands on with women and birthing families in such a traditional and supportive role within the modern obstetrical and midwifery models; to bear witness to their journey, their suffering, their joy and their transformation into mothering.
Deadline for submissions is passed but while we are editing we are still open to having a look at some last minute submissions.

Submissions in the form of editorial essay’s, Poetry, and Artwork (including but not limited to paint, clay, pen, fiber, computer) will all be accepted. Each written submission ranging from 5 to 5,000 words, is signed by the contributor. The General Editors for the work are Lisa Doran and Lisa Caron. The Editors will review all the submissions for editorial content and consistency within our theme.

Written contributors should respect client/patient privacy and speak about the doula’s perspective and role within birth. We are not necessarily looking for birth stories but more stories of how you felt, what you saw, funny stories, things that made you shake your head, things that kept you up at night – your reasons for persisting as a doula, what you carry with you and think about with regard to your clients, your joys, difficulties, why you quit, why you only do home birth or hospital birth – we want to hear it all. We want you to rant, to philosophize, to share what your gut tells you, to share your visions of birth. We’d appreciate very real, tangible stories of your own experiences, in your own words and voice and from the perspective of the very unique and valuable role that doulas play at birth.

If you are interested in contributing to this collaboration, it can be a notable publication addition to your CV/resume and broaden your publishing credits. Payment for the articles are honoraria of a copy of the book.

Style guide: All submissions must be made electronically to: Lisa Doran at lisadoran@rogers.com. Original artwork can be mailed to me – please contact me for my address.

All written submissions should be in the format of: Word Document, double spaced, font: times new roman 12pt. Please include a short bio and contact information including address, phone number and email with each submission.

We will contact you May 09 with further details of going forward if your submission is to be part of the collaboration.

Please consider contributing to this wonderful reference for doula’s and mothers that will help explain and define our role within the birth team and enlighten the reader to the experience of being a doula, our motivations, our dreams for birthing women and our strong and unique collective voices.

Please forward this through your networks.

Thanks! Any Questions please contact us:

Lisa Doran, N.D., Doula lisadoran@rogers.com
Lisa Caron, Doula lisacaron@sympatico.ca