I have been working for days to reach through a situation in Minnesota.

A baby boy was born still, at 22 gestation weeks.

Later, the baby boy’s physical form, his body, was found at an off-site laundering service.  He gently rolled out of the hospital blankets he was tucked in.

I have reached several local hospitals – the one that this baby was born at is published elsewhere but I tend to not think that’s the main point.

In an enormously horrendous turn of events, while the hospital staff were undergoing policy alertness to prevent such an incident from occurring again, it has now been reported that there is a second baby, born at 19 gestation weeks, whom the hospital cannot locate.

This isn’t an official “Amber Alert”.  But, stillbirthday cries for the families of Minnesota.

Our color is lavender – it is pink and blue, combined.  We are all in this together.

We cry for the family who is now wondering if their baby rolling from the sheets seemed frightening, when in fact their baby is beautiful, and we long to tell them so.

We cry for the laundering staff who lost trust in their own community hospitals and who now go to work with unease.

We cry for the families who have given birth to stillborn babies, who now fear that their baby may be the one who is unaccounted for.

We cry for the families who are pregnant, anticipating giving birth in their local hospitals, who now clutch their expanded bellies in fear, who now dread entering the hospital and who perceive the staff with suspicion, who now look with reservation upon the linens they are laboring on and wondering with dissatisfaction about the attention given to their babies.

These are fears that are all brought on by preventable and terrible mistakes.

More hospitals need to be comprehensively trained in birth and bereavement support, so that they can salvage and strengthen the trust they ought to have with their communities.

May Minnesota find this child.  And may they find healing.

Click photo for complete news story and photo source.

 Thank you to the stillbirthday mothers and families who contacted me in regard to this situation many days ago, including Michelle, who first brought it to my attention.  We truly are all in this together.

.

VERB: deprived, marginalized

“At least it wasn’t a real baby.”

“You caused this.”

“Try again.”

Stop the Disenfranchisement

(click to find out how)

“The Stillbirthday Birth & Bereavement Doula certification program was definitely one of  the best courses I have taken. When I attended the course I was  enrolled in midwifery school, and I often thought that Heidi’s  program was much more informative than many of my classes at midwifery school! Now that I am a licensed midwife I really appreciate the SBD training. In my career as a midwife I will  unfortunately be witness to miscarriage. After having taken this program I feel much better equipped to serve my clients in such event. Heidi has not only developed a program that is rock-solid on information, but also includes the emotional side for both – parents and caretakers. You can feel that Heidi has poured her heart and soul into this program with great attention to detail. I can highly recommend this program!” -Kristin, SBD doula

There are just so many wonderful reasons to become an official Stillbirthday Birth and Bereavement Doula.  Here are a few:

• 01.} Our Birth & Bereavement Doula® Certification course is just the beginning of a longlasting relationship.  Reading one book or taking one seminar is not enough for you to be proficient in supporting families meeting with birth and bereavement.  Those should be considered supplementary resources, not primary to your real learning.  As an SBD Doula, your credential is federally protected and your title is globally respected.  Stillbirthday is priced competitively against those brief encounters of limited education because we want you to invest in your fullest education for the greatest skills and support for the families you serve, and for yourself.

• 02.} Stillbirthday has always been and will always be the most affordable doula certification program.  I believe that doulas should be affordable and accessible to every mother, and so to make that happen, stillbirthday makes our certification program as affordable as possible.  Trainings and certification are not the same.  Ours is a professional, collegiate level certification program that has no pre-requisite to enroll and yet equips you to become a proficient allied healthcare team member.  We offer supplementary, in-person teaching workshops for healthcare professionals and these serve as invitation into our full certification program.  Your support for families is not a single encounter and your preparation to serve should not be, either.

We mirror the longlasting support you will offer to families, by offering longlasting support to you.

• 03.} Our doula certification program was created by and is run by healthcare professionals of all levels.  To provide you with real world tools, I need to be familiar with what you are learning.  I have been a birth doula for over 10 years, and between your volunteer peer SBD alumni (Leads), myself, you, and your fellow classmates, we all bring a wealth of related education and experience into birth support and bereavement support as well.  The original contributors of the materials are a circle of vibrantly diverse backgrounds, including doulas, obstetric nurses, social workers, chaplains, medical examiners, morticians, perinatologists, and mothers.

• 04.} Our dual-track program is uniquely structured to promote students learning from one another.   Our unique teaching structure allows individuals with no professional background in healthcare to learn right alongside professionals in all related fields.  We see two primary demographics through our program: 01.} mothers of all experiences or individuals without healthcare experience, and 02.} healthcare/medical staff.  As such, we’ve created two very easy to follow tracks in our course.  Once enrolled, you’ll have the opportunity to select which track is best for you, while being able to access all of the material from the other track, so that you know what the other track is teaching, too.  In this way, students enjoy learning right alongside classmates with extraordinarily diverse backgrounds, experiences, and skill sets.  You are likewise neither penalized nor preferred for your previous credentials or lack thereof; you are not charged more for seeking nursing contact hours and you are not charged more for not having a professional background.  We’re all in this together.  Mothers and nurses and others, learn together, and, learn from one another.

• 05.} With stillbirthday, you receive the foundation, and, you receive the structure.  The fields of birth and bereavement are ever evolving.  There are core principles which stillbirthday has gleaned, refined and proven to work globally in all birth situations, and our eight week online course teaches you these foundational principles and how to apply them.  But we don’t stop there.  Education is ongoing.  What begins as 8 weekly chapters to an ever unfolding book of sorts, becomes supplemented within each module as we share with you what we have found to be the best of resources that expand on the core.  So complete the training once to graduate, and return time and again after achieving your certification to collect the treasures we share with you.  They are yours, for the families you serve.

 Get registered today!

• 06.} Stillbirthday has always been and will always be the most comprehensive program for perinatal and allied healthcare professionals to learn about birth and bereavement.  The stillbirthday program does not compartmentalize and separate the necessary components to serving families.  You enroll, and you receive it all.  You will have access to comprehensive learning materials covering pre-conception, conception, pregnancy, birth, NICU, bonding, lactation, postpartum care, infant death, farewell planning, grief, getting pregnant again, support for fathers, support for surviving and for subsequent children, business and professional principles, and support for yourself.  Compartmentalizing these services and selling them separately means that families are receiving compartmentalized care, and stillbirthday firmly believes in superior, holistic, comprehensive support to families.  While stillbirthday is deeply thankful that other large doula organizations who have a primary focus on live birth broach the subjects within pregnancy and infant loss, stillbirthday is more richly comprehensive in the combined areas of birth and bereavement than any other program in the world.
• Education should be ongoing and we want you to have choices.  We of course first, want you to earn your certification as the core of your development.  Rather than limitations set by competition, our affordability offers you then the freedom of exploration. Because we are affordable, you are then able to invest in, and utilize, other programs as supplementary to your credential if you choose.

• 07.} The stillbirthday doula program is a combination certification program, recognized globally.  You will be fully trained in full term, uneventful live birth outcomes, as well as in bereavement support, which can present itself in many important ways (gender disappointment, birth trauma, infant demise, NICU, unexpected additional medical support/interventions, adoption and surrogacy are just a few of these experiences that are explored in the training).  If you are already a seasoned birth professional, we don’t pull out our materials on pregnancy loss and bereavement – instead, we aim to change the global paradigm of birth to include birth in any trimester.  What subjects may be review to you will be learned in a fresh and valuable way, helping you to better serve all of your clients in any situations or outcomes.

• 08.} The stillbirthday doula program encourages teamwork.  In the class, you will engage in dialogue with students from all over the world.  You will have multiple opportunities to engage in “Skype” like conference sessions to put faces and voices to thoughts and questions.  You are presented with even more ways to strengthen your learning, including meeting the stillbirthday founder at any of our multiple emphasis workshops.  You will learn that your scope is a frame for you to respect and build upon.  You will learn how valuable an SBD doula is to the family and to the rest of the care team.  You will learn how to work in your community.
• In addition to this aspect of teamwork, we encourage you to learn about additional supplemental resources and organizations.  With 30 nursing contact hours available, many SBD doula students have found our training to be applicable toward continuing education in a multitude of related fields.  Heidi Faith is available to assist in establishing communications with any organizations if helpful.

• 09.} The stillbirthday doula program promotes multi-disciplinary learning.  Students with no other formal training are in class with nurses, midwives and doctors.  Each student experiences what the others can bring to the class.  This is the only doula learning program that works in such harmony with all levels of birth and bereavement care.  We do this, so that it will be reflected in your work, promoting team work and uninterrupted, comprehensive support to families.  Because we are all in this together.

• 10.} The stillbirthday program utilizes your multiple learning styles.   You will engage all of your senses.  Reading, evaluating, exploring, contemplating, researching, listening, watching, creating, discussing, interviewing and using critical thinking skills are just some of the ways an SBD doula student is challenged.  More than a one-time visit with the important subjects we cover, our students spend 8 intense weeks, reviewing and building upon valuable components of birth and bereavement.
• We also provide in-person workshops as well as our HomeComing as in-person opportunity to experience hands-on activities and teachings that further build upon our wisdom and insight.  These in-person events are wonderfully beneficial but also not mandatory.  We simply do not exclude your ability to doula based on your ability to plan a weekend traveling event.  We work with you, because if you have a heart to serve  others, we  want to best equip you and support you in best serving them.

 Get registered today!

• 11.} The stillbirthday certification program promotes diversity.  Not one mother should give birth unsupported, and not one mother should endure loss unsupported.  That means that we need doulas of all perspectives and all backgrounds.  If you are passionate about reaching a demographic, we want to help you reach them.  Stillbirthday holds fast the belief that every family has a right to healing.  For more information on the stillbirthday founder’s perspective you might visit this article.

• 12.} We promote  your strengths and passions.  If you see a subject that you’d like explored even more thoroughly in the training, just let us know, and we will research and revise the training as appropriate and necessary for the SBD doula community – for free.

• 13.} Stillbirthday values you.  I believe that each and every SBD doula student brings something unique, wonderful and special.  In our class, you will be deeply challenged in many ways, but you will also be supported, heard and validated.  This course will change you.

• 14.} The stillbirthday program promotes your personal goals, growth and advancement.   At the core, you can enroll with our program having any of multiple objectives and we work with you to see them come to fruition:  a.} Are you seeking certification as a doula to serve all families of all experiences, including uneventful, live birth outcomes?  b.} Do you want to add bereavement support skills to your already established skill set?  c.} Do you want to volunteer and serve families – primarily or exclusively – when it is known their baby will not be born alive?  We work with all of these goals. 
•  There are many ways an SBD doula can further get involved as a member of the SBD team, and as a member of a family’s support team.  We identify needs that are revealed in serving our families, and we seek with diligence to fill those needs.  Our SBD Chaplaincy program is one advancement opportunity, that prepares the student to support families who desire an active participation in the farewell planning.  This can eliminate the staggering of goodbyes, beginning at hospital discharge and again at the farewell ceremony, that so many families are deeply heartbroken by.  The SBD Chaplain not only fulfills all of the roles of the SBD doula, but is proficiently prepared to respond to any of these options, and more: the family who is disturbed by leaving their baby at the hospital or giving their baby to a funeral director, the family who wants practical guidance in navigating their burial and cremation options, the family who desires a more intimate and personal preparation of the baby’s body, including burial washing and dressing, the family who desires more burial options than are generally presented otherwise, and the family who simply longs for uninterrupted, extended time with their baby.

• 15.} The stillbirthday doula certification program promotes staying up-to-date on research and opportunities.  Research into the very broad subjects of birth and bereavement reveal new findings all the time.  The hardworking SBD doula should not be financially punished because of these advancements.  While our materials are regularly being revised and expanded, the SBD doula never has to re-pay for materials.  Simply stay in touch with stillbirthday for the most up-to-date edition of our content, browse for a  refresher, or challenge yourself with the multiple tracks of the course,  for free.

Get registered today!

• 16.} Stillbirthday rewards its graduates.  Upon graduation, you will receive a special congratulatory package containing your certificate and other valuable materials, including a thank you from other bereavement organizations, special official SBD doula graduate logo, access to our exclusive SBD doula shop, your own stillbirthday graduate profile and SBD email, and much more!

• 17.} Stillbirthday understands the transition between student and professional.  After you have successfully completed our training program, you’ll be invited to stay engaged in Stillbirthday University and the Stillbirthday Global Network, where you can have longlasting collaborative relationships with fellow SBD doulas.  Take a look around at SBD Global Network.

• 18.} Stillbirthday supports its graduates.  About the SBD credential, the graduate certificate, and the Birth and Bereavement Doula® designation:
• If the sound of certification seems too formal for your interests, you are able to successfully complete the full 8 week online portion and receive a letter of completion of the training portion of the program.  This allows you to say that you are stillbirthday trained.  Even this is priced amazingly affordably when comparing to other trainings or one time in-person limited learning experiences.  However, consider the many benefits of full certification:

The differences between the stillbirthday certification and the limited-learning-experiences which are provided elsewhere are substantial.  Consider a comparison as an example:

It is as though you receive a degree in journalism through stillbirthday, versus taking a one-time limited learning presentation on scrapbooking.
Families deserve the very best we can offer, and I don’t want you to have to compromise that foundational truth for any reason.
I am that mother, and if you have a heart to serve, let’s prepare you the best way possible.

• You will wear the stillbirthday credential after your name like this: Megan McFarland, SBD
• Means that you are certified as a Birth and Bereavement Doula.  Only SBD doulas have this legally reserved designation.
• You are granted permission to wear a federally registered mark of stillbirthday approval upon successful completion of the training and compliance with POS.
• You are granted permission to wear a federally registered logo, easily attachable to lanyards or ID badges as a universal identifier as your status with stillbirthday.
• The federally registered markings are carefully decided upon to be your own markings of your own success, rather than merely a method of advertising for stillbirthday.  The journey is yours, therefore the reward is yours, and we seek to honor that.
• The SBD credential of excellence distinguishes you from others who have taken other trainings in that your stillbirthday credential and title is federally registered, and your course time is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center  according to the approval of nursing contact hours.   Stillbirthday maintains a public database of all individuals who have rightful use of bearing their mark of excellence.  This designation means that you are publically verifiable part of a globally respected organization in supporting families within the scope and role of a Birth and Bereavement Doula.
• This level of attention to your credential protects you and the families you serve from misrepresentation, again setting your designation apart by its excellence in quality training and recognition of your compliance to our training and POS.
• Successful graduation means that you are comprehensively trained and certified in Supporting Birth Diversity (SBD), which you can choose if this wording is more comfortable for your live birth clients, indicating simply that “I support families no matter what turns there may be; I have committed to this depth of support so that you know that no matter the course of the birth journey, I am equipped to support you.” (by slowing down, validating, providing options and supplementing resources, and serving according to our POS).
• You aren’t required to add the trademark symbol after every conversational use of the text or logo, but should apply them in promotional material.  The federal registration is as much about others not being able to use the text or logo as it is about your ability to use them, with or without the registered ® symbol.

  The federally registered certifier mark is a kind of stamp of approval (think “Energy Star Efficient” for example), is evidence that each individual who bears it has  received approval and authorization from stillbirthday to do so; the individual has passed a national/global standard of excellence, receives a unique identifier code, a signed and published certificate, is part of a public notice listing, is considered regularly audited by the general public and by the certifying organization, and whose bearing of the label of Birth & Bereavement Doula serves itself as a trademark, and that failure of the individual to comply with the Principles of Service can result in revocation of said credential and all affiliated privileges.  Being part of the stillbirthday community as a Birth & Bereavement Doula is in itself an honor, a commitment, and a longterm relationship, demonstrating quality of care and excellence in service.

Federal USPTO Registration Serial # 86484906
Authorization to regulate the profession of Birth & Bereavement Doula # 86316468

This list of credentialed SBD Doulas is freely available for confirmation here.

Our registration is available year round.  We provide several classes a year.  Get registered today!

Our registration is available year round.  We provide several classes a year.  Get registered today!