Testing the Will of Birthworkers, and Moms.
If there’s anyone that can’t be stopped it’s breastfeeding mothers. Get a band of breastfeeding and pumping moms together, and give them all the money—they’ll go and cure cancer or some shit. I have always remarked how if you ask a Moms group on Facebook for breastmilk or help pumping, you’ll get all the solutions and if you need it someone will be knocking on your door within minutes if you included your address.
Now enter Hurricane Helene, and the Asheville area. An area where lots of women breastfeed, poverty is pretty high, and crunchy moms run a-mock to begin with, and best believe women across the country have begun pumping and shipping milk out to WNC to get breastmilk in the hands of survivors.
Why not just hand over formula you ask? Natural question. Deserves a natural answer. We’re taught to believe no matter what breastmilk is superb and while it offers things formula doesn’t, the reality is when you’re going through a natural disaster that will make textbooks formula is perfectly fine. Babies will live and thrive off formula.
Looking at pictures and stories of Gaza, and Ukraine, something that always struck me is how often frail, malnourished women were still breastfeeding their babies through these crisis’. Granted, formula isn’t totally readily available in warzones, what a concept. That said, womens bodies are crazy adept at ensuring a baby will thrive no matter the condition of the mother supporting that baby.
We see that phenomenon in women during pregnancy with hyperemisis gravidarum. HG affects enough women in pregnancy that I’m shocked the human race has overpopulated as much as we have. Of the things I’ve experienced in life, the most horrific was HG. To feel like you’re being starved from the inside out of nutrients no matter what you do, headaches, heart palpitations, the constant puking, the puking with simultaneous urination, and defacation—it’s just one giant mess of chaos, and awful. To the degree that many, many wanted pregnancies are therapeutically terminated to save the mother’s life. Yet, many persist, and try to get pregnant again.
And just in that same persistence through the misery of pregnancy, here we are yet again seeing women push through horrific events to provide for their children. Women from all over the regions around WNC are gathering together to supply survivors with breastmilk, pump parts, pumps, bottles, any lactation supplies money can buy, and of course formula. Mother Nature said this would be hard, and women said “try me.”
This goes beyond the thousands of ounces of breastmilk being collected across the region. Every day, midwives from the region are hiking out to find and care for pregnant women. As a very pregnant woman, the idea of birthing at home is incredibly comfortable, but birthing at home with no plumbing, no electric, no ability to reach the outside world? That’s a very different conversation.
These midwives are hitting the ground the very old school way, with a backpack and a good pair of hiking boots. Using lists created by women networking with one another, they’re going out to check on, and locate pregnant women. Those that have made it out of the region are welcomed at any of the area birth centers, of which many are already overloaded just because of the state of healthcare in 2024. But again, Mother Nature said “time to play,” and women said “try me.”
These midwives are out in the woods of WNC delivering breastmilk, prenatal, and postnatal supplies, care, and support. Meanwhile, I would love to ask my favorite question of all time: where is FEMA? There’s no government aid being rendered to these midwives, doulas, and lactation consultants taking their time, and resources to devote to survivors. And best believe, us birth workers aren’t rolling in dough. It’s coming straight from these amazing humans pockets. From their businesses, their savings, their homes, and from donations.
As government officials in Washington and our own capitols nationwide talk, and debate, and think, Appalachian people are acting. And have been acting from the moment Helene touched down. To watch from afar is shocking, especially as a first responder, knowing all too well the trauma that saturatres WNC right now. But, to see humanity in action through social media is pretty beautiful.
Looking to donate? Check out these folks on Instagram to donate resources, money, or time:
@lorri.n.patterson
@lizawhitebirthservices
@amberdenae
@wildsagemama
@ncforcpms
@rememberingreciprocity
