BOLD Locations

Pensacola, Florida

Wow... I don’t know where to start!

At our BOLD Talkbacks women stood up and made it clear that this area WANTS AND NEEDS midwives, options, choices, etc. Our only birth center is in the process of closing, we want women, we want water births, we want doctors who will listen, who will measure success by more than apgar scores. It was a good dialogue. It was great to see the responses of the audience. Many women, pregnant, new mothers, grandmothers, you name it. All praising this show... how wonderful it is.

When the second performance began we all reflected on the last 9 weeks back stage, we laughed, we cried, we got our final jitters as we did our usual warm up.

On stage we go. 80 people - we ROCKED the house. We had 30 labor and delivery nurses attend from the local hospital that refused to endorse us. (Turns out a lactation consultant snuck a poster into the nurses break room without the nurse manager knowing) .How wonderful to see the internal rebellion!!!!!!

We felt such a huge feeling of relief and sadness as we finished the play. There was something so final about that last scene - where we told the outcome of the characters' births. Vanessa was "awwwwwwed", Natalie was - well Stark quiet; Sandy was cheered on like a HUGE victory, Beth had them laughing out of their chairs, Amanda had them up on their feet cheering, hooting and hollering, Lisa had them applauding, Janet had them snickering, and Jillian brought a big round of applause. We got a standing ovation as we took our bow.

After the show the BOLD Talkback…wow... 2 OBs, a nurse practitioner with a local pediatric office (the only local one that will see the homebirth babies in a tri county area) and a midwife.

Here’s some comments from the BOLD talkback:

1. A woman asked their response to the play - if they felt like seeing it from a woman’s perspective would change the way they practiced.

One OB dominated the discussion - saying he felt like this was first and foremost entertainment - (to which a woman quickly piped up and reminded him these are TRUE stories). He said he didn’t feel it was representative of this area (to which women stood up and said "Um, hello - THIS IS!!!"). He said if he was THAT out of the loop, and there was that kind of feelings, then he wasn’t doing his job, none of them were doing their job and they needed to retire then and there. He started saying something (hate to try to quote verbatim) basically saying that he would know if this was going on here, and that he didn’t feel like it was. Women stood up and said it was. Another point made was "How can women let you know that this was their experience? They can’t very well waltz in and say "hey you suck!" The OB responded that they have 6 week postpartum checkups & they usually ask how things are going - ask the dad how the mom is doing, etc. It was pointed out by several women that at 6 weeks postpartum you’re barely brushing your teeth much less processing your birth!!! That for so many women its months, if not YEARS later, that they talk to other women and find out "OMG - that wasn’t how it HAD TO BE! There are other choices? options? you mean, my doctor didn’t tell me I didnt HAVE to x,y,z?! I feel betrayed!"

I pointed out that cast members, local women, played parts that mocked their own birth. The character I played, Natalie - her birth WAS my first birth! He turned the light back to me - asking WHAT i did to recover, what i did to take responsibility back - I responded "I HAD A HOMEBIRTH!"

He & the other OB did discuss ways to let providers know - that they did want to know - even if one letter alone didn’t change the way they did business, that over time, if they saw it was a pattern they may rethink how they treat women. They talked about how they practice defensive medicine, that they’re not going to risk losing everything they have worked so hard for a woman to have a satisfying birth experience.

Finally - the most awesome part of it all.

The director - stood up and told the panelist about how women NEED to be heard, that these women are dealing with the messes they leave behind when they go home to their families without a worry, that she only hopes they have the balls they claim to - about the importance of birth & how many women are so traumatized, hurt, dejected, sad about what should be the most beautiful day of their lives and how a simple nice gesture can go a long ways, how body language can make a big difference - she used the Fuck word a time or two - appropriately i might add lol... (The balls reference was about the OB saying had never have the balls to give birth himself – he’s so glad not to be a woman).

She got a standing ovation and the biggest round of applause and whistling the whole auditorium had ever seen!!!! And she ended it with "And I hope the next time you care for a woman, you remember the words of these women!!"

In short, it stayed respectful from both ends, even though neither side sugar coated it and neither side heard what they wanted to hear - but it was very necessary.

The one OB came up afterwards and apologized for sending me on my way and wished me well. He was a genuinely nice guy

The midwife of course made comments - she mentioned that OBs serve a wonderful purpose when things go wrong but that she specialized in the other 95% of births.

The entire BOLD production in Pensacola was great. It really was. I am so sad this is over... no matter how stressful it was to produce and actor in it…t was wonderful!!!

And now - the curtain falls…on our performances and I’ll tell you about our BOLD Red Tent!

So - we show up - we had a wonderful peaceful yoga studio with the perfect setting for our red tent. We draped fabric everywhere. Hand dyed! (Most of it - the rest were sheets lol).

So - it was beautiful. We do the red tent, start off by introducing through female lineage (i am __, daughter of _____, granddaughter of __, mother of ___). We had a no fooling Aative American navajo talking stick I found at a local indian temple mound!!!

We used that and sat in a circle with only candles lighting the room (all the windows draped with fabric).

10 cm circles also wove in and out of the candles between us. It was awesome!

We video'd it - there were tears, there was laughter, it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. A local midwife attended and sat & listened with awe just as if she’d never heard a birth story before

We wrapped it up by writing our fears and feelings we want to shed down on paper, and burning them. It was a great release. We ate groaning cake as we cleaned up & headed to set up for the play!