Telling Childbirth Stories IRL
A chance to listen and heal
Big news! If you live anywhere near Brevard, North Carolina, meet me in person next month to share your experiences with pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum.
On Saturday, July 26 I’m co-hosting Listening to Mothers, a talking circle in which mothers of all ages (including grandmothers!) can share their stories of giving birth, postpartum struggles, or any other aspect of new parenthood. I’m partnering with Amy Land, founder of PurplPlace, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the mental and physical health of women. Here are the details:
What: Listening to Mothers
When: July 26, 10 a.m.-noon.
Where: 123 E. Main Street, Suite 103, Brevard NC.
Fee: Free! (Although you can donate to PurplPlace if you wish).
Why? Because this is how we heal. Whether you gave birth last year or 30 years ago, the experience of becoming a mother can be traumatic and life-altering, full of struggles and triumphs we rarely discuss in public. This event is a safe space, free of judgment or advice. We promise to simply listen.
So please, invite your friends! We’ll see you there.
In other news, earlier this month I wrote about the ongoing plight of Western North Carolina homeowners trying to recover from Hurricane Helene. Some are staying in RVs, carrying two mortgages, or living in construction zones.
After the Flood
For the first four months after Hurricane Helene flooded her Brevard home, Nicole Ramirez lived in a drafty, 100-year-old camp cabin. If Ramirez was in bed and her fiancé got up, she could feel the whole building shake. The cabin was not built for winter weather, but the rent was free thanks to a partnership between a local nonprofit and the camp. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had offered her a hotel voucher, but in the immediate aftermath of the storm, there weren’t any local rooms available.
When Helene hit, the French Broad River swelled, sending water over Old Hendersonville Highway and into Lamb Creek, which snakes behind her neighborhood. More than 4 feet of water surged into Ramirez’s home. She lives in a special flood hazard area, also known as a “100-year flood zone,” and everyone interviewed in the neighborhood had flood insurance. Ramirez used a $122,000 insurance payment to make her three bedrooms and two bathrooms livable again, and she has moved back in. But the new drywall wasn’t installed properly, and her contractor’s invoices exceeded their initial estimate.
Her biggest hurdle now is getting her house on Cherry Street elevated above the floodplain. She applied for help through the Hazard Mitigation Assistance Program, which is funded by FEMA and administered by the state, last October. She was told she would have an answer by the end of the year. “I can’t get any kind of update,” said Ramirez, who works in the Medicaid office for Transylvania County. “There’s no communication.”
Read the full story in The Assembly.