Over 40 adults and their children “met in the middle” (of the state) for the 15 annual Healthy Birth Conference held September 21st and 22nd in Oacoma. We were pleased to welcome Representative Manny Steele from District 12 and reporter, Nicole Crawford from the Chamberlain/Oacoma Sun. This year’s conference covered a wide range of topics including: nutrition, allergies, infant massage, aromatherapy, baby wearing, a father’s role in birth, preparing for birth, the status of midwives in SD and America and how to effectively lobby your legislator.

There was a lot of activity during each break. Nadine West organized a very successful Silent Auction that brought in nearly $500. Lee Rettig ran a booth where participants got their picture taken and left with a customized news release sent directly to their local paper – 15 were sent out in all. Heather Margaret & Alaina Kerkhove had a wide variety of baby carriers and slings that families could try. There was also a booth where participants could combine essential oils to make their own room mister as well as a very well stocked book table.

The food was fabulous and a big thank you goes out to the Brule County Food Co-op especially Mary Mairose and Mary Rybak for providing and serving all the meals and snacks which brought in over $300 in donations! Tammi Chaney did a wonderful job pulling this event together. We had a beautiful facility loaded with supporters, excellent speakers and lots of activity. The only complaint we heard was that there just wasn’t enough time. We hope to remedy that next year as we plan for our fall conference near Custer, SD in the beautiful Black Hills. We hope everyone will start making plans now to attend.