Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services Mother-Friendly Forum and I'm happy to report that I made it to Austin ahead of the big North East storm. I have been to all but one CIMS Forum in the past 5 years, slinging infants to a couple of them. They just keep getting better, in my opinion. The CIMS Forum is where The Birth Survey, a grassroots project to improve transparency in maternity care, was born several years ago. Last year we got phenomenal presentations about the Northern New England Perinatal Quality Improvement Network and Dr. Michael Lu's research on racial and ethnic disparities in birth (pdf), among others.

This year we'll hear about the results of a 3-year multi-stakeholder national project to create a blueprint for maternity care reform, get an update from documentary producer and book author Ricki Lake, and hear from experts including Judy Norsigian, Nancy Lowe, and Penny Simkin.

Could I be more excited to present (twice!) among these amazing leaders?

Henci Goer and I will be giving a round-up of 'ah ha' moments from our 3+ years (ouch) analyzing the obstetric literature in preparation of the forthcoming second edition of Obstetric Myths versus Research Realities. I'll also be presenting with About.com's Robin Elise Weiss and blogger Jenn Johnson from BabyMakinMachine.com about the potential for blogs and other social media to promote consumer engagement and mother-friendly birth. Speaking of blogs, blogger and perinatologist Chukwuma Onyeije got me (and Hilary from MomsTinfoilHat) hooked on the Prezi presentation platform. Here's the Prezi I put together for my portion of the blogging talk.

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