Lobby Day at the Capitol

Today my mom, Lulu, Levi and I went down to Olympia, our states capitol to meet with our legislators and to talk with them about the importance of midwifery care. We met other mothers and midwives at a church across the street from the capitol building so we could get into groups and go over the scheduled meetings that were going to take place. We talked about the issues that the midwives were pushing. It was a lot of fun and very educational. I learned a lot today and now when I hear people say "contact your legislator" I know that it's actually quiet easy and could hopefully make a difference. Here is Lulu waiting so patiently while we met with everyone at 8:30am before going over to the capitol. The first meeting that we were scheduled to go to was at 9:15am with Senator Dale Brandland. He's not our actual representative but he was the first senator we met and was nice enough to pose for a quick picture......so quick that we only got the back of Lulu's head.Here is my mom with Lulu and Levi standing out in front of the capitol building. It was just beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a better day!Lulu standing on the front steps to the capitol building. She looks so tiny!! I was in aww by the size of everything and how much history are in these buildings.Grandma and Lulu having fun.And I had to get a picture of Levi. Here he is and behind him is the supreme court building of Washington. We finally made it inside the capitol building but right as we were getting inside we almost got kicked out.......LOL. Well, what happened was we were told by the lady at the front desk to go down a hall to the elevator (since I had the stroller we couldn't take the stairs) and go to the second floor for the tour we were going to take. So we went down the hall and got on one of the many elevators. When we reached our floor the doors opened up and there was a man standing on the other side waiting to get on. When he saw us he immediately had a look of confusion and said "how did you get in here?" Then two very large guards came up to us and escorted us out. What happened was that we got on a private elevator that needed a card to access it (but not for us) and we ended up in the senate chambers. The one guard that ended up escorting us out into the main rotunda was really nice and told us a bit about where we were. He must have been a dad because he was so friendly and understanding. We had a good laugh and can now say we have been in the senate chambers where only the senators are allowed to be. Here we are on the steps inside of the capitol building after we got kicked out......don't we look guilty and suspicious? The building was just breathtaking. Not really my style....all marble and concrete, but still very impressive. We were there just until lunch. The rest of the midwives were going to be staying until 5pm having meetings with legislators the rest of the afternoon but we had a 2 hour drive home so we got a head start. As we were leaving and walking the campus back to the car we passed all these motorcycles, most of them Harley's. They were there to discuss some issues with motorcycles in our state. It was a great turn out for them, there were hundreds of "biker dudes." They were in all the traditional leather gear and revving their engines. Lulu loved this and kept asking to go out in the street to see them. We had so much fun and learned a lot. I had a great time with my mom who has been my doula for both of my children's birth. You can see my mom's blog HERE and get her perspective on our day. Supporting the midwives in our state was really important to me since I have had such amazing support from them personally with my births. I love having the option to use a midwife and to homebirth with a midwife and that's why we went to Lobby day today, to show our support and to let our representatives know why midwifery is important to us.