« normalising breech birth | Main | Cutting the cord »

Reflections on the tour

The Midwifery Intensive workshops are over. We had a great time and it is clear from the evaluations that we really achieved an enormous with the program.

I learned a lot as well. Let me share some of the insights I gained from our wonderful presenters.

From Vicki Chan:

Her vision of a future where

“Midwives have been reinstated as the custodians of normal birth and most obstetricians have found themselves honest employment”.

The towel trick for facilitating pushing and the “pencil drawing” for encouraging pelvic wiggling were unforgettable.

She reminded us of the protective nature of the long labour where a baby who was malpositioned, or whose cord was short or tight, would have time to adjust to the labour without undue stress.

From Maggie Banks:

The Muriwai-Beetham manoeuvre for facilitating breech births. {I will write this up further in a later posting, as it really needs a picture to explain it clearly).

“See one, do one, teach one” as a basis for gaining experience in unfamiliar techniques.

Her reminder that many of the problems that babies encounter during their births are due to them being frightened “out of their tree” as the labour progresses. For example, fiddling with the breech baby (bringing down the legs and arms etc) can startle the baby, who flings its head back, increasing the risk of entrapment of the head.

Her suggestion that we re-name the “failure progress” syndrome as the “failure to be patient” syndrome. She explained that midwives in New Zealand are working to re-name many obstetric procedures and techniques in more midwifery oriented and woman friendly terms.

“Rumping” of the breech baby - the equivalent of “crowning” in the vertex baby.

From Lynne Staff

“Enforced home births” that some women undertake because they cannot get what they want in hospital.

“Enforced elective caesareans” when women can’t find support for a VBAC.

These are just a few of the gems we all gained from these outstanding midwives. Here’s a picture of the four crones on the tour (note the initials on the hats). The caption reads:

”They tell me that you’ll lose your mind when you grow older. What they don’t tell you is that you won’t miss it very much.”

Posted by andrea at May 14, 2004 10:25 AM

Comments

As I wasn't present at this workshop - could you please explain the 'towel trick' and 'pencil drawing'????? Curious. Also a relatively new midwife - anything that facilitates normal birth is to be pursued!

Kathy

Posted by: Kathy Farquhar on May 17, 2004 06:27 PM

Post a comment