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Moving on

It is time to get back on the plane for the trip home. This has been a fascinating tour of duty - each of the workshops that I have presented have been completely different: even though the subject was always “active birth”, the composition of each group varied considerably.

The first program in Hull was for the community doula project and the group was mainly made up of volunteer doulas who will be matched up with vulnerable women at risk to support them through their pregnancy, birth and postnatal period. Although some had given birth themselves, they basically had very little knowledge of childbirth, so I had to balance the content to meet their needs as well as the interests of the midwives who were also in the group. Working with non-professionals always presents a different set of challenges and keeps me on my toes!

The next group was in Halifax/Huddersfield, and were midwives from two different hospitals with very different practices. They are in the process of merging campuses, which also involves establishing a new birth centre program. The two groups were a bit suspicious of each other, having heard plenty of “rumours” about each other’s practices. In the end, some new relationships were forged and new understandings emerged - as one said at the end “we all have the same problems, really”. I was very pleased with how this group worked - they went away energised and ready to try new ideas, with a firm commitment to women and their needs above all.

From there I went to Limerick to work with the second year students in the midwifery course. This has become a regular event for me, and it is always stimulating to be around students. Their main gripe was that they were not seeing the kind of care we were exploring in their practical placements - a few had seen birth off the bed, for example, but most were seeing the usual ritualised “active management”style of birth. This was disappointing, as I have done a number of workshops for midwives working in the local hospitals (but not all staff) so I suggested they keep asking the questions that students are entitled to ask - “is this really necessary?”, “is there some evidence you can point me to, to support this practice?” etc. I’ll be back there in 2008 for the next batch of students, so we will see what they have to say about progress.

Next was the Croatian trip, which you can read about above. I am hoping to go back there as well, perhaps to work with the midwives. I would love to be able to give them some more help.

My final workshop was in Wales, on the theme of “The Essential Educator”. The Welsh have really taken to the teaching kits I have developed and have ordered a number of them. This program was for the educators who will be using them, to take them through some of the activities, explain how to make the best use of the materials the kits contains and provide some additional training on group work etc. I’ll be back there later this year as well, as they are buying some more kits and will want further training for their staff.

Wales seems to be the one place in the UK where birth is going ahead in a positive way. Their “Pathway for Normal Birth” record keeping system has been instrumental in reducing midwives’ writing time and freed them up to spend more time “with women”. Their caesarean birth rate is not as high as elsewhere and they have developed some great 1 - 2 -1 midwifery programs in the community and through birth centres. Much of this has been driven by Polly Ferguson, the dynamic and passionate Midwifery Advisor to the Welsh Assembly - you can meet her and get your own copy of the Pathway documents at the Future Birth event in a few weeks. We can learn a lot from the Welsh!

Not a bad series of workshops for a rushed 2 week period! Time for home now, to get ready for the Future Birth tour and make plans for my next foray overseas, which looks like being another trip to Iran, in May.

Posted by andrea at March 02, 2007 04:29 PM