Dan was jogging along about 300 metres behind everyone else. My heart sank! The crowd went really quiet as the round of applause for the winners died down but he never gave [...]
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I met Akemi only a week before she gave birth but her birth was one of the most transformative births I have attended as a doula. Here’s her story from my perspective as her [...] Women put themselves last in the birthroom. They can be made to feel like they are the poor cousins visiting the luxury mansion of distant relatives. The message is loud and clear: “This is our turf. Don’t even think about running a bath without our say so, but you are more than welcome to partake of our smorgasbord of interventions that may or may not be evidence-based.” Most midwives seem to spend the vast majority of their time doing paperwork and don’t even try to connect with the birthing woman. Some may think this sounds harsh but when you understand what makes it easy for a woman to birth, it seems like nothing short of [...] Mumatopia is hosting support groups for mums-to-be and new mums at The Ellenborough Room, Precious Packages, 17 Ellenborough Street, Ipswich, starting in February 2010 and operating monthly from February to October 2011. The group meeting will start at [...] Birth! How it can and should be…, November 17th, 2010. 6.30pm for 7pm start to 9pm, Centre for Clinical Research, UQ. Royal Women’s Hospital, Herston. Tickets $20 single, $30 double (tea/coffee provided). Contact Cherine Matthews-Lawer on 3102 8383. Seating [...] How are women supposed to think of birth as normal and achievable if all they hear are horror stories of forceps, vacuum extractors and undignified, unsupported labours with women forced to lie on their backs, legs spread for all the world to see? The beautiful birth I had with my last baby (after two previous caesarean sections—one emergency and one elective) is such a rare experience in the private sector, let alone the public sector. [...] Within a couple of days, the aftershocks struck. A friend came by and changed his nappy. I just let her take over but something inside of me wanted to say “he’s mine, I think. Maybe I should be doing that.” But I couldn’t say it because, at that point, I felt like I had to ask everyone’s permission to do anything for him. The day after L was born, the obstetrician walked in, patted me on the leg and said “not going to have a big family then are we!” I was devastated. Childhood memories of tearing about the house with my three siblings were something I wanted for my own brood and I definitely wanted a brood, at least four! I suddenly felt robbed of that. It was as if she was saying birth was no good for me and that I should quit while I was ahead. [...] On Thursday 6 November, 2008, I gave a presentation entitled ‘The VBAC Wars’ at the Australian Midwifery Expo in Brisbane and then again at the Birth After Caesarean Internventions (BACI) Consortium Seminar at University of Technology in Sydney, NSW in April, 2009. Since then, Queensland Health as instituted a new VBAC policy which not only promotes active management of labour but shows no respect for women’s autonomy over their own bodies. Despite a huge amount of feedback detailing the flaws and issues with the draft policy by consumer groups such as Caesarean Awareness Network Australia, the International Caesarean Awareness Network, and Maternity Coalition, the new policy went ahead, unchanged. [...] In recent years, research has found that a distressing childbirth experience can trigger Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is estimated between 1.5 to 6 percent of childbearing women would meet the criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, following a traumatic childbirth experience (Beck, 2004b). Cheryl Tatano Beck is one of the leaders in this field of research and below is a review of her key findings about birth trauma and [...] The UK health visiting service offered weekly non-directive counselling sessions with a midwife for eight weeks after diagnosis of PND. So, for eight weeks, Kate, broad smile on face, enthusiastically had planted herself on my floor while I talked about Liam’s birth and about the way things were unfolding for me on any particular week. There was no judgement. There was no hint from her that I was an incompetent mother. During those eight weeks I felt free to tell her anything and [...] |
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