Doula Training

The gift of patience

2008-04-16T14:35:00.002+10:00

I have finally got my first birth under my doula belt! It was an astounding, amazing and inspiring water birth. Pretty much all that you would want it to be. And the lessons I learnt were far from what I expected them to be. Patience was the greatest lesson. Patience in having to wait for the baby to decide when it would be ready to make it's grand entrance. When you are at the receiving end - so to speak - it is an interesting mindset to be in. You are not the mother-in-waiting rubbing and talking to your belly, nor are you the midwife who works at the hospital filling in time between births with paperwork and admin. You literally spend your time wondering whether the mother is feeling close, nesting, getting anxious. You carry your phone with you everywhere - making sure it is by your bed each night. You wonder if you should drive two hours up the coast to visit a friend for fear that this will be the big day and you may miss too much... Next time I will relax a little more! This particular bub was a week over it's due date so for three weeks I learnt the art of relaxation and patience. No doubt this had much to do with it being one of the first births I had attended.

My second big lesson was slightly more expected - you just never know how the birth will unfold. This is the second time I had much to take away from my doula experience. How to cope when the mother screams for things she had definitely not wanted in her birth plan, how to support when touch is not wanted, how to be the sole support as the partner couldn't be there. Such valuable lessons that I could never have received from textbooks or study. Gifts. And the most wonderful thing about this is that every birth will have different gifts. I had learnt about that but I now know how real and valuable these gifts are.

The only downside to the inspiration I have in me to recruit more births is that I am 14 weeks away from my own birth and so my stamina - and back strength - are just not there for someone else. Once I am in a position to be a doula again I eagerly await my next support role. It was such an honour to be there.

A large lesson learnt

2008-01-03T17:32:00.001+11:00

If only babies could fax throught their birth plans before their due date...
My first 'qualifying' birth has happened and while it didn't pan out quite like everyone had hoped, there were many lessons learnt. The first is how so many unforseeable factors influence the birth outcome and the second lesson is how to find a way to go with the rhythm of those changes to help provide the best possible outcome for the family involved. Patience and acceptance are big issues not only for the parents but for doulas. I won't deny I was a little disappointed that I hadn't been able to do all that I had learnt to do for the mother on her journey to parenthood but I do realise with great depth now, the absolute necessity of support and genuine care needed when things don't work out the way they are planned to.
To explain a little more coherently, the birth I 'attended' resulted in an early emergency c-section before I had even arrived at the home/hospital! I was there, however, to hold the mother's hand when she woke up and to witness the most precious moment a human can experience - meeting their child for the first time. It is an honour and a privilege and it is one of the main reasons I started down this path.
I still have three births to attend to to qualify as a doula but I think now that I won't be so quick to tick the boxes - so to speak. If it takes ten births to feel ready to call myself a doula then so be it. Every single one will be a huge learning experience. Though now as I nudge the 12 week mark of my own thrid pregnancy I am not sure how much I will take on. This course is going to end up taking me longer than my design degree!
Birth itself is only a part of the intial adventure. There is the whole nine months preceding and of course the vitally important post-natal period, but often parents (and I include myself in this basket) forget to look past the pregnancy and birth till they have spent their time in hospital and get home with their child thinking... what on earth do I do now?. Relish every moment!

Waiting, waiting...

2007-11-07T10:41:00.000+11:00

I have been reading 'A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary 1785-1812' which is as interesting a historical piece as I have ever read. What has struck me the most - to date as I haven't quite finished it - was her attitude to birth.

Martha documented that 'a natural process might still be uncomfortable and frightening, and when mismanaged even a normal birth could be dangerous'. She didn't like leaving the birthing mother unattended recording that unattended women were 'in a deplorable condition' or 'suffering for want of help'. I love this woman! This was generally regarded as the case by women throughout history but interestingly it is at about her time that medical men began attending births. Two hundred years later and the doula has come about for that exact reason. In between, history has seen the medical model become more and more prevalent and the women more and more powerless over birth so now we doula's are here to change it all back. Well not exactly, but you know what I mean.

There were a couple of medical men who had begun attending births during her years of midwifery. One doctor documented 20% of his births as something other than 'natural', using terminology such as 'tedious', 'instrumental' and 'complicated'. Martha had just 5.6% listed as 'difficult'. Of the time one medical historian estimated that 96% of all birth occur spontaneously and naturally. If only we still felt that way! It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for it's historical content so if you're interested in midwifery and are a history nerd like me I would recommend it.

Enough of that. Ricki Lake has produced a movie. 'The Business of Being Born' out soon which has been called by one newspaper the 'Inconvenient Truth' of the maternity world. I have yet to see it but I think it may be worthwhile. Here's a snippet: http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/trailer.htm

And so I have nearly moved house (and city for that matter) which means I can almost get myself immersed in my 'work' as a Doula. I completed all theory ages ago and now I just want to attend births. I have one lined up and a second tentatively arranged which is so exciting. Bring on the new year!

Breast crawl

2007-08-17T09:25:00.000+10:00

AND... I saw a video of a baby fresh into this world, placed just under the breast of her mother and crawl (or snuffle!) up to latch on for her first breast feed. Unassisted. I have heard that this happens, and obviously it is natures way, but I had never witnessed it. Truly truly amazing...

Three months of...

2007-08-17T09:04:00.000+10:00

Wow. It is amazing how fast time passing while your busy getting on with things!
The good news is that I have only one module to go which I intend to complete this weekend. The business side of things is a little daunting but I am slowing gathering information for clients and have even designed a logo! Now all I need to do is get out there and support women.
There is much going on to stop me from committing to clients right now - heavy work committment, an overseas trip and relocating the family but... I do have one birth lined up and I am SOOO excited about it!!!!! What an honour to be invited to be present at the arrival of a new little being into the world. There will be tears (and tears and tears) to be sure.
I am seriously considering the option of supporting women post-natally. To me it's like first time mothers who often read up on pregnancy and the delivery but don't get past the enormity of birth or think that everything afterwards will all come naturally. It does for many but sometimes women encounter things they don't expect. And this is not the time for women to feel disempowered. I had issues post-natally with my first son and felt really unsupported. As a result I feel I can really relate to women around me experiencing difficulties. These can be breast-feeding related, post-natal depression or simply getting over the shock of how different their lives are now. They just need to be told it's ok and that they will get through it. Instead you have shift workers at hospitals giving you conflicting advice, clinical providers at baby clinics leaving you feeling inadequate or simply people around you saying the things you don't want to hear. So. Once I relocate my mission is to get in with a ABA group and start training as a lactation consultant.
It's all just so important. I think... !

We did it!

2007-05-12T09:56:00.000+10:00

We pulled off the forum wonderfully! We had a good turn out, speakers from the Gold Coast and Sydney and a bunch of people keen to go further in pursuing the right of choice for birthing women and their families in the Northern Rivers district. Those who spoke did so on politics, advocacy and lobbying, setting up medicare-rebated homebirth, continuity of care and care-givers, and an Indigneous Birth Centre - which this area needs desperately. It was an inspiration. And we were on NBN news! Though I didn't see it... It's so great to be a part of something you are passionate about from it's conception to, hopefully, making the changes we are aiming for. But we have a long way to go...

Maternity Action Group

2007-04-24T19:21:00.000+10:00

It's been all quiet on the northern front hence my lack of posting. Actually it's not entirely quiet as this post is primarily to advertise the work that has been going on. Up here in the Northern Rivers, an action group has been formed which is lobbying and promoting the need for birth choices. There are obvious items on the agenda such as medicare funded home-birth, water birth options, one on one continuous midwife care through pregnancy and the list goes on. The hospitals in the area (and I doubt they are alone) are over worked in the maternity department with some mothers being asked to leave hospital less than half a day after giving birth to make way for the next. If homebirth became accessible to all the mothers who wanted them it would ease the pressure of the hospitals a little. Anyway, we are staging a community forum where anyone interested can air their opinion to a selected panel of people from the community or from outside who have models of care that we hope we can emmulate. Here are the details for anyone who is local and interested! You don't have to be a health care practitioner to attend - this is for the consumers so the more the better. Big bellys and babies especially!

BIRTH CHOICES community forum
MAY 11th 2007 at 10am
SOUTHERN CROSS UNI - Lecture HALL H101 (LISMORE)
Free admission
Babies and toddlers welcome

OH! I also saw a video of a triplet home waterbirth which was utterly amazing. I have never heard of that being 'allowed' before and all went beautifully.

The musical effect

2007-04-04T13:54:00.000+10:00

I have found that whenever I listen to two particular albums I am suddenly in Doula-land. Hence me writing this blog... The album was put on and... So now when I feel I need inspiration I listen to Joanna Newsome or Catpower as they have become my 'guides'. Probably because they are two powerful, creative, feminine women I admire. Or maybe because I happened to purchase their latest albums at the same time as starting my Doula training. Either way, it's working for me!

Few are aware of the fact that my first son was brought into the world to Dire Straights 'Sultans of Swing'. Hospital staff apparently enjoy their radio background music as much as the next office employee. Those who know me will be aware that this would not have been to my liking but I was flat on my back in the operating theatre and it is something I will never forget.

Music is a powerful medium and one which most pregnant mothers (or parents) plan to get just right for the birth of their children. You often hear the birth stories where the CD played never made it because it all happened too fast or it was simply forgotten but it's nice to plan it otherwise. For my second birth we gathered appropriate CDs (which isn't hard for us as everything we listen to comes close to sending you into a coma) and had the player ready to come to the birth centre with us. I had been listening to the same album for so my the time I was in late first stage labour that my husband attempted to change the music. I asked him to leave it alone. Nicely too I'm sure. The CD player did make it to the birth centre, as I have an ex-musician husband who makes music a priority, and the same album returned to super high rotation. It became part of the cosy place I needed to be in to deliver my child. Music, or even sounds, that put you at ease are as powerful as visualisation or the smell in the air or aromatherapy in birth. I don't think it is essential for birth but if it is something that makes you feel safe and at ease then it may make all the difference in having your baby comfortably wherever you are.

My son eventually arrived to Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon'. Eighteen months later I haven't listened to it since.

Action

2007-04-02T10:18:00.000+10:00

I have noticed that most of the titles of my previous posts were not particularly positive and cheery. Let it be known that it is not a reflection of my attitude towards Doula work... in case you were wondering. Things change here and now - It's been an exciting week! First of all I have passed the first module of the Doula study. I have to say there were some curly questions. Not difficult as such, but worded in tricky ways. Not to mention a question which completely contradicts the text. For example: A Doula never suggests a position for a birthing woman but instead gently guide her when she feels the need to move. You assist, not suggest. Ok. So then you get a question something like: Is it the role of the Doula to quietly suggest birthing positions?' No. I botched that one. Might have to take that up with someone because that is a fairly integral part of Doula work. That requires some invesigation!

Last Thursday was the first gathering of a Maternity Action group for the Northern Rivers to which I attended. A lovely passionate woman from Coffs Harbour's Maternity Coalition, who lobby for change in birthing rites and choices for women in their area, came up to help our area begin something of the same nature. It was great. Mostly attended by consumers mothers), Doulas, Midwives and members of various birth related groups we are grouping together to instigate change for women during pregnancy and birth. For example... continuity of care so that a woman sees the same midwife/ves throughout pregnancy, birth and the post-natal period, financially accessible midwifery care - medicare funded, access to water births and home births... and the list will change and grow as we do. We are planning to meet once a month leading up to a forum which will be held in May with a panel of doctors, midwives, obstetricians, consumers etc to discover what the community wants and needs and what we can do about it. It will be heated as there are people (primarily doctors) who are convinced women don't need or want these choices. It's so exciting being a part of something that might exact real change. I will keep you all posted!

Out of sight, out of mind...

2007-03-27T20:05:00.000+10:00

This is how I am feeling about working in birth support - this week. I feel so incredibly inspired when I have contact with the work (or should I say learning) and the people around me with whom I have studied but if I have so much as a few days without contact then it all just slips away from my mind. This has to be a habit related problem. Being busy with kids, the weekly routine stuff, current work and, or course, your friends and family. Then you suddenly realise you were at some point attempting to change life direction but it didn't fit in time-wise that week. Lame. So very lame. So I have decided to become a part of a play group (for my youngest) which is run out of the Natural Birth Education and Research Centre (where I studied) to keep my finger on the pulse so to speak.

And then there are those modules I must finish to graduate on as a fully qualified Doula...

Geez... it's been a while!

2007-03-23T19:12:00.000+11:00

I can't believe how long it's been between blogs. My blogging infrequency is testament only to how little time I am spending in front of my computer. Which is a good thing! I thought I would be more diligent but here's where it changes... however after stabbing myself in the left middle finger earlier today with sharp scissors may slow me down somewhat.

So I have officially completed my advanced face-to-face component with the fifth and final day being centered around the business end of things. I have to admit that spending a day at a birth centre talking 'business' seemed really odd. I guess when you are thrilled just to sit and learn then you kind of forget that it is a job. Personally I don't like the idea of it being a 'job' and I hope it never feels like one. That's what I always imagined finding your passion would mean. That your study and going to work remains exciting and interesting rather than that thing you dread every Monday morning.

I read a novel called 'Midwives' whilst sick in bed last week which was great - and also a little frightening. Must try to remember it's ficiton... It's about the aftermath of a home birth gone wrong where the birthing mother dies and the midwife, who is unable to get her to hospital due to obscenely bad weather, performs a c-section to save the baby. Which she does. But her assistant calls authorities to say that she thinks the woman was still alive and that the midwife inadvertently killed her. Woah! The book is essentially the trial and how the family cope during those months as told by the midwife's teenage daughter who is now an obstetrician. The trial ends up a little like a midwife 'witch-hunt' and how the hospitals and law makers view homebirth. Gripping to the very end.

Whenever I discuss Doula work (or Midwifery for that matter) with people around me, it is really interesting to gauge their reactions. Most are incredibly supportive and seem to see that it is something I would love doing. The worst are reactions from people who pause and then look away, changing the subject like you admitted to something horrendous. On the odd occasion this has happened I questioned the validity of my decision to follow this path. Whether it was my own paranoia or not, it made me wonder if those people saw the profession as redundant or, worse still, negative. I would never point blame at them directly for this as I believe their reaction is a bi-product of the state of the birth in the medical world. I should have asked them! Then there are the handful that look at you all very concerned and, as they feel it's their obligation to tell you, blurt out all the horror stories of homebirths gone wrong. I know these stories are terrifying but there are so few in comparison to the fabulous results that it makes me wonder if they are the same stories just retold by different people. It all comes back to fear again. It is rammed into us constantly. 'Saving Babies', for example, I'm sure would bring me to tears in a split second if I watched it and I think it's amazing what these doctors do, but the very fact there is a show with that title on prime time television cements in our minds that things do go wrong. I guess a show called 'Perfect Birth Outcomes' wouldn't make for good ratings!

Procrastination

2007-03-06T20:18:00.000+11:00

You would think that discovering your passion and committing to it would be enough fuel to get you motivated... I still have yet to begin the online study component because, I think, I am well aware that to 'graduate' you must attend three births and then you are well and truly in the field (or the birthing suite as the case may be). And that would be just plain scary. It's all so new! Don't get me wrong. I DO want to do this. But when you have been immersed in another career for over ten years then a change in direction is a challenge. For anyone but especially for me. Well at least that's what I thought before my bubble of delusion was burst with a conversation last night exposing the reality that everyone faces great fear such as this. Now I can't use that as my own personal excuse. I will just have to go head first into this and trust my instincts. No pun intended!

I saw a midwife, turned chiropractor, friend last weekend who encouraged me to do the direct entry Midwifery degree if I could. That has me thinking a lot about the possibilities. What an amazing career path that would be to take. But right now, doing the Doula course is perfect. And a great stepping stone in deciding on Midwifery later on. Especially while my little 'uns are, well, little. It's these chance encounters that propel you further down the paths of uncertainty when deep down you know it is the right path to take. If only you could get started...

Fear

2007-02-15T17:00:00.000+11:00

No sooner has a conversation about birth begun does the tone turn towards the topic of pain. The horror stories emerge and in no time anyone who ever entertained the idea of parenthood has their legs firmly crossed.

An elective c-section with my first son, due to him being breech, meant I was a contraction-free zone. I was told I couldn't deliver without the chance of something bad happening to my baby. There are risks and I knew all about them, but it doesn't excuse the fear put in me, and thousands of others for that matter. I do, however, realize that medical technology is amazing for those who need it. But did I? I ended up handing over the trust I should have had in my body to a registrar doctor I never met. I even signed papers explaining that I understood I could die during the procedure. But I made the choice and he was born perfectly in the operating theatre. Though I have a botched scar on my abdomen to show for it.

Second time round I was told I should think very carefully about my decision to have the natural birth I yearned for. People everywhere felt the need to tell me about all the risks in having a vaginal birth after a c-section. Through my own investigation I discovered it to be well documented that there are fewer risks in a VBAC than in repeat c-sections but very few people told me that. I'm far from being the only one.

After a relatively long and drug-free labour with my second son I distinctly remember my first words were 'I did it!'. Obviously proud of my achievement, and completely oblivious to the millions of women who had given birth since the dawn of civilisation, I was surprised that my body could do it's job. I don't remember dwelling on the pain of labour even immediately after the event. I do recall telling visitors I'd do it again in a second. There were a few puzzled expressions. Yes it hurt, but it's life-giving pain and your own body has the best birth 'drugs' on the market to get you through that.

Birth should be a celebration of new life not a manifestation of fear and pain. It is truly amazing that we can create and deliver life and that it is completely natural to do so. There needs to be change in the way we as a society approaches birth.
I think this rant may indicate why I chose to become a Doula...

Natural Birth Education & Research Centre

2007-02-07T20:30:00.000+11:00

Driving the narrow country road through the rolling hills of the Northern Rivers it is an idyllic place to discuss all things birth related. The face to face Doula training is held at the Natural Birth and Education Centre (near Lismore) and run by a respected birth educator and extremely experienced doula. What a beautiful place!
It has been two full days of raw emotion, politics, inspiration and jaw-dropping stories with which to use as fuel to become women who will successfully support women and their families during pregnancy, birth and post-natally. There is a lot of in-depth discussion which scatches on the surface of Midwifery. As Doulas it is important to know a little of such things to help best support the mother if a situation arises. It is reallly exciting. It feels like we're getting our hands dirty already - although that may not be the best way to put it!
I still don't like telling people I'm going to be a Doula because I feel like I have such a long way to go before I do that. And quite frankly I didn't expect that I would dive in so far so fast. But now I'm in and although I feel way over over head I am thoroughly enjoying everything about what we are learning. Three days of the face to face to go and then it will be time to study the Optimum Birth course work...

New beginning

2007-02-02T08:17:00.000+11:00

The motivation behind becoming a Doula is a personal one. I have my reasons behind my decision and yet I have had the course work sitting on my desk for four months unopened. I enjoy my current line of work. So why become a Doula?

For me, I want a career that connects with birthing mothers. To be a useful part of the community. And I think, at the risk of sounding too over the top, it will warm the soul.

Next week I will attend my first face-to-face Doula meeting... Which will hopefully inspire me to open those course books. This really is happening!