Unlearning FEAR based midwifery

Many of us midwives were taught some erroneous beliefs about our roles and we were so busy doing what we had been taught we did not take enough time to ask why. I was very fortunate to have had one remarkable preceptor who asked me WHY a million times. She and I were not peas in a pod and she was not always happy with my answer but she was outstanding in that she took that chance .....that we were going to disagree. And she knew that I was not going to practice as taught, but one thing for sure; I would be able to articulate why about everything I did or did not do. Still so much of what I thought we were supposed to do was rooted in fear. However another aspect of fear helped me form my midwifery philosophy.

I think my personality had a lot to do with the kind of midwife I became. A lot of my hands off attitude was not due entirely to my "with woman" philosophy, but with my fear of screwing something up if I didn't know how to do it! Soon I realized that it was better that I not do it anyway! And as time passed, I found that "doing less" was backed up with good science. I have to tell you, too, that my major introspective examination happened when I met a doctor in 1987 who trusted birth a lot more than I did. He became a trusted mentor and dear, dear friend, Dr. John Stevenson. He really gave me the courage to start telling the truth about birthing issues, even when those truths were unpopular.

I am going to see him Australia next week, as we are working on finishing his book. I also hope to spend some time talking with former clients and midwives he helped during his long home birth career.
All of you birth trusters would lOVE him. Dr. John trusted birth way before most of us did! You can download a couple of his talks at the 94 conference at the www.ancientartmidwifery.com click on the aami store His are Adept Baby and 3rd & 4th Stage difficulties.

Transitioning to TRUST BIRTH MIDWIFERY

Many midwives are operating from a level of fear, even after many years of practice: Fear of not knowing how to handle complications, fear of making mistakes, fear of criticism, fear of litigation, fear of going to jail. These are all legitimate concerns, perhaps, but it is inconsistent with the idea of "with woman" midwifery to practice under a cloud of fear.
I think there is a cure for at least some of those fears. Your fear as a midwife will decrease as you internalize the reality that your role as a midwife is not one of authority but assistance....and that is a life-changing paradigm shift.
Once you think of yourself as a paid consultant and NOT the holder of bottom line responsibility and certainly not the woman's authority, everything is different.
When you think of your role this way, you will realize that most of your work is done long before your client goes into labor. Your role will be to encourage, motivate, and believe in your client. Your work involves helping her recover her own sense of ownership, authority and confidence in her ability to assist her body in doing the job it knows how to do.
Once you LIVE as if you believe that birth is safe and interference is what is risky, and once you realize that the responsibility and authority for what happens to a woman during her birth is her own, and not yours....I think you will find many fears dissipate.
Transitioning to Trust Birth Midwifery and Transitioning to Trust Birth Childbirth Education will be two of our panel sessions at the upcoming Trust Birth Conference in March 2008.

Test: Do you REALLY Trust Birth?

Support of a woman’s right to choose to have her baby alone is a litmus test of sorts for acceptance of Trust Birth Facilitators for this reason: a Trust Birth facilitator must be an extreme birth truster. She has to be sure in her heart that she really trusts "unqualified" birth.....that she believes in the intrinsic safety of birth, itself. Trusting birth with a qualifier (if she has a trained attendant, if she is educated, etc.) negates the whole premise. If birth is only safe with a birth attendant....then which attendant really makes birth safe: Obstetricians would say only obstetricians, but what about CNMs? CPMs? midwives with no official credentials?

And we are back to the same erroneous assumption that birth needs someone or something ELSE to be safe; that birth is not to be trusted WITHOUT an attendant. That premise supports the erroneous assumption that interference is necessary.....
In my opinion, trusting birth, means that you simply trust birth!

Do the right thing just because it IS the right thing to do.

"Integrity commits itself to character over personal gain,
to people over things,
to services over power,
to principle over convenience ,
to the long view over the immediate."
-John C. Maxwell

BirthTruth as I know it

I have been involved with birth and midwifery for a long time. I have been helping women become midwives for more than 26 years now. I founded The Trust Birth Initiative and The Cesarean Prevention Project a couple of years ago in hopes of making a difference in other ways.
I feel good about that. But, not as good as I would like to feel. I would like to know that more women have rediscovered that they were born trusting birth this year, than last. But, sadly that is not the reality. More and more women are being abused and lied to and manipulated into believing a lie: birth is risky; only intervention is safe.
I could write a thousand words about why I think the world is coming to believe that lie. I could cry. I could quit. But I won't. As long as I breathe I will be telling birthtruth as I know it. Birth IS safe....it is interference that is risky. Stop interfering and let women birth their babies as they were designed.

To learn more about what I believe about birth, visit http://www.trustbirth.com
For information on the midwifery education I offer, visit http://www.ancientartmidwifery.com
I created some ways for you to WEAR the truth, visit htp://www.cafepress.com/aamidwifery
If you want to read books about birth with other truthseekers, join childbirthreadingroom@yahoogroups.com