It was an early morning epiphany, so you know it's either going to be a great idea or a total groaner. But out of the blue, it suddenly occurred to me - a way of promoting the benefits of birth preparation for FATHERS. We need a spokesmodel/mascot. I give you Ed . . . Childbirth Ed!
Imagine the jovial, upbeat dude above, wearing a 6 Healthy Birth Practices trucker hat, a CAPPA t-shirt, sitting on an enormous ball, perhaps wielding a massage tool or some Recharge with a straw, ready to mop his mama's forehead with a cool cloth. Ed can tell you all about what the 4-1-1- rule means, and can whip out the BRAIN/BRAND acronym for contemplating any intervention at any time. Ed knows all the emotional signposts of labor, has a laminated chart of effective laboring positions, and looks forward to encouraging his wife to push with her own instincts, even if the rest of the room is barking in her face. He's even prepared for delivery room football, if necessary.
Childbirth Ed. Don't you love him already?
P.S. Have I mentioned I'm a total dork? P.P.S. Yep, that is my wee Lily with her daddy, modeling a sling, courtesy the women behind Bean Tree Baby.
I've been shopping around looking for videos to use in my childbirth ed classes. Many have spoken highly of this one: "Everyday Miracles". I plan on buying the DVD, but handily, it's also available to view via the excellent, resource-laden Mother's Advocate site.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. I think it could be good as an introductory video - it's a good overview, and I like that it shows some supportive, natural practices in a hospital setting (since, realistically, that's the majority of whom I will be teaching). It's only 8 minutes in its entirety, another advantage for class.
What do you think?
I do want to find videos that are a little more, well, graphic. While being more liberal than you might see on basic cable, these deliveries are still pretty sanitized, and I think it's a good idea to get both mom and partner very comfortable and accustomed to the realities of birth. Thoughts from a Doula had a great post about this - I do hope to follow her example! A sliced-up excerpt:
A few of the dads in my last series came in with some squeamish reservations, putting on a brave face but doubting their ability to view and supportthe act of birth without some sort of visceral or fear-based reaction.I had a lot of questions on the first day about the emotional repercussions that couples experience in their postpartum sex lives as a result of the dad’s ‘trauma’ by seeing the birth, and also a lot of questions about what exactly they would have to see, and if it was possible for them to see little, less, or none of it at all.I heard about fear of blood, and being afraid to watch their partners be in so much pain and not being able to do anything about it—the old adage that partners of laboring mothers are ‘helpless’.These are not uncommon questions, and I get them all in some form with every group.
I start slow, showing things on the more modest end of the spectrum, and work my way up to a few more ‘extreme’ births.Starting slow is no consolation to many dads, as they have never seen a birth in their life, and it seems so PRIVATE and INVASIVE and INTIMATE and PAINFUL to watch.To say they are uncomfortable when viewing these films is quite an understatement.
So, we start slow, but I don’t pull any punches.This is desensitization.I will explain exactly what they are going to see, what they need to watch for, and what I want them to learn from watching each film.My goal here is for them to see so much birth that it starts to look familiar, and no longer sounds the alarm in the part of your brain that detects danger.This same part of your brain produces anxiety as a fight or flight response to perceived ‘danger’.By watching these videos week after week, I take away the threat that theses birth images pose from the men in my classes.It’s a slow and subtle process, but it works.Even if they make faces, or turn away, they slowly acclimate to the images before them, so that when their partner is laboring, he has nothing left but the knowledge of what to do to comfort and support her, and his own emotions of anticipation, excitement, empathy, and perhaps a little sleepiness.
I perform my weekly ‘exposure therapy’, where we see bodies and births and babies galore.Eventually their responses grow less physical, and I see fewer and fewer grimaces, even as I start to show videos that are VERY graphic, and more intense than anything they are likely to see at their own birth—like the unassisted home birth of twins, where the second one is a footling breech.They may not enjoy the videos, but they don’t bother them much anymore. And since I have 12 weeks to do this, it’s quite effective, and in the end, they almost all thank me for showing the videos I did, realizing that this allowed them to attend their birth without fear—something birth classes often only focus on for the mother.
So for those who are more experienced teachers, what videos do you like? There's another classic childbirth ed video I've heard good things about called "Special Delivery", but I don't know if it's worth the higher price, especially if it seems dated. I'm also reluctant to use "Birth into Being"/"Birth As We Know It" since I worry about the freaky hippie alienation factor (though I myself appreciate the lessons therein). Can you tell I'm extremely picky? I do plan to use YouTube, for sure, so either formal DVDs or public YouTube videos are all fair game.
By the way, I'm definitely opening with this, a.k.a. contender for the best birth captured on film of all time:
Hello, my name is Brittany and I am 17 years old. I am passionate about birth, and it is something I would like to study more, I think I would like to become a childbirth educator. Is it possible to give me any info on where to start?
And I thought it was well worth sharing a response with y'all, especially since I've been wanting to do another book recommendation post. SO:
Hey Brittany! It's so heartening to know there are young women out there like you. (And saying that makes me feel positively ancient, by the way.) I would definitely check out CAPPA's trainings. In particular, I think you'd be FANTASTIC for CAPPA's Teen Educator Program! Did you know there was such an awesome thing? Well, there is. And it needs passionate young women just like you. Look here! You do need to be 18 to become certified, but no reason why you can't get started on the preparation now - especially the reading list.
I can recommend a zillion practical, informational books - but before I even get into my favorites on that topic, I'm going to recommend you start with one of my two favorite memoirs of all time: "Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife" by Peggy Vincent (the other is the poignantly hilarious "Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year" by the poignantly hilarious Anne Lamott -not much about birth, but everything, oh, everything to do with becoming a mother). "Baby Catcher" has tons of great birth stories, and is a fabulous glimpse into the life and evolution of a midwife, from hospital to home. Full of humor and so engagingly written. It's the perfect prologue.
My other top recommendations, getting into the nitty-gritty: A great one to start with is "Your Best Birth". It's a very user-friendly breakdown of all the options a laboring mother faces, peppered with great birth stories. Taking it a step further, the most recent edition of "The Birth Partner" by Penny Simkin is thorough, authoritative, well-organized and loaded with great information and suggestions. For a book that covers the whole of pregnancy into birth, my favorite is "The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth" by Sheila Kitzinger. And if I could get every woman in America to read just ONE BOOK, it would be *drum roll* "Pushed: The Painful Truth about Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care" by Jennifer Block. It's less about the breakdown of the labor process (though you glean plenty of info along the way as well) and more about politics, but anyone entering the field should find this gripping and galvanizing.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I have over seventy titles in my ever-expanding library, and yet I still haven't gotten my hands on "Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering" by Dr. Sarah Buckley. I have a feeling once I do, it will rise to the top of the heap. I think it's fair to give it an unofficial recommendation. It would be a good idea to get some basic info about breastfeeding as well. Any of the books in this post are fabulous. I also know there's a brand-spanking-new edition of La Leche League's classic "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding". I'll fess up: I haven't been crazy about past editions. But the buzz about this latest edition is overwhelmingly positive. I know some lucky bloggas have gotten review copies (any ideas on how to be cool enough to get one of those?), and I eagerly await their $0.02.
How about some just plain birth stories? The classic, of course, is "Spiritual Midwifery", which is chock full of amazing stories, dated as it may be (you just have to look at it as a historical piece, in a way, though one that still has relevance). The more recent "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" has plenty of them too. I really liked the collection "Adventures in Natural Childbirth", which compiles natural births in all possible settings, home, birth center and hospital. And finally, the locally produced "Birth: It's Positive" has inspiring stories from many mothers, with an emphasis on VBACs. My own story is included, too. Proceeds go to our local chapter of ICAN, but I bring up the book not just to plug it, but because the stories are well-worth it.
Non-reading preparation: I'm betting you've already seen "The Business of Being Born". If by some chance you haven't, hie thee to Netflix to put it in your queue, or hey, as of TODAY it is currently half off on Amazon - may as well add it to your arsenal, since you know you'll want to later anyway. I think "Orgasmic Birth" has its strong points as well as its weak ones, but either way, it's a worthwhile watch for you. ("Pregnant in America", I'm sorry to say, was a major disappointment. I should have known by its subtitle, possibly the worst subtitle ever to actually make it onto the cover of a DVD without someone putting a stop to it: " . . . A Nation's Miscarriage". Seriously.)
And you know, I was about to write And whatever you do, stay away from "Birth Day", "Maternity Ward" and "A Baby Story"! but actually, for your purposes, I do think they're useful to watch, after you've started to read the books on the list and watch the other movies. Watch them in balance with the above, and with the plethora of glorious natural, home, and/or otherwise empowered births available on YouTube now. Soon, like me, you'll be shouting at the screen like a World Cup fanatic.
Brittany, I'd love it if you kept me in the loop about how everything's going for you, should you pursue this teen certification, or any other trainings. Right on.
Make it so.
[I'm really not a Trekkie, actually, but in order to geek up a "next generation" reference authentically, I'd have to get into the whole Slayer lineage, and which is probably a bit too obscure. But for any Buffistas out there, I'd say Brittany is quite the promising Potential.]
I was remarking to The Feminist Breeder yesterday that with all the certifications I'm already doing and all the ones I want to do in the future (not too distant, please), it's starting to feel a little like collecting Girl Scout Badges. (How I would love it if some crafty WAHM on etsy came up with placenta encapsulation badges, lactation educator badges, birth doula badges, and a sassy sash to boot!)
So, as I'm focusing on trying to blast through my Childbirth Education certification through CAPPA's distance program, you may have noticed a, shall we say, sluggishness to my posting of late. I have at least a dozen topics I'd like to get to, and absolutely plan on completing them in the future, but developing a solid curriculum and (gulp) lesson plans for each of my 7 (or 8) classes is taking up pretty close to all my available time at the moment. I'd like to be finished by August, so hopefully we'll resume a more normal operating schedule by then. I'll still be posting, just more leisurely-ly, as you've seen of late.
Off to ponder what kind of a catchy name I can give my class . . .
Side note: I went to catalog all my birth and breastfeeding and baby books, in order to give my students a list of my lending library. Turns out I have SEVENTY TITLES on my shelves! Whoa. And the crazy thing? . . . I need even more. Someone may have to stage an intervention.
It's been a whirlwind around here for the past week, with both my moms in town, the ICAN Film Series I helped organize plus Lily's second birthday party on Sunday, but I had to share the news. Today, which happens to be my own birthday, I got the news that I have received a scholarship for CAPPA's childbirth education certification, doing the distance learning program. Couldn't be better news on a better day.
Weekend movie: please take 60 seconds to watch this great 3D animation of a vaginal birth, if you haven't seen it already. With that, I'm heading offline for a whole week (egad). Enjoy!
A few days ago, Public Health Doula wrote this excellent post: Don't Count on Your Epidural, which in turn was inspired by Reality Rounds' equally excellent post No Epidural for You, You Bad Girl, and I thought the lesson was too important to not pass it on. A snippet from the former:
This is something I wish more women understood. Just because you expect to get pain relief in labor, you may not get it. You may never get it: you may have a fast labor, or show up too late, or have to wait too long for the anesthesiologist and by the time he shows up the baby is crowning. (If he ever shows up.) You also might have to wait for hours. When you get one, your epidural may not work, or only work partially.
So why bring this up? An excerpt from the latter explaining the importance of childbirth education (I'm sure I'll start shortening it to its common moniker 'CBE' soon enough) no matter what you think your preference might be:
Whenever I lead my unit’s birthing tours, invariably the subject of pain relief comes up. “How long will it take to get my epidural?” (number 1 question). “If I want a natural childbirth, can I change my mind and get an epidural?” . . . I always recommend to all my birthing tour moms to take a natural childbirth class, even if they want an epidural the minute they are in labor. I do not recommend these classes based on any philosophical or scientific belief that natural childbirth is superior, but on a realistic knowledge that you are not guaranteed an epidural. Let me say it again, YOU ARE NOT GUARANTEED AN EPIDURAL. Those are tough words to hear when you have your heart set on an epidural. I tell those moms to take a class on natural methods of pain relief, because you can not predict how your birth will go. Having some alternative methods of pain relief, like the jacuzzi tubs we have in every labor room (I call them the aqua epidurals), or using imagery,or hypnobirthing, or whatever, will give you back a sense of control over the pain. I have no idea how many of these moms take my advice. My guess is not many.
And you never know - it's possible that, stalled in her desire for the epidural she thought she wanted and forced by circumstance to call upon her own resources (hopefully including a support system, whether it be spouse, family, doula, or all of the above), and due to the preparation she thought was superfluous at the time, some mothers might actually find that they are doing just fine on their own.
As I read these posts, another thought occurred to me. The women who don't take the advice to do any childbirth education classes, assuming they can get the epidural promptly and on demand, and then find themselves having to wait several hours or more (or not get it at all, occasionally), they have left themselves no other resources for dealing with the pain whatsoever. They may not know to get out of the bed, or change positions, or use focused breathing, or massage techniques, or using water if a tub or even a shower is available. It's even possible that they might not even be aware of how dramatically different the pain is with Pitocin for induction or augmentation.
Even without augmentation, labor pain may be exaggerated as a result of not knowing that it would be in their best interest to avoid protocols that force them to be supine and immobile - just to name a few out of a host of examples, can she get a saline lock instead of a full scale IV? Can she have intermittent monitoring with a Doppler rather than be strapped to a cEFM for the duration?
And therefore, their experience of "natural" childbirth is one of being a helpless, passive victim to intolerable pain . . . and on the cycle goes of another woman telling her friends and her sisters and her daughters and anyone else who broaches the topic with her how horrific labor pain is, and how any woman who doesn't want an epidural is insane, and the fear cycle is perpetuated further.
By now, readers surely have a sense of my own preferences, but I'll say it again: I totally support women in making different choices than I might, including epidurals or other analgesia - as long as they are informed choices. A woman who goes into labor without any childbirth education (and I would include independent reading as long as it's thorough; I don't necessarily think it HAS to be a formal class, though I do think it's a good idea for most, particularly for their first births) because she's heard from friends and has seen in a bunch of sitcoms how magical the epidural is, and assumes that she can get it with a snap of her fingers, rendering pain management a moot point - she is not making an informed choice. And that uninformed choice can unfairly influence others.
Different kinds of care providers you can use, and the pros and cons of each
How to empower yourself to make educated choices during your pregnancy and during labor
What factors contribute to your chances of having an unnecessary or preventable cesarean
What is the "downward spiral of intervention"
Why avoiding an unnecessary cesarean is safest for you and your baby
When cesareans are truly necessary
This is NOT just for women seeking VBACs - this is cesarean prevention for everyone. This should be especially useful for moms without a local ICAN chapter around, or who can't get around easily. Anyone currently pregnant could only benefit from this. Thanks, ICAN.
