mremer's blog

An Encouraging Thought

I recently started reading the book Teaching Natural Birth. In it, the author shares this thought about the importance of teaching families about birth:

"We are not 'hobbying' or 'playing house.' We do this not because we like people or like babies, but because there are earthshaking issues involved in the way our culture is giving birth and raising its children...We are playing for keeps and the stakes are high. We are professionals. We matter. Always and indescribably."

I do not view teaching birth classes as a "hobby." I view it as my career/profession. I have noticed a tendency of people outside the "birth world" to look upon it as a hobby however. Reading this quote was a nice reminder that my work is important!

--Molly Remer

Control & Birth

One of the things I explore in birth classes is feelings about wanting to be "in control" or "staying in control" during birth. I ask couples to consider what "losing control" would mean to them and what the benefits of "losing control" might be.

I really enjoy this section from Childbirth with Insight about control and birth:

[with regard to prepared childbirth films and class] "...are instructive rather than enlightening. They confirm a particular teaching method by advocating roles and techniques. Such films obscure the fundamental holistic experience of birth. Couples are not aware that the power of giving birth involves individual surrender to its uncontrollable nature. It is understandable that expectant parents become anxious about their abilities to maintain the kind of control that is expected of them, given that no such control of natural forces is possible--or desirable."

"The actual experience of contractions, like other intense bodily sensations, is extremely difficult to describe...The more completely an expectant mother can experience labor as a unit of body and mind, the more easily she can flow with the process of birth...the more a woman tries to be in control, the more she fears the inevitable loss of control..."

Opening for Birth

The December 2001 edition of the IJCE contains an article titled "The Pelvis Revisited" by Elizabeth Noble. An interesting article overall, I particularly enjoyed the language of the section titled Opening for Birth:

"Birth is what women do. Women are privileged to stand in such power! Birth stretches a woman's limits in every sense. To allow such stretching of one's limits is the challenge of pregnancy, birth, and parenting. The challenge is to be fully present and to allow the process because of inner trust. How can women find their power, claim it, and stand firm in it throughout? The vertical position comes again into prominence. Women must 'stand up' for what they want and 'on their own two feet' by refusing to take their birth 'lying down'! Being upright is essential for pelvic power--psychological strength, pelvic mobility, gravity's assistance, pelvic pump efficiency, and the hygienic downflow of bodily fluids."

In the September 1999 issue, the article Belly-Dancing Through Pregnancy: A Way to Give Birth and Not Be Delivered by Gaby Mardshana Oeftering caught my eye. In it, she also addresses the needs to build inner trust and to open to birth through physical movement and an active approach to birthing:

Midwifery Memoirs

I recently finished reading and reviewing a great new midwifery memoir, The Blue Cotton Gown by Patsy Harman. This book was written by a CNM who no longer attends births, so it was about the rest of midwifery--the well woman care side. It was very good and I really recommend it.

A few months ago, I also read the very excellent Lady's Hands, Lion's Heart, another new midwifery memoir (this one had lots of births and also lots of drama!). It is was extremely good and I really loved it. The author, Carol Leonard, was also one of the founding members of MANA, so the book chronicles the birth of MANA as well as her journey as a midwife. Interestingly, her husband was a doctor as is Patsy Harman's in the book above. Perhaps that pairing is more common than what I might expect! See www.badbeaverfarm.com for more information (my full review is reprinted there as well).

Also newly released in 2009 is Labor of Love, written by the CNM who was shadowed in the film The Business of Being Born.

If you get the opportunity to read any of these books, I think you'll enjoy them!

--Molly Remer

Perpetuating incorrect information

I was a little embarrassed to learn this week that, "People do NOT remember 10 percent of what they read, 20 percent of what they see, 30 percent of what they hear, and so on. That information, and similar pronouncements, are fraudulent. Moreover, general statements on the effectiveness of learning methods are not credible—-learning results depend on too many variables to enable such precision."

I have read this information in quite a few training manuals and books and have shared such information myself more than once (I think even in an article!) So, it was surprising to discover that this information on retention is an urban legend. Now that I think about it, I'm positive that I heard it for the first time in graduate school (one of the 30% of things I heard that I remembered...;-)

The article explaining the origins of this myth can be found here: http://www.bobpikegroup.com/articles_view.asp?columnid=3618&articleid=53796

And I learned about it from the Passion for Birth blog: http://childbirtheducation.blogspot.com.

--Molly Remer