January has been a month of great accomplishments as I move closer to certification.  As I have mentioned already, Lamaze certification had been something I had pondered for many years but always put out of my mind because I couldn't see myself being able to accomplish the student teaching portion of the program.  Speaking in front of groups caused me a great deal of anxiety.  The thought of speaking to a class AND being evaluated on my performance caused me to panic just thinking about the idea.  Through the years  though I noticed my phobia gradually lessening and my passion for birth, and birth education growing.

 

Recently, I did my student teaching.  I made a community education presentation.  The content centered on the six care practices.  I put heavy emphasis on labor starting on its own, pointing out how spontaneous labor would allow for a much greater chance of enjoying the benefits of all of the other  care practices.  I tried to point out how most interventions can't be used “a la carte” but instead come as packages and that inductions and epidurals can become very medicalized events.  My visual aid for cervical change was sewing elastic of various thicknesses and degrees of dilation.  I also had my Kleenex box pelvis and Easter egg/Popsicle stick baby blockhead to show how freedom to move aids in rotation and descent. Anyone who has attended Teri's training has heard her talk about the various “taters” and I did have a bit of agitater/commentator situation to contend with.  Happily though, things went very well.  My anxiety was minimal which was an amazing accomplishment. 

 

Some women give birth and feel forevermore empowered to take on the world.  I conquered my public speaking issue with a similar feeling of being empowered to take on just about anything that may feel out of my comfort zone in the future.

 

About ten years ago I abandoned the tradition of mailing out Christmas cards.  At this point I only have  a grand total of 4 relatives who don't have e-mail addresses.  The other hundred or so people I like to keep touch with all do have e-mails.  So, I have been sending out an annual holiday update letter with photos of the family and pets.  I include a paragraph on each of us in the family.  My own paragraph talks about the things I have focused my energy on during the year.  This year a great deal of focus has been on pursuing Lamaze certification.  So, I mentioned my new endeavor, the PfB program and my overwhelming enthusiasm for the whole thing.  I wrote that I would happily take great care of anyone in need of an outstanding childbirth education experience and included my website address.  I have been surprised to get such positive responses.  My son's former youth group leader who  just graduated from college and is a newlywed responded back that he wasn't aware that I was involved in CB education and that they would definitely connect with me when they start their family.  I always get very strong support from the many former doula clients I have worked with with promises of sending students my way.  Yet, it hadn't occurred to me how exciting it might be to work with young people I know personally as they start their families.  My son is just 18 so I DO NOT WANT  HIM (or any of his 18 year old friends) in my class any time soon!  But, he does know a few college students and has friends with older siblings.  How fun might that be if they come my way for help with CB education!!

 

I'm discovering that the possibilities for networking are endless in the birth business.  As I dropped off a pile of birth related material to be laminated recently, I felt compelled to warn the fifty something year old man at the teaching supplies store that he might find the subject matter out of the ordinary.  When I returned the next day to pick up my order, he commented that he was impressed with the detail and depth of the information relating to interventions and that he had increased his birthing IQ.  He reported that the classes he had attended with his wife were the type that seemed to prepare you to be a compliant patient.  We chuckled that we must have been in the same class together, since my experience had been sadly similar.  The next lady waiting to be helped overheard our conversation and agreed that an adult learning approach is what is needed.  She said her daughter's friend is pregnant and confused about her birth options, so I gave her my card.  There are several teaching supply stores in the Tucson area and I think I may do the rounds and visit each one with my future laminating needs.  Educators are keen to learn and would be an ideal population to target.

Well, 2010 began with a big accomplishment.  On Tuesday my course design went out in the mail!  What a lot of work that was.  The fact that the training I attended (actually, hosted) was at the start of November made the task of completing the course deign during the Holidays challenging.  Admittedly, I spent the first weeks after the training very excited and full of ideas, but more than a bit overwhelmed by the thought of organizing the mass of creative ideas into an intelligible course.  Finally, I took some advice that Teri had shared and took all  the wonderful visual aids, handouts, and such and spread them out on the floor.  From there, I categorized materials by topic.  Then, I took the list of required Lamaze topics, cut them up and place them in major subject categories.  Once that was accomplished, the actual writing began.  Writing is a challenge for me.  Luckily birth is my passion and the incorporation of so much creativity made the job so much more enjoyable.

 

On two occasions I breathed a sigh of relief and declared the job “done”.  Then, I would sit back and objectively read through the course only to decide that there were areas that needed improvement.  I would come across topics that made me ponder whether students ( even first time parents)  might have life experience (having heard of experiences of friends, family, coworkers) that would be conducive to discussion in the subjects or BF, PP depression,  and induction to name a few.  So, twice I went back to the drawing board.  I must mention that my work would have been completed weeks ago had I not spent so much time online in search of the perfect handouts, pamphlets, etc.  I came to the sad realization that my home state of AZ seems lacking in nifty public health resources when compared to other sites that I came across.  Washington, Texas, Illinois and Scotland had some really impressive materials!  If there was a Guinness Book of World records award to internet searching related to birth, I would be a world class surfer! My finished product is chock full of features that hopefully will lead to fun, lasting learning and most of all boost confidence in birth.

 

Virtually all but my newest massage clients are very aware of my passion for birth and all things birth related. They all know when I am on call for a birth and enjoy hearing the happy news when I am celebrating the arrival of a new baby. One of my clients in her 70's had an occasion recently when she was caring round the clock for her new great nephew.  Mom had left a supply of pumped milk and my client was a bit alarmed by the 8 week old waking overnight every 2 hours for a feeding.  I enjoyed explaining how very tiny a young baby's tummy is, how easily and quickly mom's milk is digested and how breastfed babies tend to wake more frequently to eat (which seems to be a plus as far as SIDS is concerned). I mentioned my recently discovered teaching tool learned at my PfB training where we strung a necklace of 3 beads, one the size of a marble, one the size of a walnut and one the size of a ping pong ball and explain how they nicely depict the size of an infants stomach capacity in the early days and weeks. She was so impressed to hear all of the details. More than once during my PfB training it was suggested that I might consider teaching a grandparents class.  Now, the idea is stewing!

I am still coming down from all of the excitement of the PfB training that I hosted last weekend.   It was a truly wonderful time!  It was amazing to be a part of the sharing and learning that took place amidst the magnificent group of very enthusiastic, creative women that attended.  I still find myself singing in my mind “I am opening up with sweet surrender to the beautiful baby in my womb”(it was the background music in one of the many powerful DVD's we viewed showing the power and joy of natural childbirth).  So, that is now atop my birth materials wish list.  How wonderful would that be to a birthing woman with those lyrics as your mantra!

The student teaching that had originally cause me a bit of worry wound up to be not so nerve wracking as I had anticipated.  The timing was perfect – having us do this portion on Sunday AM.  By then we were a very well bonded, supportive group.  I was doing well with my postpartum robe presentation until my dear husband who had remained all but invisible for almost 3 days showed up in the kitchen directly facing me from across the room. For dramatic effect, I had donned a hospital size XXL sanitary pad on the outside of my jeans and a shower cap too!

I am so appreciative to Teri for taking the time to come to Tucson and so generously sharing of  all of the tried and true dynamic teaching strategies that she has collected throughout her career.  I can't tell you how nice it has been to be on the receiving end of all this wisdom.  I feel like the training has put me on the fast track to developing a superbly interactive, anything-but-boring course design without having to “reinvent the wheel” so to speak. And I FINALLY now know what these “artichokes” are that I came across several times in my Lamaze reading materials.  I won't explain that one though.   You will have to attend PfB yourself if you want to learn about that one!