I had the great opportunity of attending a workshop on Waterbirth and Gentle Birth Education on the 4th and 5th of February, 2015 at Bloom Hospital, Velachery. The workshop was conducted by Barbara Harper and Dianne Garland and attended by OBGYNs, Child Birth Educators and Nurses.
In this workshop we learnt about two concepts, one – Gentle Birth Practices and the other – Waterbirth.
Gentle birth practices recommend practices of allowing more time for the mother to be in labour, natural pushing as against forced/ purple pushing, uninterrupted immediate skin-to-skin and more such practices. These are currently being practiced in US, UK and many more countries are slowly embracing them.
The other concept was about Waterbirth or simply giving birth in water. The mom who is in labour is allowed to use a pool filled with warm water and then births the baby in the pool, with barely any assistance.
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| Barbara, Me and Dianne at the Workshop! |
The workshop covered lot about the physiology of newborn breathing and more on the importance of immediate skin-to-skin and delayed cord clamping. Physiological management of third stage of labour gave more insight in how much minimal intervention is necessary, as opposed to active intervention.
The workshop was made very interesting with videos of more than 20 water/gentle births. The one thing that was quite obvious was that none of the babies cried after birth and they all would have an easy APGAR of 8+. All of them seemed so calm, alert and ‘well tuned’. They did not need any resuscitation, cleaning, suctioning or any assistance with latching or anything whatsoever.
The workshop was interspersed with QA sessions. The speakers answered questions on what if’s and how’s and they have patience to answer questions that were not directly related to the main course. All questions were answered with patience and enthusiasm by both Barbara and Dianne.
The one thing that showed the effectiveness of this workshop, was, when at the end two OBGYNs mentioned that they find they have no role to play in the labour room, that they were humbled to see how women were able to birth their own babies and how their primary role was in attending to emergencies and high-risk labours. They felt that any normal, healthy pregnant woman needed the watchful and patient support of a midwife. While a high-risk and complex pregnant woman needed the assistance of a surgeon, trained to work on the abnormal. The surgeon can provide the correct intervention at the time of need, thereby helping both the mother and baby have a healthy and safe birth and post-partum period.
I am very happy to have attended this two-day workshop. I feel embracing some of these simple techniques in our hospitals will pave the way for a better birthing experience for the mothers and babies. These 14 hours that I spent with them, I shall use as a springboard for my future endeavors.
About Speakers
Barbara Harper is an internationally recognized expert on waterbirth and founder of Waterbirth International. She lives at Florida and her personal mission is to change the way we welcome babies into the world.
Dianne Garland is from UK, a midwife and a waterbirth expert, and founder of Midwifeexpert. She has an extensive midwifery experience and has been birthing waterbabies for a long time. She has successfully introduced midwifery changes in order to enhance woman centred care in many institutions across the UK and world over.
They both are from different countries, but a common passion unites them. These two women are pioneers in their field and my age is their experience. They are spreading the word and training people across the globe at an age that many people think of retirement!
