Tuesday 27 December 2016
Sunday 25 December 2016
Merry Christmas!
Have a very Happy Christmas!
May all your days be as wonderful as Coventry University's Elinor Clarke's knitted boob!
Wednesday 21 December 2016
Tanzania 2015
In September 2015 I went volunteering in the fantastic town of Arusha, Tanzania. The place, the people and my overall experience were like nothing I've ever known. Little old me, stepping off the place onto the African continent for the first time, had no idea how much of an incredible place I was about to visit.
I liked Tanzania, can you tell?
In terms of Midwifery however, it was probably the hardest experience I have ever had. Resources were poor, the culture is very different, and the outcomes were not always good. Coming from a country with some of the highest standards of care and healthcare provision to this was quite the shock for me. Doctors led the care. Kindness and compassion was rare. Beds were shared by up to 3 people, regardless of whether they had a live baby in their arms or not.
The hospital was the biggest in the town. Women usually birthed in their homes, especially those from the tribes in the surrounding villages, meaning they usually only came into the hospital if something had gone wrong. The ward had about 12 births a day. Running water was not always a given and gloves were used on a only-if-absolutely-necessary basis because they were hard to get hold of. It was hard.
For more information on volunteering in Maternity in Tanzania, see the companies I used below:
http://www.thegreenhouse.co.tz/volunteer.html
http://www.lovevolunteers.org/programs/tanzania
Personally managed births to go: 17
I liked Tanzania, can you tell?
In terms of Midwifery however, it was probably the hardest experience I have ever had. Resources were poor, the culture is very different, and the outcomes were not always good. Coming from a country with some of the highest standards of care and healthcare provision to this was quite the shock for me. Doctors led the care. Kindness and compassion was rare. Beds were shared by up to 3 people, regardless of whether they had a live baby in their arms or not.
The hospital was the biggest in the town. Women usually birthed in their homes, especially those from the tribes in the surrounding villages, meaning they usually only came into the hospital if something had gone wrong. The ward had about 12 births a day. Running water was not always a given and gloves were used on a only-if-absolutely-necessary basis because they were hard to get hold of. It was hard.
The delivery room complete with three beds and the adjoining utility room for equipment cleaning.
Some lovely student midwives who took me under their wings and laughed when I told them we were allowed to deliver babies and undertake vaginal examinations as students - apparently that's unheard of over there!
Babies were not labelled at birth, merely wrapped in a 'kanga' blanket which the mother provided. This meant that the single resuscitaire on which babies were stacked after delivery was always beautifully coloured.
I cannot deny that it was not an easy place to volunteer, but it really opened my eyes to birth and midwifery in it's rawest form. There were no assisted deliveries, because there was no equipment to do so. Women birthed and it was expected that it would all be normal. Surprisingly, whether that be to do with the lifestyles of the women or the culture and expectations of birth, it usually was. Intriguing.
The one caesarean that I saw was due to eclampsia and there was a little bit of oxytocin thrown around if a woman's labour really was slow. Everything else was just normal birth, with entire belief in the physiology of women from both the professionals and the women. 'Birth will happen. And then you will breastfeed. Your mother did it, you will do it.' - the mind-set of every single woman. It was mind-blowing.
It made me think quite long and hard: about our own culture around birth, what influences the differences between their style of thinking and ours. Why have we gone our way and them theirs?
For more information on volunteering in Maternity in Tanzania, see the companies I used below:
http://www.thegreenhouse.co.tz/volunteer.html
http://www.lovevolunteers.org/programs/tanzania
Personally managed births to go: 17
Monday 19 December 2016
Mindfulness
In the press, the concept of mindfulness is often seen as a bit hippy dippy. A bit crazy. Exclusively for Buddhists whilst crossing their legs in that impossible over-the-knee madness. I'm sure you need double jointed knees for that manoeuvre.
But we are mindful every day. It's a part of being human. It's just recognising it and harnessing it to utilise it for better things and self development.
'Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We also gain immediate access to our own powerful inner resources for insight, transformation, and healing.' - Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School
Whenever you take a moment to reflect, as we in the healthcare system regularly do, both formally and informally, you are being mindful. Whenever you assess how well something went, how you could improve the situation, the role that you played, you are developing your insight and preparing for transformation.
See. You are doing it.
But how can we apply this to our lives? How can we actively be mindful to develop ourselves?
Just take a moment every day to actively think mindfully. Reflect on something, appreciate who you are and what you have, think of all the ways in which you are happy. Some choose to do it for ten minutes every morning, some choose to do it like the Buddhists in that mad seated position that my legs will never be able to do. I do it whenever I'm washing up. And I like it.
Give it a go. I dare you.
To read more about it, have a little look here. I know it's in the stress, anxiety and depression section, but everyone has mental health and that should be cared for.
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety- depression/pages/mindfulness.aspx
Personally managed births to go: 17
But we are mindful every day. It's a part of being human. It's just recognising it and harnessing it to utilise it for better things and self development.
'Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We also gain immediate access to our own powerful inner resources for insight, transformation, and healing.' - Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School
Whenever you take a moment to reflect, as we in the healthcare system regularly do, both formally and informally, you are being mindful. Whenever you assess how well something went, how you could improve the situation, the role that you played, you are developing your insight and preparing for transformation.
See. You are doing it.
But how can we apply this to our lives? How can we actively be mindful to develop ourselves?
Just take a moment every day to actively think mindfully. Reflect on something, appreciate who you are and what you have, think of all the ways in which you are happy. Some choose to do it for ten minutes every morning, some choose to do it like the Buddhists in that mad seated position that my legs will never be able to do. I do it whenever I'm washing up. And I like it.
Give it a go. I dare you.
To read more about it, have a little look here. I know it's in the stress, anxiety and depression section, but everyone has mental health and that should be cared for.
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety- depression/pages/mindfulness.aspx
Personally managed births to go: 17
Saturday 17 December 2016
The Acorn Centre
The Acorn Centre is a fantastic charity based in Nuneaton. Running since 1995, the centre provides a pregnancy specific counselling to anyone and everyone from the surrounding areas and further. With a vast range of counsellors and volunteers who give their time for free, counselling is available from all manner of areas around pregnancy, from coping with unexpected pregnancies to bereavement to postnatal depression and more. The team tirelessly work towards providing a unique service to which women and families come from all over the country. To keep up with ever changing demand, the charity has recently expanded it's services to provide support to young people struggling with any problems with which they need help. All of the services are provided with negligible costs to the clients and the charity is an invaluable asset to the wider community.
Over the last few months, it has been an honour to work with the incredible people at The Acorn Centre. As Coventry University Midwifery Society's chosen charity of the year, we have been fundraising for them throughout the year to help support their wonderful work. As well as this, we are planning study sessions with them to develop our students' communication skills with women and families around such sensitive issues. Our first Society event, 'The Big Meet' which was a bake and book sale for all of our student cohorts to meet each other at the start of the year, raised and incredible £128 for the charity and we expect our future plans to be even more fruitful!
Personally managed births to go: 19
Over the last few months, it has been an honour to work with the incredible people at The Acorn Centre. As Coventry University Midwifery Society's chosen charity of the year, we have been fundraising for them throughout the year to help support their wonderful work. As well as this, we are planning study sessions with them to develop our students' communication skills with women and families around such sensitive issues. Our first Society event, 'The Big Meet' which was a bake and book sale for all of our student cohorts to meet each other at the start of the year, raised and incredible £128 for the charity and we expect our future plans to be even more fruitful!
The Society Committee all ready for the Big Meet!
Meeting staff from The Acorn Centre to plot and scheme future events!
To read more about the Acorn Centre and how to donate or fundraise, see: http://www.acorncentrewarks.org.uk/
Twitter: @theacorncentre
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theacorncentrewarwickshire/?fref=ts
Twitter: @theacorncentre
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theacorncentrewarwickshire/?fref=ts
Friday 16 December 2016
Following my Midwifery in the USA experience, read my Global Village Midwives Advent Birth story:
Birth Story 8 –Working with a Midwife in the USA
Picture the scene: a mother, exhausted more than she knew possible, reaches down to take her baby from the surgeon she was determined never to meet. Tears and camera flashes from her family members who surround her at the head of the bed, as a proud mother becomes a proud grandmother.
Two weeks before, visiting her midwife in the front room of her home in a suburb of Atlanta, explained to me why she had chosen a different path from the regular Georgian mother. In the state of Georgia, to see anyone other than a hospital obstetrician during your pregnancy, birth and postnatal period was considered out of the ordinary, ‘hippy’, even unclean. Any midwife with a CPM qualification (Certified Professional Midwife) was technically acting illegally in the eyes of the state government, and disgustingly in the eyes of it’s population. Through personal sacrifice and outstanding belief in normal birth however, CPMs ran small home practises throughout the area by jumping loopholes in the law. It was in one of these practises where this woman (a registered nurse) had chosen to have her baby.
‘I don’t think you understand. At my local hospital, they have up to a 70% induction rate, and a 50% c-section rate. I don’t want that. I know that my body can do this. I know it can, and it will do it better at home. Women have been doing this for millions of years. I can do this.’ She had told me intently. A well-rehearsed speech that she must have told everyone who had questioned her choice of birth, including her apprehensive looking mother in the corner. There was no denying that this was a well-informed woman. She could quote statistics from all over the world to support her arguments for a normal home birth. And that was what she was going to have. No ifs, no buts. Her strength of mind was admirable; however, anything but that would have been a failure in her eyes. ‘I can do this. And I will.’ Were her parting words to me as she left her last antenatal appointment at 41 weeks pregnant.
So this is why, as I watched this woman take her baby from the surgeon, after 30 hours of long, hard, labour with little progress, I held my breath. A day and a night of fierce determination, of following her birth plan to the letter, of inspirational strength until the very end. Of regular examinations, of changing positions, of sighs and encouragement and eventually an unhappy baby. All amounted to this. The very last thing that she had wanted.
As I finally let go of my breath, I looked to her and her new baby girl, ready to comfort the heartbreak and the disappointment of not achieving her goals.
Heart-breaking smiles. Goals achieved. Pride in her eyes. ‘I did it.’
I learned a lot that day.
3rd Year Student - England University
https://www.facebook.com/Globalvillagemw/posts/1879666605652510
https://twitter.com/GlobalVillageMw/status/806760762181988355
Personally managed births to go: 20
Birth Story 8 –Working with a Midwife in the USA
Picture the scene: a mother, exhausted more than she knew possible, reaches down to take her baby from the surgeon she was determined never to meet. Tears and camera flashes from her family members who surround her at the head of the bed, as a proud mother becomes a proud grandmother.
Two weeks before, visiting her midwife in the front room of her home in a suburb of Atlanta, explained to me why she had chosen a different path from the regular Georgian mother. In the state of Georgia, to see anyone other than a hospital obstetrician during your pregnancy, birth and postnatal period was considered out of the ordinary, ‘hippy’, even unclean. Any midwife with a CPM qualification (Certified Professional Midwife) was technically acting illegally in the eyes of the state government, and disgustingly in the eyes of it’s population. Through personal sacrifice and outstanding belief in normal birth however, CPMs ran small home practises throughout the area by jumping loopholes in the law. It was in one of these practises where this woman (a registered nurse) had chosen to have her baby.
‘I don’t think you understand. At my local hospital, they have up to a 70% induction rate, and a 50% c-section rate. I don’t want that. I know that my body can do this. I know it can, and it will do it better at home. Women have been doing this for millions of years. I can do this.’ She had told me intently. A well-rehearsed speech that she must have told everyone who had questioned her choice of birth, including her apprehensive looking mother in the corner. There was no denying that this was a well-informed woman. She could quote statistics from all over the world to support her arguments for a normal home birth. And that was what she was going to have. No ifs, no buts. Her strength of mind was admirable; however, anything but that would have been a failure in her eyes. ‘I can do this. And I will.’ Were her parting words to me as she left her last antenatal appointment at 41 weeks pregnant.
So this is why, as I watched this woman take her baby from the surgeon, after 30 hours of long, hard, labour with little progress, I held my breath. A day and a night of fierce determination, of following her birth plan to the letter, of inspirational strength until the very end. Of regular examinations, of changing positions, of sighs and encouragement and eventually an unhappy baby. All amounted to this. The very last thing that she had wanted.
As I finally let go of my breath, I looked to her and her new baby girl, ready to comfort the heartbreak and the disappointment of not achieving her goals.
Heart-breaking smiles. Goals achieved. Pride in her eyes. ‘I did it.’
I learned a lot that day.
3rd Year Student - England University
https://www.facebook.com/Globalvillagemw/posts/1879666605652510
https://twitter.com/GlobalVillageMw/status/806760762181988355
Personally managed births to go: 20
Midwifery in Atlanta, Georgia
After I fractured my spine in a car accident in April 2015, I took a year away from the course halfway through my second year. Leaving my beloved cohort and friends was a hard thing for me to do, but ultimately best for my recovery and future health. It took a few months before I was back on my feet properly, but when I was, I was determined to make the best out of the time I had. My poor mother didn't sleep for about three months whilst I was gone for worry, but eventually I packed my bags and went volunteering around the world, experiencing maternity wherever I could. My first stop was in the USA.
In August 2015, I had the privilege of spending three weeks living with and shadowing a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) at her Home Birth practice in Atlanta, Georgia. As a CNM, usually you work for a Doctor within a hospital environment, however Kay is different. Kay and her partner in crime Debbie, a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), run a Practice together providing antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care for on average 60 women a year from around the region. Appointments are conducted in Debbie's cosy front room and deliveries are wherever the women chooses, with most preferring in a paddling pool within the comfort of their own home.
As we all know, in America healthcare is almost exclusively privatised and increasingly medicalised. Although CNMs are autonomous practitioners, they usually work in close partnership with the obstetricians who take the lead. Induction and caesarean section rates are high, with one hospital I visited having rates of 70% and 50% respectively. Kay used to be one of these midwives but one day decided enough was enough. She wanted to move away from the medical model of care and back towards woman-centred, women-empowered births within an environment that they create themselves. It was then that she found Debbie, a fantastic CPM holding the qualification influenced by Ina May Gaskin and the Farm, and a member of the board of the regulatory body, NARM. Between them, Kay and Debbie have built a widely renowned service with clients coming from far and wide to experience the amazing care that they provide.
During my time, Kay showed me around some of the hospitals in which she had worked, we attended appointments and three births, one of which led to a transfer into the local obstetric unit for a caesarean. It was during this time in which I realised that despite being halfway through my training, I had never attended the birth of a woman who I had met before. Having known them since their initial booking, Kay and Debbie had formed such strong relationships with the women and families. The trust between the midwives and the women was like nothing I had ever seen before. As well as this, the trust in the human body and belief in normal birth was almost a mutual understanding and it was if there was never any doubt that anything but that would happen (although hidden in the corner of the room was always any equipment you could possibly need for an emergency). When the National Maternity Review 2016 with Better Births came out in February, it really made me think about how incredible it really could be.
The births I saw were beautiful. One in a pool in their en suite, one on all fours on their bed and one emergency caesarean for failure to progress and fetal distress after a long hard labour. Each undeniably beautiful in their own ways.
The lovely Crystal shared her home birth that I attended on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9rn0NTz7o8
See more about their practice here: http://www.gamidwife.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AtlantaBirthCare/?fref=ts
National Maternity Review 2016: file:///C:/Users/user/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/CF1NFT2B/national-maternity-review-report.pdf
Personally managed births to go: 20
In August 2015, I had the privilege of spending three weeks living with and shadowing a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) at her Home Birth practice in Atlanta, Georgia. As a CNM, usually you work for a Doctor within a hospital environment, however Kay is different. Kay and her partner in crime Debbie, a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), run a Practice together providing antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care for on average 60 women a year from around the region. Appointments are conducted in Debbie's cosy front room and deliveries are wherever the women chooses, with most preferring in a paddling pool within the comfort of their own home.
As we all know, in America healthcare is almost exclusively privatised and increasingly medicalised. Although CNMs are autonomous practitioners, they usually work in close partnership with the obstetricians who take the lead. Induction and caesarean section rates are high, with one hospital I visited having rates of 70% and 50% respectively. Kay used to be one of these midwives but one day decided enough was enough. She wanted to move away from the medical model of care and back towards woman-centred, women-empowered births within an environment that they create themselves. It was then that she found Debbie, a fantastic CPM holding the qualification influenced by Ina May Gaskin and the Farm, and a member of the board of the regulatory body, NARM. Between them, Kay and Debbie have built a widely renowned service with clients coming from far and wide to experience the amazing care that they provide.
The births I saw were beautiful. One in a pool in their en suite, one on all fours on their bed and one emergency caesarean for failure to progress and fetal distress after a long hard labour. Each undeniably beautiful in their own ways.
The lovely Crystal shared her home birth that I attended on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9rn0NTz7o8
See more about their practice here: http://www.gamidwife.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AtlantaBirthCare/?fref=ts
National Maternity Review 2016: file:///C:/Users/user/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/CF1NFT2B/national-maternity-review-report.pdf
Personally managed births to go: 20
Well hello!
“So what’s the plan after qualification?” – the question that creates a look of fret on almost every 3rd year student midwife’s face. I don’t know! Should I know? Where will I be in 10 years’ time?! I need to survive 3rd year first! - I fully include myself in this category of thinkers, however I don’t consider this a bad thing. In the ever changing world of midwifery, new evidence and the subsequent positive changes in practice mean that the role of the midwife may be very different in the future. And isn’t that bloomin’ exciting!
So nice to meet you, I'm Anna. I'm a third year student midwife at Coventry University. I came straight out of my A Levels to be here at the young old age of 18 and am absolutely loving it. I've taken the scenic route to get here, and it's taken me a year longer than expected, but after finally completing my first and second years, here I am. Midwifery is my passion and with every birth I still feel that sense of magic and privilege that I did at the very first birth I watched, back in 2014. I've created this blog to provide a little bit of insight into what it's really like to be a 3rd year student midwife. Not just for other students to see what they've got in store for them, but also for midwives, for my family, and for my friends to see what it's all about. Despite popular opinion, it's really isn't all cake, bicycles, library sessions and supernoodles!
My plans for my future career as a midwife are undecided. I've changed my mind about a million times, throwing out words like London, Nottingham, Coventry, even America...
But really, who knows where this career will lead me. And I can’t wait to find out.
But really, who knows where this career will lead me. And I can’t wait to find out.
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