Are gloves always necessary during birth?

As I have nothing to hide about my practice and am confident in what I do and the care I give, I agreed to take part in HOME BIRTH DIARIES which, in my opinion, is the best woman centred and positive programme about pregnancy and birth on the telly....

In comparison to it I hang my head in shame at some birth programs, especially ones that take pride in admitting they are demonstrating conveyor belt like care and that one born every program is more like one extracted every minute. However we wont go there in too much detail but I may just remind you of those type of birth shows after I have had my say....

Back to Home Birth Diaries and in particular the episode showing Sadie, a women from Rochester having her 2nd baby. The birth in that episode is clear, close up and beautiful. A baby being born just how it should be. I also happen to know that it ranks as one of Discovery Health's and viewers favorites yet I have come in for criticism from some viewers, those of which are midwives themselves. I am used to criticism, being an independent midwife, and usually do not rise to it for the reasons I began this blog with, but this particular criticism has been mentioned to me twice in a few days so I thought I would address it.

Why do health professionals wear gloves?

We do so to protect ourselves and our clients against infections and blood born diseases.

I do not, however wear gloves to catch babies......shock horror ? please let me explain.

I do not "deliver" babies or have hands on other than if help is needed or if I have to be invasive in any way. Should that type of assistance be needed I always wear gloves, if I need to perform vaginal examinations I wear gloves, during the third stage of labour I wear gloves, to clear up any mess of any description I wear gloves BUT if a baby is just falling into my hands, as in Sadies birth, I take OFF my gloves just prior to catching the baby. A healthy, clean (maybe a bit wet) baby falls into my hands....what is the difference than when I hold the baby an hour later?

There is no risk AT ALL to a mother, baby or myself if my hands are clean, not cut or have any abrasions and I am aware of both the mother and my own HIV and Hepatitis B status. There is more chance of the latex gloves causing an allergic reaction to the baby. Furthermore how nice that baby is welcomed into the warm, clean hands of, if it cant be its own mother or father, a midwife who so well known to the family that she feels part OF the family.

Please my fellow colleagues and critics do not compare what I do to with what goes on in hospitals where strangers care for strangers, unless you are comparing my outcomes to those outcomes....in 13 years of practicing the way I do I have caused or caught no infections. My clients only have the ones they left hospitals with....My way of working is called individualised care...try it you may like it.

funny breastfeeding video

Well 7 months of hard work is over and now its just the waiting and seeing. Just before christmas last year a group of us including my good friend Bernie from www.mybirthtv.com thought about making a breastfeeding video. Not an educational one, (not to say they are not amazing because they all are), but a funny, cheeky one that will provoke attention and get the subject talked about. We were looking for a funny modern topical idea and it all gradually came together.....I have written the whole story about the making of it and why etc already so wont go into long detail again but if you want you can read it here. Anyway the video is on You Tube and the response is pretty amazing...both ways....I would say 99% positive but with a few people just not "getting it". Glamorous women saying "we are proud of who we are, proud of what we do, come and do it too its fun", not taking themselves too seriously, poking fun at themselves even and all for a very good reason....feeding our babies in the best possible way. We had lots of mums turn up on the day of filming all looking beautiful in their own ways, all willing to feed on camera...I say to everyone who took part ....very well done...didnt we have fun?
watch it here

breast is always

Shovels at the ready!

Restocked my birth box and checked all my equipment again over the weekend. Have some additional items that I was carrying around with me but don't need now, thank heavens. A shovel and a piece of carpet - cardboard works equally well though!

Heavy snow seems to be a fairly routine occurance now but nightmareish for us midwives and pregnant women.

If the snow returns though the stuff will be back in my car. And winter tyres fitted next season I think.

Back sleeping for pregnancy

I am repeatedly hearing women state that they must not sleep on their backs and are really concerned because they wake up on their back and have somehow harmed their unborn baby. I have been meaning to write about this for sometime but the straw that broke the camels back for me was a couple of days ago when a new client told me her previous midwife had told her not to back sleep or she could suffocate her baby!
Goodness me how on earth did our human race survive this treacherous journey called pregnancy and child birth? In one breathe we tell women they are not ill but going through a life event then we give them a whole list of what they must and must not do, places they must not go, things they must not eat and now which way to even sleep!
Rest assured dear sisters you can sleep how ever you feel most comfortable and you will do yourself or your baby no harm at all. In fact truth be known the worry of trying to sleep in a position you are self imposing on your body and the subsequent lack of sleep due to be less than comfortable will do you more harm.
On thinking long and hard I do believe that this myth has come about through a small grain of fact that has grown into huge Chinese whisper. In my opinion the myth has grown from the early days of dense paralysing epidurals and woman being left for hours alone in labour and on their backs.
It is true that there are huge oxygen carrying blood vessels in the lower back that if squashed by a heavy baby filled uterus did in the past lead to out of breath mothers who, due to the paralysis of an epidural were unable to move and the consequence was oxygen deprived babies. Once it was realised this was happening women were placed on their sides with a pillow wedged under them so they did not roll onto their backs, following administration of an epidural block.
These days epidurals are nowhere near so dense and most woman can move themselves around in the bed once it has been administered and can easy change position with minimal help.
As for a non labouring pregnant women, well that is whole different story because if she does happen to be squashing those all important blood vessels the first thing she will feel is a lack of oxygen which will lead to her feeling breathless and she will wake up and move! The baby will not suffer in any way. The human race has mechanisms to help us survive and will not allow us quietly suffocate ourselves (or our growing babies) in our sleep.
So sleep, pregnant women, however it suits your comfort.

Aquanatal class a huge success

Another success for Kent Midwifery Practice as last week saw the launch of our new Aquanatal classes. Having spent the previous couple of months learning exercise in water for pregnant women then making posters, distributing them , compiling health forms, registers, dance routines, looking around at venues and talking to pool managers.... phew! I was exhausted just thinking about the actual day. I then started to worry if any pregnant women would even turn up!
I had promised a free lunch as well as the first class free but that meant unless I was fully booked at every session I would make a loss. While I had not intended making a profit I certainly did not want to be actually funding the whole venture too.
A couple of weeks prior to launch I had interest and received some cheques in the post to pre book a group of sessions. I had been told by other midwives who run classes around the country that in their experience initially 6-8 women may come but that word of mouth will make the class grow. By the night before I had 8 women already booked and paid for so I was feeling a bit optimistic.
D day arrived and off I went with my student midwife daughter as my biggest support on the day. Women started to arrive at 10.30 as requested, to complete the health check forms and sort out any last minute fees.

By the start of the class to my utter amazement we had only one less than full capacity of women and I was ecstatic, 14 women turned up and as I was driving to the class another rang and booked for next week. So we now have full capacity for the next 4 weeks.

As for the actual class? Well it was great, we had loads of fun and no-one drowned!!
I remembered my routine and all the women said they loved it. After the class we all sat down with a nice cool drink and lunch and had an antenatal discussion.

The women told me they loved the breathing exercise and references to what will happen in labour as well as the discussion around food and what constitutes a good pregnancy diet.

This week I have music to add to the aquanatal moves and I am planning to talk about the progress of labour.......

I am an Inventor.....Presenting the HOWES birth Mirror

I am feeling quite proud of myself this morning for two reason. One reason is that I have invented a new product for my profession and it feels like it is going be a success.

Having released the details of my lovely new Howes birth mirror I sold some straight away!

Of course some of my dear colleagues had already ordered one from me, but I was never quite sure they thought it as great as I did and weren't just ordering one to be supportive (or they felt sorry for me), but to get orders from the public via my website Kent Midwifery Practice , and even an enquiry from the USA, had me jumping around like a teenager.

The second reason I feel proud of myself is that the hours, days and weeks I have spent recently learning about public relations have paid off. I know that because, having released the details of the Howes birth mirror through a prestigious press release wire distribution service, I not only got great feedback from them that I had written and presented it professionally, I also had several calls from journalists and publications saying they want to do a feature on me and my new invention. WOW!!!!!

You may wonder why that is important to me? Well, I was voted press secretary of Independent Midwives UK a couple of years ago and I want to fill my obligation appropriately in order that my colleagues can have full confidence in me.

The job has not been without heartache, worry, humiliation and sleepless nights over the last year and at times I wanted to retire and just stick to what I know I am best at (being a mother and a midwife) but, as the old saying goes, "if you stick your head above the parapet you get shot at" and, using the words of another strong woman, "I am not for turning".

So, after a short spell of feeling ridiculously sorry for myself after some public midwife-bashing, I dusted down and took myself off to meet a lovely man by the name of Richard Milton, journalist and writer of 25 years, who runs a PR training course in London. I spent a ridiculous amount of money for a self employed, moderately-paid midwife, but every single penny was worth it. He taught me so much about dealing with the press and getting your message to the right audience.

Midwives can really get a raw deal - most of us are too busy with midwifery to play the politics game, unlike our doctor colleagues, whose skills in debate and satirising their opponents are honed during their training.

This could be because midwifery as a profession - both independent midwives and those working in the NHS - is not well represented in the media.
Things that midwives say - and write - can be misunderstood and misrepresented, and as a profession maybe we all need to work on putting our case more clearly - and carefully!

Now I just have to learn about marketing and selling........