Showing posts with label women's rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women's rights. Show all posts

Sunday 12 August 2012

Australian Government acts to give women greater access to midwives and improve care!

An important update on the outcome of the Standing Committee on Health in regards to midwifery care.  So exciting to see this sensible development.  I know many people have been working tirelessly on getting the government to understand the issues.  My deepest gratitude to you all.

MEDIA RELEASE: 11 August 2012
Contact: Liz Wilkes 0423 580 585

Standing Committee on Health Decision will give women greater access to Midwives and improve Care.

Today’s decision by the Standing Committee on Health to enable midwives to collaborate with hospitals rather than individual doctors provides a welcome relief to Medicare provider midwives struggling to provide Medicare funded care to women.

“Until now government policy designed to provide women with Medicare access to private midwifery care has been to date severely restricted by obstetricians not wanting to be involved” said Liz Wilkes President of Midwives Australia.

“The recognition from every Health Minister across the country that midwives work collaboratively with doctors in hospitals and do not need individual doctor sign off is entirely appropriate. We applaud the sense they have shown” said Ms Wilkes

Midwives Australia has seen the legislation requiring midwives to collaborate with individual doctors has created unnecessary administrative burden and has created opportunity for medical veto over women’s access to Medicare rebates.

“What we are seeing here is the opportunity for midwives to develop license agreements and contracts with hospitals which enable true collaborative practice to continue”

“The whole hospital system relies on obstetricians being in the right place to deal with referrals of women. It is not a change in safe practice.”

“Midwifery care should not and does not require the presence of an individual doctor at a tertiary hospital when many other doctors are on staff, what matters is that there is a doctor present who is able to accept referral and transfer as doctors are employed to do this on a daily basis.”

“This week a Melbourne study found the care of a known midwife reduced the need for a caesarean section and actually improved outcomes. It is comforting to know that all Health Ministers agree on the need to make the care of a known midwife more accessible to Australian women.” said Ms Wilkes.

 We hope you will find it informative.

Best regards,
Midwives Australia

Thanks Liz Wilkes for this update! 

Sunday 27 May 2012

"midwives' views" etc have NO place in our literature. Bugger their views!”


The other evening I posted this article to twitter.

“Women who plan to birth at home with midwives are more likely to receive Evidence-based Care http://fb.me/1puDpq2un

The article described research that found that first-time mothers who chose to give birth at home were not only more likely to give birth with no intervention but were also more likely to receive evidence-based care that women who gave birth in hospital despite care by the same midwives. (BIRTH 39:2 June 2012)

There was an immediate reply tweet from a female obstetrician who has the twitter name @obgynkenobi


Obygnkenobi  tweeted:  “primips should not then home birth according to recent bmj RCT. This article is level 9 evidence. Sorry.” 

I responded:  er no, that's not what that study showed at all

Obygnkenobi  tweeted: “p0s [nulliparas]: increased risk of adverse outcomes if home birth. Please don't make me get out of bed to get the ref. it's cold.”  

I responded: "the BMJ study showed a miniscule increase risk to the neonate with a primigravid woman birthing at home"

Obygnkenobi  tweeted: “let's not just pick and choose which evidence suits us”.  

I replied:  “birthing at home is still far safer than driving with your child in the car or having a swimming pool in one's back yard”

Obygnkenobi tweeted:  "I'm not debating the safety. I'm debating the article that stated that homebirth midwives were more likely to use EBM [evidence based medicine]” And further “Yes, the absolute risk is low but if EBM is the master we all serve, primips should not home"

I wrote back:actually, the researchers said that people needed to be aware of the risks, not that they shouldn't”

Obygnkenobi tweeted: “because clearly, "some" midwives choose whichever evidence is more appropriate to their aims”  

I asked "clearly"? why clearly?"

Obygnkenobi replied:  "b/c some mws (and drs) don't practice EBM. Interpreting evidence based on proving a point"

That comment reminded me of the way people responded to a very poor study that changed practice overnight, so I repliedHmmm, I guess the Term Breech Trial is a good example of your point. So many so quick to jump based on such flawed research” 

Obygnkenobi responded: “probably true to a degree. However I know many skilled docs who won't touch a breech” 

To that I commented: “then they're not skilled with breech; over decades I've seen many breech births & brilliant doctors & midwives; now fear rules”

Obygnkenobi  tweeted: “It's not just the medicolegal aspect but the trial confirmed what they had always thought”. 

I was confused by that statement, so replied: “sorry, you've lost me here” and when I thought more about what she said, I asked: “so you think they stopped doing breeches because the skewed trial confirmed what obstetricians thought all along?”

Obygnkenobi responded: “no but it probably was one of the factors #beforemytime"

I was confused by this comment too, because surely, understanding why we do what we do involves knowing one’s history and ensuring that what we are doing is evidence based. I am also aware of how one’s own cognitive bias leads us to perceive and interpret things from our own viewpoint, which is what happened with the Term Breech Trial. Cognitive bias was also happening in response to the BMJ article, so I tweeted in response “the biggest issue is ensuring the evidence is robust and real - we know how easy it is to find what you are looking for”

Obygnkenobi  tweeted: “So there IS a role for using our brain!! Who'd thought!”

I didn’t recognise this at the time as sarcasm, but I did feel confused so said: “and I'm not sure what this was in relation to either?? erk - I've missed something :( and I was enjoying this conversation”

Obygnkenobi replied:  “EBM raises a difficulty: either use our brains or use evidence. It's ok to use either but don't dress it up as EBM if it's not”

I fully agreed with that statement about evidence based [medicine] care being a difficulty, I was experiencing that in this conversation and replied: “very much so!”

Obygnkenobi  then tweeted: “precisely. And that's why the article with "midwives' views" etc have NO place in our literature. Bugger their views!” (my emphasis)

I was surprised and disheartened by that comment and replied: “I find that comment depressing :( “

Obygnkenobi responded:  ok. How about: ebm and individuals views should not coexist in the same article. Better?” and then “individuals views are ok, so long as they're not gusseyed up to look like evidence. It's all good really.”

I didn’t respond to those two statements as it was 1230am and I was not wanting to say anything that could be misconstrued or appear rude.

The next day I tweeted:  @obgynkenobi I'm curious to know if you read the actual paper?

I haven’t received any response to my query. 

This morning I tweeted: @obgynkenobi “did you see this? Term Breech Trial 10 years on” 

That article is worth reading as it revisits the criticisms of the Term Breech Trial and highlights the fact that there has been an increase in maternal deaths with the rise of caesarean section surgery for breech presentations following that study. 
The abstract states:
Abstract:  In 2000, the Term Breech Trial was published, and its authors recommended cesarean section as the safest mode of delivery for breech-presenting babies. Criticisms of the trial were raised at the time, which the authors dismissed. Since then, maternal deaths have been recorded among women undergoing cesarean sections for breech presentations. Accordingly, those initial criticisms deserve to be revisited. (BIRTH 39:1 March 2012)
Not only did the BMJ article that Obgynkenobi had referred to earlier in our twitter conversation Perinatal and MaternalOutcomes Perinatal and maternal outcomes by planned place of birth for healthywomen with low risk pregnancies: the Birthplace in England national prospectivecohort study   not say women having their first baby should not give birth at home, they concluded: 
“Our results support a policy of offering healthy nulliparous and multiparous women with low risk pregnancies a choice of birth setting. Adverse perinatal outcomes are uncommon in all settings, while interventions during labour and birth are much less common for births planned in non-obstetric unit settings. For nulliparous women, there is some evidence that planning birth at home is associated with a higher risk of an adverse perinatal outcome. A substantial proportion of women having their first baby who plan to give birth in a non-obstetric unit setting are transferred to an obstetric unit.
These results will enable women and their partners to have informed discussions with health professionals in relation to clinical outcomes and planned place of birth. For policy makers, the results are important to inform decisions about service provision and commissioning. The relative cost effectiveness of the different birth settings will also be of interest to policy makers and is being compared in another component of the Birthplace Research Programme.
Further research is needed into the avoidability of adverse perinatal outcomes, the effect of staffing and service configuration on outcomes, and more detailed analyses of transfers from non-obstetric unit settings. It is unfortunate that routine maternity information systems are not currently of a sufficiently high quality to enable the analyses presented here to be repeated without carrying out another large prospective cohort study.”
I also retweeted the article that sparked the twitter conversation:

I tweeted: @obgynkenobi in terms of evidence based practice, did you actually read the article about midwives use of evidence and place of birth? 

There is still no response, but it is Sunday!   

I would like to think that we can have good, intelligent conversations about evidence and practice without denigration and dismissive behaviour.  

Interprofessional collaboration in Delivery Suite was the subject of a research project I did in 2008. Attitudes like those displayed here by this obstetrician fit the model of Negative Interprofessional Interactions and stereotypical behaviour. This model is linked to low social and emotional intelligence of the midwives and obstetricians together with adverse outcomes for women and their babies.  Obstetricians and midwives don't feel good about these negative interactions either. I certainly feel very disconcerted with the attitude of this doctor towards midwives and our practice and the misinterpretation of these three studies.  


Monday 2 January 2012

Bystanding Behaviour in Midwifery

I was alerted by a friend on facebook, to this article Bystanding Behaviour in Midwifery, about the way midwives don't stand up for women and how midwifery students are acculturated and desensitised to unkind behaviour. The article, written in 2008, is by Margaret Jowitt, who did her masters in Keele in 1998 on Mothers' Experience of Birth at Home and in Hospital. The book "Childbirth Unmasked" was written as a result of her reseach. Margaret is a lay member of the Association of Radical Midwives UK and a columnist for the Huffington Post.

Margaret wrote:
"I HAVE LONG WANTED to write an article on ‘Woman's inhumanity to woman' but have shied away until now for fear of being seen as attacking midwives and failing to acknowledge all they have achieved over the years in the care they give to women, often under very difficult and alien circumstances when they are based in hospitals".
I'm very glad she found a way to move through her fear and publish this article on Bystanding Behaviour in Midwifery and good to see it online as the issues are still alive and well today and not just in the UK.  Distressing as it is to think such articles are necessary, we need to examine and digest the ideas presented in this piece and discover what we can do to change or do better. I shared the article on facebook and twitter, thinking it would be useful for midwifery students.  However, I was prompted to put this post up to explore the ideas further following a reply 'tweet' to the article on Twitter.
I was a bystander recently and it traumatized me , worse was my colleagues saying it was normal and I was being dramatic. 
How many of us have had our feelings about and discomfort with the way women have been treated minimised or dismissed?
What happens to us when abuse is normalised?

When there is a disconnect between what we know is right and what is happening, between what is taught and what is practice, there is cognitive and emotional dissonance and a sense of not knowing what to do next...



How do you deal with that?

Is this your experience?

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Creating Optimal Birth Space

The environment in which we live and move and have our being is critical to our physical, mental, spiritual and social functioning. More and more understanding is emerging about how the environment plays a pivotal role in all aspects of our lives. From mice to (wo) men, science is demonstrating that the body's neural network is "plastic", that genes are not destiny and that the "environment" is an integral part of how living creatures function and develop. Every physiological interaction and behaviour, from the way genes are expressed in the sperm and the ovum to our health and experience across the lifecycle depends upon the environment. The environnment gives feedback which will be either nourishing and provide the stimulus to function well and grow or hostile, which disrupts our functioning, leading to disease, distress and decay.

Recognition of the way the environment is integral to optimal functioning is expanding our understanding of the role of maternity care in providing optimal environments for childbearing women. The science is also demonstrating why woman centred care, facilitating the fulfilment of woman's choices and incorporating women's rights into maternity care are so much a part of optimising outcomes for women, their babies, their intimate relationships and society in general.


My friend and colleague, the wonderful Maralyn Foureur, Professor of Midwifery at the University of Technology of Sydney (UTS) presented on this topic at the recent homebirth conference in New Zealand.  Maralyn is heading up a research team exploring birth space and has attracted a highly prized NHMRC grant for this work. 

Click the link below and it will take you to the slide share of her presentation


I think you will enjoy and get a lot out of her research.

Monday 12 December 2011

Quotes for Midwives

My last meeting with the lovely midwifery students I've been working with in Papua New Guinea is this morning.

 Pacific Adventist University Midwifery Students PNG
I've been surfing the net, looking for quotes that relate to midwifery, women and birth that I thought would inspire them.   I've come across the following and thought I'd share them with you.
"You are a midwife, assisting at someone else’s birth. Do good without show or fuss. Facilitate what is happening rather than what you think ought to be happening. If you must take the lead, lead so that the mother is helped, yet still free and in charge. When the baby is born, the mother will rightly say: “We did it ourselves!”  - From The Tao Te Ching
Speak tenderly to them. Let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of our greeting. Always have a cheerful smile. Don’t only give your care, but give your heart as well. ~ Mother Teresa
Ask me for strength and I will lend not only my hand, but also my heart. ~ Unknown
If you lay down, the baby will never come out! ~ Native American saying
Offer hugs, not drugs ~ Adina Lebowitz
Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man (sic) will have discovered fire. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
  Just as a woman's heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth. ~Virginia Di Orio
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

For God hath not give us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. ~2Timothy 1:7
If I had my life to live over, instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished ever moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle. ~Irma Bombeck

Making the decision to have a baby – it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone

What's done to children, they will do to society. ~Karl Menninger

A woman
in harmony
with her spirit
is like
a river flowing.
She goes
where she will
without pretense
and arrives
at her destination,
prepared
to be herself
and only herself.
~Maya Angelou


Sunday 11 December 2011

Right Livelihood Award: Ina May Gaskin

The world's premier award for personal courage and social transformation, The Right Livelihood Award honours and supports those "offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today".

The wonderful Ina May Gaskin, affectionately referred to as 'the mother of midwifery', was awarded the Right Livelihood Award this year for:
“… for her whole-life’s work teaching and advocating safe, woman-centred childbirth methods that best promote the physical and mental health of mother and child.“
Ina May's acceptance speech is sobering as she carefully catalogues the abuses that have been and continue to be perpetrated against women and their babies in the name of industrialised birth; inspirational as she talks about the brave and loving doctors who have acted in the face of repression and vilification from their less than women centred peers and seek to scare women into submission to the medical juggernaut...


"We must wake up to the fact that it is easy to scare women about their bodies, especially in countries in which midwives have little or no power in policy-making, relative to physicians and the influence of large corporate entities. This takes no real talent. Given such imbalance, fear, ignorance, and greed begin to reinforce each other, and rates of unnecessary intervention soar, with women and the babies suffering the consequences"

Ina May's speech is heart warming as she asks the Hungarian Goverment to release Agnes Gereb, a Hungarian doctor who supported women to birth at home and encouraging as she offers a vision of a better world through optimising midwifery care and supporting women's choices ...

Another site came across my computer screen this morning, and given the content is highly relevant to the content of Ina May's speech, I thought it was entirely appropriate to link it here.

I'm not sure why the midwife broke the sac on this breech baby as she was born, I would have thought it was better left alone to provide that lovely buffer that intact membranes offer.  Even so, I'm grateful to the woman and her family and to the midwives for sharing this delightful photo journey. The explanatory notes are very useful.

Ina May's book Spiritual Midwifery, together with Frederick Leboyer's Birth Without Violence, changed my world when they were released in 1976.  I first heard Ina May speak at a preconfernce workshop at the 1992 Homebirth Conference in Sydney.   I was so emotional on being in the presence of Ina May, that I spent most of the workshop in tears - her passion and 'right thinking' about women and birth still has that effect on me as I watch and listen to her speech accepting her Right Livelihood award.  Thank you Ina May for all you have done and are doing for Women and Birth and Midwifery.  Congratulations on receiving this prestigious award. You certainly deserve it.

Monday 26 September 2011

Strong College, Strong Midwives, Strong Mothers


I've talked previously on this blog about the fact that:

"Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers - strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength". Barbara Katz Rothman

The environment a woman finds herself in is a great mediator for how well she is able to develop that strength. A supportive environment is enabling. A supportive environment is capacity building.


Midwives have traditionally been a vital part of the woman's birth territory where ever the woman gave birth. Midwives have protected the space and provided the support, encouragement and trust in the birth process that is so integral to women feeling free to birth and mother well. Midwives stand strong with women as they bring their babies forth into the world. Many's the time I've been with a birthing woman who would glance at me as she laboured and I'd smile and nod and she would go back to her process satisfied that she was 'on track'. Those women would invariably say later, "I was feeling frightened and when I looked at you and you smiled at me, I knew I was ok".

The word 'midwife' comes from the Anglo-Saxon "mid-wyfe" which means 'with woman'. There is a long history (at least the last four thousand years has been recorded) of the way that being with women has brought midwives into conflict with 'authorities'. The Bible gives evidence that midwives have always stood with women and protected them and their infants in the most difficult circumstances and despite powerful edicts to the contrary. Exodus (1:15-22) contains "several verses recounting the experiences of two Hebrew midwives who refused to kill male infants in defiance of the King of Egypt".

And now, in Australia, women and midwives have a new challenge.

In response to political posturing by various authorities, the Australian  College of Midwives has released an Interim Statement on Homebirth in an attempt to restrict where women can birth and what midwives can do. The statement, hastily drafted as it was, nonetheless was rapidly endorsed by the newly formed Australian Nurses and Midwives Board, even before the statement was reviewed by the College's members.  You will note that the statement endorsed by the board does not mention the word 'interim'.  What is also concerning is that the College statement references two papers whose data collection methods have been poorly regarded (Kennare et al (2010) paper on planned homebirth in South Australia, and Bastian et al (1998).

Interesting.

Submissions on the statement were requested by Friday 23rd September 2011 (after publication on the web). The College states it intends to finalise the statement in October this year. Many of us are not impressed by the statement as it stands because it does not position the woman as the decision maker. Midwifery ethics are all about the woman as decison maker.

You will find considered responses to the interim statement on homebirth by midwives who work in private practice on the following links.

Rachel Reed of MidwifeThinking's response

Australian Private Midwives' Association's position statement on homebirths

I was thrilled to see the clarity of thinking and recognition of women's rights in the response from the National Alliance for Students of Midwifery.

This statement from the International Confederation of Midwives on women's choices and birth territory is clear and unfortunately, not reflected in the interim statement by the Australian College of Midwives.

So here's my  submission to the College for consideration in the Board's deliberations over the wording and intent of the Final Statement on Homebirth.

Carolyn Hastie
Midwifery Facilitator
23rd September 2011
Dear Colleagues,
Re: Australian College of Midwives Statement on Homebirth: Women's Rights to a Homebirth and Their Right to a Skilled Attendant
Firstly, I want to know that my College supports women to have sovereignty over their own bodies and agency, including the right to choose where they give birth.

I also want to know that my College supports midwives to support women with their choices.

Guidelines and standards are important, however, risk status is an indicator, not a predictor and each woman has the right as an adult to be self determining. As an adult, a woman has the right to informed consent and informed refusal.

What enables women to be safest when giving birth is a known competent midwife, agency to choose to give birth where she feels most relaxed, a seamless means of transfer and acceptance at a local health service and collaboration with that service and prompt medical attention as required; the woman's chosen midwife able to continue to provide midwifery care with the support of the hospital's midwifery team.

Science is clear that when women have a perception of control over what happens to them, they have reduced levels of glucocorticoids in their peripheral circulation. Stress hormones are implicated in much of what goes wrong in labour and birth. Our role as midwives and as a midwifery organisation is to be 'with woman' and reduce stress, not create it.

As Barbara Katz Rothman said, "when there is a strong and autonomous midwifery profession, women and their babies do well".

We need to be a strong and autonomous midwifery profession. I want to feel proud of my College and our final Statement on Homebirth. The Interim statement both horrifies and embarrasses me, especially as it has been already endorsed and published by the Australian Nurses and Midwives Board - how on earth did that happen?

Yours Sincerely,
Carolyn Hastie
ACM Member and Fellow
MO5257

Women's rights to sovereignty and bodily autonomy are under threat and we need to stand beside them, to ensure they have the information they need to make their choices and support those choices.

That is what 'midwife' means.

We need our College to support women’s right to choose what suits them and their families and to support us to support women. We need a strong College, so midwives can be strong to support women in their choices so they can become the strong mothers they need to be.

The Environment is everything!

Wednesday 16 June 2010

Judging Right and Wrong?

Great changes are happening to midwifery and women's birth choices in Australia. The government has passed legislation that on the one hand gives more autonomy and a wider scope of practice to midwives working in the public health system and on the other hand, restricts the services able to be offered by midwives in private practice. More women will be able to have their babies at home as more public hospital homebirth services are being offered. However women will have less ability to choose their own midwife. In accessing publicly funded services, women will have to, in the main, take 'pot luck' with their midwives. Women who have 'criteria' also known as risk factors will be denied a choice of birth venue, even though many of the risk factors are poor predictors of outcomes. With good midwifery care, these women birth  well.

I have had an email from someone recently who is absolutely distraught because her local hospital staff are bullying her into having another caesarean. The maddening thing is that the woman has given birth normally both before and after the caesarean birth. The hospital where the woman lives has a 'once a caesarean always a caesarean' policy and does not take into account the individual and her circumstances . The woman is unable to pay a private midwife and any other options are non existent.

Just yesterday, a woman who was booked to have a homebirth with a publicly funded service, was explaining to some midwifery students how she found out that her allocated midwife was off when she went into labour. She rang the phone number and got a midwife on the other end who she felt was not the least bit interested in her. The woman told the students how uncomfortable she felt and how she had to ring someone in charge and get another midwife allocated to care for her. She was finally allocated two midwives she felt good with. Once that arrangement was settled, she was able to focus on her baby and her labour. She went on to have a her baby at home.

I've found the various perspectives on the current changes polarised and distressing for many people. I can understand the distress. Change is always challenging. Many people feel we are losing too much. I believe that we have to stay focused on what we want and how we want maternity services to be. Focusing on the problem only adds energy to the problem. Looking clearly at what is going on and then choosing our path and taking action is a much better way.

I truly want everything - I want women led maternity services.  I want women and their babies to be safe and given the care they want so that their physiology works well and their safety is optimised. I want publicly funded birthing services, including venue of choice to be freely available.  I want midwives in private practice able to work to the full scope of their practice. I want 'no fault' compensation for women and their families when babies have problems as they occasionally do regardless of birth venue.  I want women, midwives and doctors to work together and with other health care providers as needed for any particular woman's circumstances.  I believe we can achieve these changes.

Imagine my delight when I found this email newsletter in my inbox from a wonderful man, Charlie Badenhop, this evening talking about right and wrong. Charlie is a fourth degree black belt and certified instructor of Aikido in Japan, and a certified trainer in NLP and Ericksonian Hypnosis. He is also a long term practitioner of various forms of bodywork, Self-relations therapy, the Japanese healing arts of sei tai and seiki jutsu, and Yoga.

I have found Charlie well worth listening to as he always has something interesting and appropriate to say. As I read the newsletter, I thought how pertinent Charlie's writing is to our circumstances. I wrote to Charlie and asked if I could share the newsletter. He readily agreed and to my surprise, told me that at one stage he had thought about becoming a midwife but ended up in Japan instead.

Enjoy!  If you like what Charlie has to say, you can subscribe to his newsletters down the bottom of the blog post.

"Pure Heart, Simple Mind"(tm) is the Seishindo newsletter written and edited by Charlie Badenhop (c).

Punishment, and the concept of "right or wrong"

"A lot of the best learning I received as an Aikido student came when we were outside of the dojo with sensei. We could be having a cup of coffee, or occasionally having a drink, and at some point it would become clear sensei had a message to deliver.

Once we were sitting in a coffee shop waiting for a train in the countryside.
Seemingly out of nowhere, sensei said, "I think there are many people in the world who act in a confrontational manner, and thus I wish more people understood the Aikido principle of non-dissension."

"Instead of spending so much time and so many human lives quarreling over who is right and who is wrong, I think the world would be a better place if we spent more time exploring how both sides are both right and wrong."


Myself, and the other two students sat there and said very little, knowing sensei was just beginning to get warmed up.

"You see," sensei said, "In Aikido we learn to refrain from engaging in confrontation, but that does not mean we shy away from protecting ourselves. It always intrigues me when new students attend a class and ask, ‘How can Aikido really be a martial art if you don't attack or retaliate against your opponents.' By this time the three of you have heard my reply many times over. In Aikido we have no attack form because we have no desire or intention to harm our adversaries. Instead we strive to bring hostilities to a conclusion that is respectful of all involved."

"If my opponent has never harmed me, never struck me, never hurt me, then why would I want to hurt or punish him? Do I want to punish him simply because he has thought about hurting me, or because he has made a weak effort that was easily rebuffed? You see, even in a court of law, you can't charge someone with murder simply because they thought about murdering someone. Attempted murder and actual murder are two very different crimes. When I am relaxed, aware, and fully present in the moment, then my adversary will have little opportunity to successfully attack me. Since he hasn't hurt me, since he hasn't truly threatened me, I have little desire to punish him in any way. His own thoughts, and the negative results he achieves in the world will be punishment enough."

"Related to punishing someone, is the idea of someone or something being either right or wrong. In Aikido, we learn to refrain from believing one path, or one way of thinking, is inherently superior to another. We also learn to refrain from engaging in thinking that any one point of view is the opposite of others."

"When we think in terms of opposites and disagree with someone else's opinion, we begin to oppose the other person's point of view. And this is exactly the kind of thinking that leads to resisting, combat, antagonism, and an overall disrespect for our perceived adversary."

"In Aikido, we do not attack, but we also do not concede or give up. In every day life the same can be true. Without attacking the viewpoint of others, without conceding or giving up our own viewpoint, we can still maintain ourselves, and continue to act in a way that is consistent with our beliefs."

"Keep that in mind," sensei said as he looked across the table. "More than once I've heard you arguing with other students, trying to prove your viewpoint was more correct than theirs. When you act like that, not only will you fail to convince them that you are right, and they are wrong, you'll also wind up losing them as friends and allies."

"Pure Heart, Simple Mind"(tm) is the Seishindo newsletter written and edited by Charlie Badenhop (c). All rights reserved. Click if you would like to subscribe.

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Happy International Midwives Day!

Happy International Midwives Day! 

All over the world, midwives and women, their partners and anyone who cares about how women are cared for during childbirth,  are celebrating midwifery today, the International Day of the Midwife. 


The 24 Hour Virtual International Day of the Midwife is an online event aimed at bringing midwives together from all over the world. The event is being facilitated by Sarah Stewart and Deborah Davis. For more info: click this link here

Remember to come and enjoy the different sessions. You can find the program here. 


A gallery of photos of Global mothers, midwives and nurses can be found here

Sunday 21 March 2010

Caesarean vs VBAC a dramatic difference

This is a very inspirational and moving video by Alexandra Orchard about her birth experiences.


Cesarean vs. VBAC:  A Dramatic Difference from Alexandra Orchard on Vimeo.


There are some very interesting comments on Alexandra's page. Click this link or cut and paste into your browser.

http://vimeo.com/5648654

Thursday 18 March 2010

Government sold out to the AMA

 "The new regulatory framework includes a request for midwives to form a collaborative relationship with doctors, requiring their sign-off to access Medicare insurance and pharmaceutical benefits"

This bit of legislation has put midwifery under the control of doctors and sold out women's choice to birth at home with her own midwife
 



and is it no wonder when our prime minister, the honourable kevin rudd, at the AMA's union dinner says:

"In particular, tonight I want to acknowledge the hard work of Andrew Pesce as President of the AMA. I've appreciated Andrew's input and his engagement with
the health reform agenda in the meetings that we have had together in recent weeks.

The Government and the AMA are both committed to tackling the long-term challenge of health reform, and we are both committed on the direction we need to take to tackle this challenge - in particular, on the need for stronger clinician leadership within our health system.

In July last year, the AMA told us about the sorts of things that they would like to see in health reform....

Andrew, we heard you."

Date: 10 March 2010
News Type: Speech
Title: Speech to the 2010 AMA Parliamentary Dinner


Senate passes controversial birth bill | Herald Sun

Wednesday 24 February 2010

Hansard 23rd February 2010

This is from Sen Julian McGauran, Liberal Sen for Victoria (page 4), said:

"Rest assured that I know all about the incompetence of Minister Roxon, who has flown under the radar. It is not just this issue; a whole array of issues in her portfolio ought to be brought out.......

I was in Ballarat recently for the community cabinet; it was Mr Rudd's sideshow. That was all it was. You should have seen the glum faces on all of the ministers who turned up. What a joke. In this portfolio is the midwives issue, denying women the choice to have home births. That was what dominated the community
cabinet. I got a guernsey; I was there in the front row. I could not believe it. It was a sight to see the one ego on display. He really does have a big ego. You have to see it to believe it, and you are all compliant to it. It is a joke. When are you going to stand up and speak on an issue?

This Prime Minister is so frightened of the midwives issue he is not willing to meet the public outside of a controlled situation. When he had to unveil the Kevin Rudd bust in Ballarat ‹as many of you know, in
the gardens there there are busts of every Prime Minister‹ he did not turn up. He left the council, the Mayor and everyone else standing there waiting for him to appear at 11 am. He just did not turn up. He did not even ring ahead to say he was not going to turn up. Can you imagine the embarrassment and the frustration? Do you know why? Because there were midwives protesting there waiting for him and wanting to speak to him. Of course, they have dubbed it as 'cowardly'. That is the portfolio I want to speak on".

Tuesday 23 February 2010

Writing Speeches For The Government

Writing Speeches For The Government

MYLES PETERSON
February 21, 2010
Midway through last year I was head-hunted by the federal Department of Health and Ageing to write speeches for their ministers - a surprise as I had no experience or qualifications. As far as the department was aware, my limited skills were derived from reviewing video games for The Canberra Times.
Perplexed and amused, I dusted off the suit and attended my one and only interview. ''I'll be writing speeches for who?''
''Minister Roxon,'' answered my interviewer.
''And you're going to pay me how much?''
''Eighty thousand a year. Will that be enough?''
So began my journey down the public service rabbit-hole. I would soon learn that swine flu and a raid on staff by another department were to thank for my recruitment.

Sigh! An article well worth reading. So this is what we are dealing with folks!

Friday 19 February 2010

YouTube - Our bodies rally.wmv

On the 18th February, 2010 in 14 locations across Australia, 1000's of people rallied to register their protest at the Rudd Government policies that threaten to restrict options for women.



Jane Palmer's wonderful video montage of the rallies for women's right to choose what happens to their bodies in childbirth

And some media on the 'issue'


The Sunrise piece that seems to have stirred up the Government

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/play/-/6819641/

a TV piece from Chan 7 yesterday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvZFZ0gd-Zw

http://www.facebook.com/l/64996;www.mybirth.com.au/19-02-2010/women-rally-at

Nicola Roxon's response to collaboration agreements.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/19/2824133.htm

Roxon says: "I'm unapologetically on the record as saying let's encourage people across the health services spectrum to work together and make sure that women can safely choose options that are good for them and suit them.." 

That's great in theory and obviously something that sounds very reasonable. 

The question then has to be asked: So why not restrict doctors work unless they collaborate - they are the ones who make things difficult! 

In reality, Roxon's 'encouragement' is only fueling the power imbalances and women are caught in the 'rip'.

 

 

 

Right to breastfeed - Local News - News - General - Bunbury Mail


Western Australia doesn't have a law that protects women's right to breastfeed and babies right to be fed breastmilk!  That's about  to be changed by a young woman who knows what is right.

Jess and her son Oscar

A LOCAL mother is taking on the State Government after she was humiliated for breastfeeding in public recently.
Jess Beven was out to lunch with friends and family when she discreetly began breastfeeding her nine-month-old son Oscar.
Using a blanket to cover herself she was dismayed when a man approached her and told her to move elsewhere "to do that".
"He made me feel humiliated," Mrs Beven said.
"I couldn’t believe he said that."

Read the rest of the story here:    Right to Breastfeed

Tuesday 16 February 2010

Founders of British obstetrics 'were callous murderers' | UK news | The Observer

Founders of British obstetrics 'were callous murderers' | UK news | The Observer

"They are giants of medicine, pioneers of the care that women receive during childbirth and were the founding fathers of obstetrics. The names of William Hunter and William Smellie still inspire respect among today's doctors, more than 250 years since they made their contributions to healthcare. Such were the duo's reputations as outstanding physicians that the clienteles of their private practices included the rich and famous of mid-18th-century London.
But were they also serial killers? New research published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (JRSM) claims that they were. A detailed historical study accuses the doctors of soliciting the killing of dozens of women, many in the latter stages of pregnancy, to dissect their corpses.
"Smellie and Hunter were responsible for a series of 18th-century 'burking' murders of pregnant women, with a death total greater than the combined murders committed by Burke and Hare and Jack the Ripper," writes Don Shelton, a historian. "Burking" involved murdering people to order, usually for medical research."
"Motivated by ego, personal rivalry and a shared desire to benefit from being acclaimed as the foremost childbirth doctors of their time, Hunter and Smellie sacrificed life after life in their quests to study pregnancy's physical effects and to develop new techniques, the author says. "Although it sounds absolutely incredible, the circumstantial literary evidence suggests they were most likely competing with each other in experimenting with secret caesarean sections on unconscious, or freshly murdered, victims, with a view to extracting and reviving the babies," Shelton told the Observer".
Another founder of obstetrics, Dr Marion Sims, who has the Sim's speculum named after him, was also callous about women and their bodies and performed hundreds of operations on black women slaves without anaesthetic.
          Sims contended that ‘Black women don’t feel pain'


Modern obstetrics evolved from this era.

When you consider the foundations of anything, the foundations do influence the structure of what comes after. Modern obstetrics imposes an impersonal, efficiency model onto women's organic, dynamic birthing processes. There are, of course, doctors who treat women individually and take into account what women want - they are however, not in the majority.

I'm not talking about those women-centred doctors here.

I'm talking about the 'cookie cutter' approach to labour and birth adopted by obstetrics generally. The process that women are subjected to has been linked to the industrial age Taylorist ideas of factory processing - speed, efficiency and cost containing - supposedly.

Many women emerge bruised and shattered from their birth experience having been 'done to' by the 'machine'.

Meanwhile, midwifery emerged from millions of years of women helping women during their life cycle events such as the birth of children. Midwifery remains woman focused and has sought and is seeking to keep birth normal, keep maternity care woman focused, accommodating women's individual needs, desires and dreams for her baby and her experience.

That is where the 'rip' is - the two tides of beliefs, attitudes, values, historical underpinnings, philosophy (etc) come together and create a field of dissension and distress for both women and midwives.

Many theorists are saying how invasion, genocide, penal colony origins, drunkenness, murder and mayhem were the foundations of contemporary Australia and underpin the rules, regulations and behaviours of 'mateship' - football culture, 'tall poppy' syndrome and other rather distasteful aspects of our culture.
In terms of modern maternity care and the 'turf wars' together with rising rates of surgical birth and maternal depression, as we look through the lenses of the foundations of medicine and midwifery - makes us think doesn't it.
          What do you make of all this?

          Update 25 August 2017 

          In the USA  Black Women are protesting Sims' statue