Ah Loopymumsy, that's so nice of you to say that!
I'm currently looking into how we can get Pam England of Birthing Within to come to Scotland next year. She is doing workshops in London, Glastonbury and Bristol in September this year, some for professionals, some for parents-to-be. Check out the link to see if there is anything to interest you.... I emailed her to say come to Scotland and she said maybe next year, Do I have good contacts? Don't know if I do but I'll bleeding well try!
I hope that we can get them to come to Scotland and if it means I arrange it, so be it! We have the 28th Triennial ICM Congress at the beginning of June next year in Glasgow so it might be useful to get them here just before or after that!
Lulu, I've also looked at CI website and considered them seriously!
Getting back to the topic of this thread, if we had more mw like mears, Mary Cronk, Ina May, Sheila Kitzinger etc, and antenatal classes that were more useful than a chocolate fireguard we wouldn't have so many traumatic births. Just look at Ina May's stats - Fewer than 2% CS, fewer than 1% instrumental delivery! And then we wouldn't have women scared witless about a melon when in fact it is a baby's head which is DESIGNED to mould and shape itself to move down the birth canal and through the pelvis, and we all have a perineum which, even when scarred from previous episiotemy, is extremely elastic! We need to educate our sisters, cousins, friends, daughters and granddaughters that our bodies are marvellous and very well designed to birth our babies, even though we walk tall.
If you have any doubt about your pelvis, stand with one hand on your pubic bone in front and the other on your tailbone. Lean forward until your torso is parallel to the floor. What do you notice? Bet you feel more space between your hands when you lean forward! Your pelvis opens up to 28% more if you do NOT recline.
I'm ranting again! All this is information that I never received before my first birth (amongst much, much more!) that could have helped me to avoid that first CS,
but then I wouldn't have attempted a VBAC the next time and wouldn't have met so many wonderful, strong, funny women who I now have as friends.
And we wouldn't now be part of a revolution in childbirth that is slowly growing and helping other women to have better, more satisfying births, whether they be VB or CS. Childbirth is not purely a physical process, it is very much an emotional process too.
Not sure if I can go on to train as a mw, would hate to be constrained by outdated protocols which put labouring women at greater risk than they are designed to alleviate!
I wish every pg woman reading this can go on to have an empowered birth (VB OR CS)