We are group 9. The 9th group to follow this course in Holland. Being a Doula is still quite a new concept in Holland, still in the pioneer phase but slowly and steadily the group of Doula's is growing.
Group 9 consists of 15 woman from all ages, backgrounds and beliefs. A colourful group of passionate woman. I am looking forward to journeying with them as we grow into Doula's together.
Wilma is the midwife who is teaching the first four sessions on the theory of midwifery as the introduction and basis to the course. She is a lovely old fashioned (grey hair in a loose falling out bun and glasses) grandmother and professional who has seven of her own children and has been helping woman give birth for 40 years or so.
Today was all about physiology and conception with a bit of history of how midwifery has changed and grown over the years with a lot of Latin words...and hormone talk :-)
Quote of the day:
Wilma "De geboorte zelf is de kroon op de hele bevalling maar het mooiste is het proces voor af."
"the birth itself is the jewel in the crown but the best part is the labouring process before it."
I bet that most mothers could not say this and mean it. We have made something so natural into something painful and negative we just have to get through. I want to learn how to help women have a positive experience, leaning into the process and actually enjoying labour and giving birth.
Story of the day:
Wilma, talking about one of the births of her own seven children told us how she started labour and decided to sew a jacket for the baby. She got behind the sewing machine and made the jacket pausing through a contraction and kept going till she couldn't continue anymore and then she asked the (kraam) nurse to "please sew on the buttons cos its cold and the baby will need a jacket!"
She was explaining how we stop too early to just 'wait' the labour out and wonder why it takes too long. "Bake a cake or something" she said "then at least you'll have a nice warm cake to eat afterwards"
I would have loved to have a doula during the births of our kids... I was suffering a lot from pelvic instability, and probably that pain would have been a little more in the background when someone was trying to get me into the mood ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd to help me survive that last birth with the pain I had, and at the end while they went away while leaving me with Salome, laying in plastic to keep us warm. I felt SO dirty, sweating all over, plastic making it worse, wanting to shower, and no means of contacting anybody.
Sophie, may you have blessings on all the births you are going to monitor!