Weekend One
The number one priority of weekend one is getting to know each community and the what each member brings to the table. Every one will get the chance to get to know each other and share their own story and strengths.
Then we start at the beginning, getting to know the ends and outs of the physiological Reproductive Process and interconnected nature of reproduction - the anatomy and physiology.
By making a pelvic model and using play dough to represent superficial muscles, deep muscles & organs, we will answer the question: what is in the pelvis and how does it work?
We will go through the gestational process and prenatal care. Recognizing what is normal; knowing how, why, and what information you're looking for when taking vitals (heart rate/pulse, respiratory rate, and blood pressure of the parent); what to do when things go outside the realm of normal; gathering medical history; educating clients (nutrition, hydration, exercise, toxins, self image, relationships, community), what is your process for each visit - relationship building; assessing gestational age; urinalysis; fundal height; finding fetal heart tones and knowing the information that gives you; assessing fetal positioning through palpation; and end of pregnancy care - rest hydration nourishment confidence (keeping the predators at bay.)
We will address documentation: who is documentation for? How to document medical history, vitals, and pregnancy to insure “normal” and know when to do more if needed? We will discuss keeping safe space for our clients and how a dysfunctional birth team can screw up a normal birth.
And finally we will start to get into birth time: water birth as a tool rather than a destination, intuition of mother and baby, and embodied knowledge. We will look at birth as a sacred ceremony to lay the foundations for the second weekend.
Throughout the weekend, with every new subject we will keep in mind trauma informed care. How does it affect us as practitioners and how does it affect a client, their family, and their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum?
Weekend Two
For the second week we will start by recapping all everyone has been learning, how that knowledge has been implemented, and get into some peer reviews.
Moving right along its time to talk about laboring and birth. We'll start with documentation of labor: capturing contraction patterns and what they tell us; documenting fetal heart tones, ins/outs, maternal responses/vitals, and the birth story.
We'll review birth complications such as, but not limited to, breech birth, twins, posterior positioning, dystocias, fetal distress, and prolapsed cord.
We'll review placenta examination. We'll talk about the information you can get from placentas and the stories they tell.
Next we will dig into immediate and prolonged postpartum care. How to care for mother and baby as a unit, golden hour, birth of placenta, and what to do for postpartum hemorrhage. We will learn how to conduct newborn exams: initial, one day, and on going and the documentation involved. Supporting mother’s postpartum recovery; priorities and documentation; forming communities between the families that trust us, and how to place and keep healthy boundaries.
Finally we will get into neonatal resuscitation, the journy babies go through when becoming an air breather, and understanding fetal circulation before and after breath is established.
Skills Breakdown
- Pelvic Model and playdough inner structures
- Vitals
- Prenatal Skills - FHT, palpation, documentation
- Setting up the birth bag
- Birth tub set up and take down
- Neonatal Rescusitation
- Birth Simulations of normal and abnormal situations - breech, twin, posterior, etc.
- Reviewing Placentas
- Making model of fetal circulation before and after respiration is established
- Newborn exams
- Estimated Blood Loss
- Dilation
- Presentation
And more!
Expect to work hard! There will be zooms before the first weekend, multiple between, and even some after! We will assign homework, review projects and case studies, and coach you through your learning stages. We will get to know you and your community and the educational need so that we can best know what homework we need to assign. Keeping it fun is important! Be prepared to make some models and do some deep learning through arts and crafts.
“Rowan's passion for midwifery is contagious. If you are serious about becoming a midwife, her workshops will be invaluable."
Jessica Tiderman, Camp Birth & Special Scars