Guess what?! I am working closely with top lecturers at Anglia Ruskin University in devising a new curriculum for future midwives. Hell yeah!
Kate Cook, her team of senior lecturers of midwifery at the university, and myself will be exploring new ways to improve midwifery training.
In particular, we discussed the delivery of training for breech births. The team are all too aware of the implications of breech births, how it has led to a de-skilled generation of midwives in that area, but they are ready to address the issue.
And with my help, including video diary logs I created during my breech pregnancy, we hope to improve and support future midwives in offering better training and better outcomes for breech births. Whoop whoop!
Not only this but we discussed, on a more general level, how the language used by midwives could be addressed.
I explained that women towards the end of their pregnancy, become more and more vulnerable, fragile and sensitive. This means one thing, even just one word, that a care provider says can alter that mother's thinking. They can immediately shift from a strong, positive attitude to a very negative, defeated attitude. And inevitably, this leads to less favourable outcomes.
The key here, is empathy. If we can work on a curriculum that develops empathy and understanding that will move mountains.
There is a culture at the moment, particularly with consultants (talking from personal experience), that you have the appointment, complete the paperwork and send parents home on their merry way. It's so much more than that.
This is a mother's pregnancy, a mother's birth. And a mother's birth stays with her for the rest of her life (believe me!). Let's educate some mindfulness, careful use of language and a great deal of empathy to nurture that mother. We all know we go home and play that appointment again in our head, over and over again.
I am so excited to be involved in this project and offer not only first hand knowledge and experience as a mother, but as a Birth Educator too.
So tell me mamas, when it comes to pregnancy and birth, what is important to you? Let me feed it all back and together we can influence the practises of midwifery tomorrow.
For more information on what I do, visit my page on hypnobirthing here. All my upcoming course dates are here.
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