Dear Colleagues: I am back in the US after a very busym wonderful and extensive trip of the Pacific. I was impressed with the visibility midwifery has gained in NZ...hang in there, those of you in Australia! Maybe Y2K will put birth back to its basics again. I was glad to see circumcision so low in NZ and Australia, but it is virtually 100% among the Fijians (not the Hindus) which was a great shock. As you struggle with rigid obstetricians, Leo has the reverse problem....with cast-in-steel midwives (on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands) who do all they can to sabotage his attempts to support women in upright, intervention-free birth. Some of these patriarchal midwives are from "down island" and want the mothers to be flat on their backs, with IVs, routine episiotomies and preferably no support persons in room, husband permitted with reluctance (through the locked L & D door!). While we know that physicians often behave like this, it is distressing when midwives do as well. He is working in isolation down there because the other OB-GYNs encourage the midwives' actions. JP Baker describes such persons as "worthy opponents" in Shamanism, because they show what you are NOT! Unfortunately the expectant parents are in the middle...therein lies the dilemma of modern birth practices. Many thanks to those who participated in my presentations throughout ANZ and especially to the wonderful group in Brisbane. I think that gathering was the highlight of my Australian visit. Also, I did enjoy having the opportunity to give a workshop to student midwives at KEMH in Perth...keep squatting! After I finished my workshops and left Australia, a box of my assorted books arrived� having taken 6 months including time in Australian quarantine because they were packed in a nice sturdy box from my Food Coop with illustrations of broccoli !!! Who would ship vegetables by surface mail from the U.S.!! If any one is interested, these books are in the kind custody of JuJu Sundin in Sydney at (02) 9417 6467. Some are out of print titles, such as Childbirth with Insight and Primal Connections as well as in print books such as Essential Exercises, Having Twins, Joy of Being a Boy ( for the intact male child) and videos� Channel for a New Life (our outdoor waterbirth) BabyJoy (Exercises and Activities for for Parents and Infants) and Pelvic Power. I am now working on a 3rd edition of Having Twins and would be pleased to add any good stories of multiple births that any of you may care to submit�anonymously or otherwise. Re: List messages: I have a program called Claris eMailer which puts all messages from the various lists to which I subscribe into a folder, which I can look at whenever I want. I've noticed that sometimes subscribers of the list drop out for a while, feeling overwhelmed by the volume of messages. Perhaps directing them into a folder would solve this for them, as it certainly does for me? Elizabeth Noble, PT OB-GYN Courses, New Life Images, Women's Health Resources 448 Pleasant Lake Avenue, Harwich, MA 02645 Ph: (508) 432-8040 Fx: (508) 432-9685 www.capecod.net/newlife -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
