This is a reminder for Melbourne (Eastern suburbs) people about the monthly
prenatal group that I have been facilitating for the past few months.
FIRST Wednesday of the month, 1-3 pm, at my home.
If you know women who would like to come along, please pass on this
message. Also midwives and birth attendants who are committed to
woman-centred birth are welcome. This is a women's group, and male
partners (or professionals) are not invited.
I would like to tell you briefly about how this group is going, in the hope
that someone else may see an opportunity to fill a need somewhere else. I
took my inspiration from an article 'Group prenatal care' in Midwifery
Today (Autumn 2001) by June Whitson, CNM.
We have had 4 or 5 at each group. We have sat around an outside table one
time, and the dining table another time. We have a cool drink or a cup of
tea, no fuss. Many topics have come up in discussion, including birth
plans, exercise balls, vaccination, and children at birth. In the session
this month I got out the textas and paper, and we all did drawings. The
plan was to explore birth.
One woman drew her body, with a large opening with water flowing out, and
lots of waves. Another used lots of colours, and drew a type of hour-glass
shape, and spoke of release. She then embellished her drawing with
everything that came up in discussion - waves, a cocoon, a tree fern with a
frond opening out, and many layers of detail. Another woman pictured
surrender and opening. She spoke of the loneliness and sense of
achievement she experienced in the birth of her baby. She said the red
layer meant rawness and blood.
My drawings (I wish I could attach them here) firstly explored the
stretching of the perineum. I have thought a lot about a woman's perineum
being a curtain into and out of the sacred place. I think about it as a
midwife, and as a birthing woman. A large circle represented the baby
crowning. Around the edge I drew a long umbilical cord - thick and strong.
The words that I heard from the others in the group found their way onto
my page - Let go - surrender - everything - work - channel - open - trust
- life - change - flow - peace - connected - control - release. Then I
drew a second picture. The concept of a 'desert island' came up - what
would we do to survive if we were forced to? I wrote down instinct and
inner wisdom. My desert island then became a placenta, with wavey vessels
across it, coming to a central circle which was the point of attachment of
the cord. Then it became a breast, and the vessels were swollen in full
lactation, and the central point was a nipple. The ocean and waves around
the island made me think of strong labour like the surf, and sometimes we
get dumped, and we need to come to the surface and prepare for the next one
- I remembered a time as a teenager when I was rescued from a rip the surf,
and I remembered the challenge of birthing my first child. Someone talked
about names - the child is the next generation of my people.
There were some very special things happening in that group. We have so
great a potential for learning from within ourselves. This is the sense of
the word 'maieutic', which means 'pertaining to the midwife'. It's a word
we all need to learn and use frequently.
Thanks folks for listening. I have been to a birth thismorning, for one of
the women who came to the group, with the support of one of the young
midwives who also came along. Beautiful baby Maggie and her mum are strong
and well, at home.
Joy Johnston
25 Eley Rd Blackburn South Vic 3130
Tel:03 9808 9614
Fax:03 9808 3611
M: 04111 90448
www.aitex.com.au/joy.htm
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