SHORT TERM GOAL: ( 3 years)
Mothers and fathers-to-be/others:
- Will accept the viewpoint that pregnancy is the timeframe for becoming a skilled birthing family for all pregnancies and all births.
- Will use the last 16 weeks of pregnancy as the window of opportunity to prepare the pregnant body to become a birthing body; learn and practice skills; use those skills to work with their baby’s efforts to be born.
- Commit to doing the work
- Write a skills-based Birth Plan that tells the birth professional (both midwife and specialist) what skills they are learning and will be using.
- Realize that skills are part of birth as they are part of Life.
- Preparing the pregnant body is universal and using skills to bring their baby into the world is universal.
- Will recognize the benefits: more confidence and able to take a more active role as a family.
‘How does one persuade people to do things they have never done?’ …. Manju Kapur Difficult Daughters
Childbirth Educators:
- Will make The Pink Kit Package ( or other skills-based resource) available to all the birthing couples who come to their classes.
- Will recognize the ‘information’ they provide and the ‘choices’ couples make compliment but do not take the place of having skills.
- Will recognize that couples/families/solo mums, as adults and parents-to-be, have the responsibility to self-learn skills. (last 16 weeks of pregnancy)
- The best place to prepare, learn and practice is in the privacy of one’s home.
- As an educator you can supply the families with The Pink Kit Package or other skills-based resource.
- As an educator you can add to the public service message that being skilled:
- Is essential
- Means they will focus more on what they ‘do’ rather than what ‘happens’.
- Assists in being able to birth better in every birth situation.
- Is no different from having driving skills … just part of doing the ‘activity’
- You help to help reframe the present message so that all expectant parents recognize the benefits of being able to work with their baby’s birthing journey whether in hospital or home and whether having a medical or natural birth … including a non-laboring Cesarean.
Women who work as Independent Midwives:
- Will provide The Pink Kit Package or other skills-based resource to all their clients
- Will participate in the reframing of the pregnancy/childbirth message to be inclusive of all pregnancies, all birth situations and the role of fathers/others. (last 16 weeks of pregnancy)
- Will recognize that there are 3 equal and separate roles in any birth:
- Your role as a highly educated and skilled birth provider
- The woman’s role as a birthing woman
- The father/other’s role as a coaching/supporting/helper
- An obstetrical specialist does not detract from a skilled birthing woman and coaching father/other.
- A solo mum is not limited in her capacity to work with her baby’s efforts to be born.
- Require their clients to make a skills-based Birth Plan along side the conventional Birth Plan.
- You want to know what they want and don’t want and what they will do and what you’ll see them do.
- Learn about your own body as a human being and woman/man.
- Will emphasize the importance of self-learning as part of the responsibility of becoming a parent.
- Have high expectations that families behave in a skilled manner during their baby’s birthing journey rather than to rely on you to get them through.
- In time help families refine their skills.
- You’ve been at more births and can use your skills to help them use their skills rather than do the work for them. This is best done by getting fathers to apply their skills.
- Most families see or experience few births. If you encourage families they will use their skills more thoroughly.
Staff midwives:
- If you work with couples during pregnancy get The Pink Kit Package or other skills-based resource to your clients.
- If you only see families in labor then learn a few of the Pink Kit skills and teach the fathers to help their birthing partner.
- Universal birthing and coaching skills cross over all borders and boundaries and there is no reason a mother and father-to-be/other cannot work with their baby’s efforts to be born.
Secondary care providers
- Encourage families who require or want medical attention and care to become skilled birthing parents.
- Encourage families to prepare their pregnant body (last 16 weeks of pregnancy)
- Having skills gives mothers and fathers-to-be/others something to ‘do’ for themselves throughout the activity of giving birth (woman’s viewpoint) or being born (baby’s viewpoint).
- Using skills will not interfere with the care you give.
- Using skills permits families to birth better in whatever birth they experience by being active participants alongside modern maternity practices.
LONG TERM GOAL: 10 years
- That childbirth is seen as an activity and that activities are best done with skills.
- That pregnancy (last 16 weeks of pregnancy) becomes the timeframe for all expectant families to self learn essential birth activity skills.
- That birthing families be encouraged to use their skills in every birth.
- That there is a societal expectation that families work with their baby’s efforts to be born.
- That women empower themselves by what they ‘do’ and not what ‘happens’ or doesn’t happen to them.
- That men empower themselves by their ability to help the birthing woman help their baby’s birthing journey.
- That every skilled birth is acknowledged even if it wasn’t perfect.
- That every family be given a skills-based resource during pregnancy with a clear societal message that they will be expected to show their skills throughout their baby’s birth journey.
Birthing Better/Pink Kit Evolution for pregnant women: Two paths
Pregnancy preparation: Path #1
As pregnant women we will:
- Acknowledge that because we are pregnant we will give birth.
- Realize that pregnancy is the time frame to prepare our pregnant body to become a birthing body.
- Take pride in learning skills so we can always work with our baby’s journey from inside our body to outside our body no matter how that happens.
- Focus on what we can do to stay skillfully involved in giving birth to our baby.
- Recognize that we share a human body with other mothers-to-be and can learn a common set of skills that can be used in whatever birth we experience.
- Have fun and enjoyment from preparing our body to give birth.
- Commit to our baby the use of skills.
- Acknowledge that we didn’t get pregnant to ‘have’ a vaginal or surgical one. We got pregnant to ‘have’ a baby.
- Acknowledge the importance of being skilled.
- Practice until the skills are second nature.
- Not treat birth as a dental appointment or merely something that ‘happens’ to us.
Expectant father/other we will:
- Learn and practice a set of practical skills in my role as father-to-be/other.
- Commit to using the skills to help the birthing woman to use her skills so that together we work with our baby’s efforts to be born.
- Commit to using the skills alongside any health care required.
Birth: Path #1
- If we have a non-laboring Cesarean we will use our skills at least on the way to hospital, while being prepped and during surgery.
- If we labor we will begin to use the skills with Braxton-Hicks contractions as each day passes close to our due date so that we develop a habit of using skills.
- We will continue to use our skills through all 5 phases of contractions whether at home, in hospital, having a natural birth or medical one.
- We will strive to show our birth provider our best skills to manage and cope with the process our baby takes to be born.
- We will continue to use our skills alongside any health care required in our role as responsible parents-to-be.
- We will continue to use our skills if a surgical birth becomes apparent after we’ve labored.
Pregnancy preparation: Path #2
As pregnant women we will:
- Find some reasonable reason not to become skilled.
- And we won’t.
Expectant father/other we will:
- Find some reasonable reason not to become skilled.
- And we won’t.
Birth: Path #2
- We won’t behave, act or appear skilled.
Childbirth educators: Path #1
- We’ll get skills-based resources to expectant parents and tell them to sell learn and practice.
- We’ll explain the importance of using skills in every type of birth as part of their parenting role.
- We’ll ask families to tell a skills-based Birth Story.
Childbirth educators: Path #2
- We’ll comingle some of the Pink Kit skills with other things as though everything is the same.
- We’ll make no effort to get skills-based resources to expectant parents but believe it is ‘their choice’ and ‘responsibility.’
Independent Midwife: Path #1
- We’ll provide a skills-based resource to all our clients and expect them to self-learn as a way to fulfill their role in the Partnership model.
- We’ll ask them to write a skills-based Birth Plan as well as a conventional one.
- We’ll ask them to show us what skills they are learning and explain the importance of practice and use once the birthing process begins to unfold.
- We won’t accept reasonable reasons why not to learn.
- We’ll expect families to be showing their skills during the birthing process
- We’ll help families refine their skills when necessary
- We’ll compliment both women and men on how well they are using their skills.
- We’ll encourage families to use the skills even when conventional Birth Plans change so they remained connected to their baby’s journey.
Independent Midwives: Path #2
- We’ll either try to teach or do the skills and expectant parents will increasingly rely on us:
- To ‘do’ the birth for them.
- To solve their problems
- To make their births safe and satisfying
- We’ll sometimes get success and sometimes won’t. If you get success you love the praise. If it doesn’t succeed you’ll feel you’ve done all you could.
- We won’t see any difference between one set of skills from another.
- We’ll continue to believe there’s no way to know what type of birth a woman will have so there is really nothing she can do.
- We’ll continue to treat pregnancy and childbirth as uniquely individual rather than comprehend the underlying reality … we are all one Humanity.
- We’ll continue to treat fathers-to-be as secondary to their baby’s birthing journey.
- We’ll lose the potential to grow a skilled birthing population.
Staff midwives: Path #1
- If you see expectant families antenataly, you’ll get a skills-based resource to them and expect them to learn, practice and use their skills.
- You’ll encourage them to continue to use their skills during assessments, monitoring and procedures.
- You’ll compliment families who are skilled.
- Encourage those who have not learned and practiced as they should.
Staff midwives: Path #2
- You’ll think the information has to be ‘proven’ before it’s accepted in your place of practice.
- You won’t know, ask or care if a family uses skills.
- You’ll continue to do your job as before.
Birthing Better with The Pink Kit Method®
- This method evolved in the early 1970s from families … most from very conservative, faith based communities with very high medical concerns.
- Families wanted to birth better even if they didn’t have a better birth.
- The only thing we had in common was our shared human body.
- The skills were built around our commonality and fit into our differences.
- All families birthed better if they learned, practiced and used their skills regardless of all circumstances and outcomes.
- The resource is imperfect. The statistics are accomplished with an imperfect resource.
- We do not give permission for you to teach or do The Pink Kit on clients instead of growing a skilled birthing population.
- We can grow a skilled birthing population when we change our understanding of pregnancy/childbirth and change our attitude.
- We believe New Zealand could lead the world in childbirth … matching a skilled birthing population with a continuity of care midwifery model that works in conjunction with obstetric specialists.
- Changing attitudes and behaviors requires a consistent and clear message.