“In 2000 I found myself feeling very discouraged about my practice. The caesarean rate was 26.9%. I would have quit being a midwife were it financially possible for my family. I certainly didn’t know what to do. I was approached by Wintergreen, trustee and founder of Common Knowledge Trust who told me in no uncertain terms that the ‘problem’ was not mine rather we needed to grow a skilled birthing population and The Pink Kit Method For Birthing Better® was the universal skills necessary for expectant parents to teach themselves.
She told me that NZ could have the best maternity statistics in the world with a skilled birthing population served by a low-tech midwifery model (rather than a high tech obstetrical model). What was needed was a strong socially accepted expectation that expectant families teach themselves how-to birth as well as gather information and make choices. She told me The Pink Kit Method resources were the teacher and Common Knowledge Trust was here to help expectant families to understand the importance of learning how-to birth and to work with midwives to grow a skilled birthing population.
This was very radical to me. I didn’t believe there was a universal way for all families to prepare for birth. I didn’t believe most of my clients would do the work. Although she told me that my clients needed to do the work themselves, I still thought she meant I had to learn the whole system so I could teach it. I was already tired and didn’t want to spend the time learning or doing the teaching. I also thought she meant I had to ‘do’ The PK on my clients and wasn’t too keen on that. Wintergreen kept telling me to get my clients to do the work and that’s what would lead to long, sustainable, reproducible and consistent change in birth.
With not so gentle persuasion and quite a bit of resistance on my part I decided to ‘give The PK’ a try using the approach set out by Common Knowledge Trust. Wintergreen told me that change would not occur overnight that it would take 5 years at least for the truth to unfold but if I really convinced, insisted, required, demanded, encouraged and explained to my clients why it was their responsibility to teach themselves The Pink Kit then I would begin to see some change within 2 years.
I’ve collected statistics since 2001 and what Wintergreen told me is accurate. It was only after careful look at the first years statistics that I saw where The Pink Kit had started to make a change. After that I was committed and have pushed forwarded with my clients.
We need to grow a skilled birthing population for these reasons:
1) No woman/her family or partner wants to perceive that she has ‘suffered’ in childbirth.
- Suffering in childbirth comes from a woman feeling out of control due to the pain.
- Women feel better about themselves when they have managed the pain of labour well.
- Using skills to prepare their birthing body and skills to cope with and manage labour can be learned.
- The Pink Kit is the best teacher and having the resources hands the responsibility back to the family.
Having my clients work through The Pink Kit resources themselves has helped me define my role from theirs. The woman will do the labour, her partner will coach her and I will be there to safe guard the process.
2) Everyone wants to prevent potential trauma, injury and possible death to the mother and child.
- The Pink Kit can prevent delayed 1st and 2nd stages that are the most common
causes of the use of medical pain relief, augmentation of labour and c/s intervention.
The Pink Kit Method {NOW BIRTHINGBETTER} can not reduce genetic defects, prevent toxemia or prevent medically necessary c/s. However, over the past 6 years the families who have taught themselves The PK have reduced their own use of medical pain relief and the need for c/s due to the above reasons.
Families who use The PK and have medical interventions and c/s still feel more positive about their birth experience. Families who haven’t taught themselves and find birth challenging say they will get off their duffs and do it next time.
Common Knowledge Trust says that we have a societal educational issue that needs to be addressed to the general population. There needs to be a socially accepted expectation that part of being pregnant is learning how-to give birth along with the information gathered and choices to be made. On the day it’s the ‘how-to’ skills that makes a difference between a woman who can manage labour pains and one who doesn’t. Even if birth plans change the skills are there for the family to use. A positive birth can be achieved for families who teach themselves The Pink Kit.
A skilled birthing population and low-tech, high skilled and committed Midwifery Model go hand in hand.
1) A skilled birthing population strongly supports a Midwifery Model of care.
- My job has been much easier when couples arrive in labour prepared and able to birth.
- Women manage labour pains better.
- Fathers have become great birth coaches … men have the same body.
- Couples work together really well.
- They also parent better.
- They also partner better.
There are no short cuts to growing a skilled birthing population. It will take time … 5-10 years of active promotion. I believe midwives need to lead the way.
2) Midwives have to believe this is necessary. Birth is natural and a physiological process so is hunger, sex drive, to pee and pooh yet we attach skills to all of those natural processes. We need to have skills attached to giving birth in order to prevent suffering and reduce potential trauma and injury.
- I’ve learned that how-to birth well requires quite a number of learned skills.
- There is a set of universal skills available because we are all humans. The Pink Kit Method has broken these skills down into different areas of resources. All are necessary to be self-taught.
- For example, there are ways we breathe when we are relaxed and there are ways we can learn to create relaxation with our breath.
- There are ways our breathing patterns indicate we are tense.
iii. We can learn how to create relaxation and avoid tension in labour with our breath.
The areas of skills are and are equally shared by both the mother and father (or other birth partner):
- Breathing
- Language or communication
- Touch
- Body preparation for birth
- Body mobility in labour.
- Preparing the birth canal
- Internal relaxation
- How to create more space inside the pelvis if necessary.
- How to work through contractions and with assessments, monitoring and procedures.
The PK also deals with some common issues: high babies, slow labours, dealing with pain, really working as a team
I will send my and Suzie Hume’s interviews to each of you. They will tell you about our individual journey over the past 6 years and we hope you will come on board. If not what is our choice?
This is how Wintergreen told me to grow a skilled clientele:
1) Give the PKP to all your clients. You might find as I did: 30% had a strong interest, 55% were ambivalent and 15% resistant.
- Work on the 55%. Their ambivalence reflected mine.
- b. The 10-15% is still a challenge but after the birth they often realize they made a mistake. This is the group I’m less patient with and Wintergreen has told me she will work with me to get some of those on board but we’ll never get 100%.
- I agree with Wintergreen that if we can grow a skilled birthing population that within 10 years we will see what types of birthreally need high-tech medical care. Without a skilled birthing population it just looks like women can’t birth any more.
2) Keep statistics on an individual basis rather than collective. You will see the trend of change in those who use The Pink Kit, but don’t expect all of them to have ‘perfect’ births.
- a. Who used The PK and what happened.
- b. Who didn’t use The PK and what happened.
You will discover that families who taught themselves The PK are more likely to feel more positive about their births. Take into account those women who say they did but didn’t.
3) Encourage Pink Kit fathers to continue working with their partner when you arrive or they arrive in hospital.
4) Don’t expect miracles.
5) Get over your shyness about the Internal Work. It’s a major necessity.
You must persevere. Change will not come overnight. Common Knowledge Trust and I are willing to help you get over the niggles during the first few years of change in your personal practice. In time your ability to see and hear birth from a PK perspective will grow but it’s important you take the same steps I took and not try to jump ahead. It won’t work.
These are also things that won’t work:
1) Midwives trying to ‘teach’ The PK to clients.
2) Midwives ‘doing’ the PK on their clients.
3) Giving families choices about doing The PK or not.
{ REMEMBER … The Pink Kit (PK) is now BirthingBetter