NCAD Reports
September 11th, 2001.
Perth Conference Š ŅCaesarean Birth: Myths and
Realities.Ó
By Jackie Mawson Convenor of Birthrites: Healing After Caesarean Inc.
Birthing Sculpture by: Alana McNee - Artist. Kindly loaned for
the duration of the conference.
We proudly displayed it right next to the presenterÕs podium, draped
in flowers.
The initiative for this national day of caesarean awareness arose
in South Australia, the dream of Jo Bainbridge, Founder of CARES-SA
(Caesarean Awareness Recovery Education Support South Australia).
Jo wished to acknowledge the need to educate birthing women, and their
professional caregivers, of the realities of caesarean birth; itÕs
associated pros, cons, risks and consequences.
Jo contacted me in December 2000 with her wonderful idea, and from
there it grew to eventuate in two major one-day conferences, and a
good scattering of information evenings nation-wide. We were astounded
by the interest, and vital energy, the day generated with almost every
state in Australia participating. Not a bad effort at all, for the
inaugural National Day of Caesarean Awareness!
The conferences occurred in South Australia and Western Australia.
And each conference was supported by approximately 100 delegates (the
majority of which were midwives). Both consumers and professionals
were invited and we were glad to see a few token Obstetricians, and
Ob. GPÕs, present - we hope to encourage more attendance by ALL childbirth
professionals at future information days.
The Western Australian conference was titled ŅCaesarean Birth: Myths
and RealitiesÓ and it ran from 9:30am to 5:30pm. The speakers included
consumers and a variety of childbirth professionals. The topics ranged
from the emotional impacts of caesarean birth to the challenges of
planning empowered future births.
We explored every emotion imaginable from laughter to tears. We talked
and shared, stories and wisdom. We made birth sounds, and squatted
into labour positions. We acknowledged the impact of caesarean birth
and we discussed the validity of VBAC as a future birth choice Š in
the many individual situations that may arise.
It was a very intense conference Š a lot of information was shared,
and the hours we planned in which to do this passed very quickly.
It was a very confronting conference Š honestly facing the emotions
and repercussions that can result from c/section birth. It was a very
loving conference Š as we came together to share our knowledge, and
receive each otherÕs knowledge, non-judgementally.
Some of the comments made by delegates during the discussions were
very inspirational. Both personally, and as initiatives in the future
organization of maternity services. I continually found my head nodding,
and thinking ŅYes, that is such a great idea. Why arenÕt we doing
things that way/initiating that form of care?Ó So, I can honestly
say that the presenters received knowledge from the delegates, as
well as the other way around. I hope the knowledge we all received
will be utilised positively in our local birthing communities.
The Birthrites coregroup members were so 'high' they were planning
next year before this year's conference even finished! But itÕs no
wonder the coregroup were ready to start planning next yearÉ I feel
a little tingle of excitement myself (through the numbness of ŌItÕs
all over!Õ) as I think of what next yearÕs conference is going to
be like. The potential!
*Both conferences were video-taped, and these should be available
to interested people very soon.
To find out more contact:
* Jackie Mawson (08) 9418 8949 Š Western Australia Conference.
* Jo Bainbridge (08) 8365 7059 Š South Australia Conference.
================================
* Comments about the WA Conference:
Andrea: "Thank you for a fabulous day. We all learnt so much
.....LOVE to all and CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL IN BIRTHRITES."
Mary: "CONGRATULATIONS ON THE BIRTH OF YOUR LOVE CHILD. MM"
Pauline: "Dear Jackie. On the day the world stood still, this
report gave me tingles."
Jenny: "While I am sure you wonÕt be reading this tonight (well
I hope not anyway) I just wanted to say Happy birth day to you and
your first born child. What a wonderful way to celebrate the birth'day
even if he doesn't quite realise it yet. Thank you for your inspiration
and dedication. It was a great day."
*Editor Š The day occurs on my eldest sonÕs birthday (his tenth this
year) as it was also the date of my first caesarean and seemed a very
relevant dateÉ Forgetting that it would interfere with RyanÕs special
day every year! Silly Mum that I am !
Genevieve: "CONGRATULATIONS Jackie, Kim, Gail and other members
of the Birthrites team for a fantastic National Caesarean Awareness
Day conference in Perth. It was a truly inspirational day. You should
be proud !!"
Sara: "To Jackie and the wonderful team at Birthrites, Your
inaugural conference on September 11 (who can forget that day!) was
absolutely brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Shed a few tears,
but also felt empowered to actually give VBAC a go (when the time
comes again). So thank you for all your hard work in putting the conference
together. AND, the booklet is fantastic. Well done!"
"Thank you for the honour of allowing us to present at this
great conference. So many professionals saw some light. We were overwhelmed
at the positive response and the large number of midwives who wish
to attend our classes. Thank you and we hope you enjoyed our talk.
You have all done a really good job and worked very hard." Sam
Weinsein Sydel Weinstein and SusanJane Morrison. The Family Nurturing
Centre
South Australian Conference Report - SPECIAL DELIVERIES
Caesarean Birth and Vaginal Birth After Caesarean.
On Tuesday 11th September 2001, in celebration of the Inaugural National
Caesarean Awareness Day (A CARES SA INC Initiative), CARES SA INC
held a conference focussing on the emotional aspects of caesarean
birth and vaginal birth after caesarean. The day was booked to capacity
a week before with many women telephoning desperate to come, we managed
to hire more seating and squeeze them in Š the day was for their benefit
after all!
The venue for the day was Carclew Youth Arts Centre, a National Trust
mansion in North Adelaide. We used the ballroom for the conference
part of the day, the boardroom for the child busying activities and
the foyer with grand staircase was used as an information stand venue.
Regisrants of the day consisted of women wanting to learn more about
birth, Adelaide birthing groups, a great many wonderful, caring midwives,
several rural midwives who travelled long distances to attend and
we were thrilled to see them, physiotherapists and many other health
professionals and administrative professionals. It is regrettable
the the day was not attended by any obstetricians, having made every
effort to inform all Adelaide obstetricians of the conference. CARES
SA INC did receive apologies from 4 obstetricians who were regretful
that they could not attend and wished the day every success. The day
was supported by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians
and Gynaecologists as being of great importance. We sincerely hope
that next year CARES SA INC can organise an event that may be more
accessible to obstetricians and are happy to take suggestions.
Special Deliveries was opened by the Honourable Sandra Kanck MLC
Democrats. Her moving and personal speech revealed a taste of what
the day was to bring Š the impact of a birth experience lives with
a woman for the rest of her life. CARES SA INC was honoured to have
her open the Inaugural National Caesarean Awareness Day.
Our Master of Ceremonies Š or perhaps that should be Mother of Ceremonies
Š was Cheryl Glenie. Cheryl is a big supporter of CARES SA INC. She
has also had 6 children; is a great advocate for improving womenÕs
birth choices in Adelaide; and a wonderful, wise woman. She did a
magnificent job of co-ordinating the flow of the day and managing
her own young baby girl Niamh. Thank you Cheryl from CARES SA INC.
The morning session was titled Caesarean Realities . Professor Gus
Dekker (Head of the Division of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Paediatrics
at the Lyell McEwin Health Service, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
at the University of Adelaide) discussed the current trends in caesarean
sections in South Australia then compared it to the Dutch model of
care. The most significant difference is that the Dutch do not treat
pregnancy as a disease. Perhaps evidenced in statistics - the national
caesarean rate in the Netherlands is 7% compared with the South Australian
rate of 24.9% in 1999, with equally good infant mortality rates.
Rebecca Smith (Clinical learning Co-ordinator) followed with her
enlightening talk on avoiding a caesarean through active birth. She
presented a seemingly commonsense explanation of the process of birth
and how it can be affected by the range of interventions, often used
to speed up labour artificially. If only all women had access to this
knowledge. See our web page http://homepages/picknowl.com.au/caressa.
Carolyn Donaghey-Harris (one of the founding members of CARES SA
INC) spoke about a womanÕs experience of Caesarean section. The emphasis
was on the womanÕs often emotional removal from the birth as she cannot
be actively involved in a physical way and ways in which we can address
this to improve the experience for her and her partner. It was a very
emotional talk, which perhaps gave some greater insight for those
listening into the complex and deep emotions that surround birth.
Carolyn was supported impromptuly by Deb Minge after being overwhelmed
with emotions. Deb had also supported her during her second birth
experience 21 months ago.
After CarolynÕs talk Deb Minge was honoured by CARES SA INC for
having been a vital and pivotal supported of CARES SA INC helping
it to blossom into what it is today. She has been an integral part
of our personal and birthing lives; her capacity for love and generosity
of her time is greatly appreciated.
Morning tea gave everyone a great opportunity to explore and learn
more about other birthing services in Adelaide. Information stands
were held by Flinders Medical Centre, WomenÕs and ChildrenÕs Hospital,
Australian College of Midwives Inc, Birth Matters Inc, Australian
Midwives Act Lobby Group, North Eastern Community Hospital, Calvary
Hospital, Northern WomenÕs Community Midwifery Program. CARES SA INC
thanks all of them for their wonderful involvement in the day.
The second session of the day was The Misunderstood Emotions. Libby
Brady (Mental Health Nurse, Outreach program, Helen Mayo House) discussed
the signs of post-partum depression and how today it is still a misunderstood
aspect of birth. The health system is not currently delivering adequate
levels of care required by these women in need.
Penny Moody (counsellor, family therapist and parent educator Child
and Youth Health) gave an account of her experience as a counsellor
and the impact of caesarean birth on a womanÕs life. She suggested
that women today are not supported with their transition into motherhood
and coupled with complicated or traumatic birth experiences it is
very detrimental to their self-esteem and mental health.
Emma Murphy (one of the founding members of CARES SA INC) spoke from
a womanÕs experience of post-partum depression and how it feels. The
audience was deeply moved by the personal story Emma presented. Her
birth journey over two births was punctuated with times of great emotional
turmoil, and she beautifully told of her rejoining the Ōcircle of
womenÕ. Emma was supported by Maddy Melios, who had in the past supported
women with the group BACUP (now only based in Canberra).
All the speakers from the morning sessions were invited for an open
panel discussion with the audience. Many considered and interesting
questions were asked. Thank you to all the speakers for their willingness
to participate.
After a wonderful lunch and thank you to the hard and fabulous work
of our volunteers, the afternoon session The VBAC Option commenced.
Jo Bainbridge (one of the founding member of CARES SA INC) discussed
her experience of trying to achieve a vaginal birth after caesarean
Š twice. Highlighted was the inconsistencies between hospital policies
and what women are told by hospital staff. Her frustrating and challenging
efforts to achieve the opportunity to have a vaginal birth demonstrated
how much women need to fight with current prejudices against vbac.
The following speaker was Professor Marc Keirse (Professor and Head
of Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine
at Flinders University and Flinders Medical Centre) discussing the
risks and benefits of vaginal birth after caesarean. After having
established a dislike for acronyms in an extremely entertaining way,
Professor Keirse went through current medical opinion on what benefits
and risks exist when considering a vaginal birth after caesarean.
Julie Pratt (Midwife of the Year 1999 and Flinders Medical Centre
Birthing Centre) spoke about the success women have had with achieving
vbac in the birth centre at Flinders. Re-iterating that womenÕs choices
should be respected and that the environment and support had a great
impact on womenÕs birth outcomes.
We adjourned for afternoon tea and came back for the final speaker
of the day Dr Chris Wilkinson (consultant in Obstetrics and Fetal
Maternal medicine at WomenÕs and ChildrenÕs Hospital). Dr Wilkinson
was also representing the official stance of The Royal Australian
and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He spoke
about the policies and protocols that hospitals develop and why. Dr
Wilkinson stated that these are just guidelines and are not set in
stone, and as such women wanting vbac in a birth centre should be
able to access it if pregnancy is normal.
The day ended with an informal question time and we again thank
our guest speakers for participating so honestly and openly.
CARES SA INC extends a huge thank you to all who participated in
the day. We are optimistic that this conference will be a prelude
to greater understanding and acknowledgement of the emotions that
a woman experiences when she gives birth to her child Š caesarean
or vaginal birth after caesarean. We certainly enjoyed putting the
day together and from the feedback the responses were overwhelming
in their enjoyment and appreciation. CARES SA INC looks forward to
the 2002 National Caesarean Awareness Day on the 11th of September,
put it in your diary now!
Our web site will soon have the speeches from the day available
for download. A video is being produced and will also soon be available
for a small cost.
http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/caressa
Contacts:
Jo Bainbridge (08) 8365 7059
Carolyn Donaghey-Harris (08) 8293 8333
Emma Murphy (08) 8346 7197
Report from Mackay, Queensland.
Dear Jackie, Just an update on the recent 'Caesarean Awareness' displays,
which proved successful here in the shopping Centres in Mackay. When
we get the photos developed we plan to let you have one for publication
in your Birthrites magazine. We were delighted to learn that around
2oo brochures had been taken, so now we are looking forward to being
contacted, so we can let the public know of their birthing options.
Best Wishes
Elizabeth MacLaren
Mackay Qld.
Report from Warragul, Victoria.
About 40 attended the NCAD evening meeting, mostly local couples
plus some midwives and myself. Many old faces were present from last
years info night.
Most of the local women attending had had previous caesars, many
had also had VBACs. Sue and David spoke about VBAC from their perspectives
as midwife and obstetrician. Anne launched our local hospital "Continuity
of midwifery in VBAC" program. Fiona spoke about her own experience
with VBAC, and about the workshops she runs on healing the wound of
caesarean birth. We then broke for supper supplied by the local Country
Women's Association. We finished with questions and personal experiences
from women and men present.
We might plan a daytime BBQ next year.
Dr. David Simon.
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