Lamaze Conference Redux

Hey Y’all, I’m back from Fort Worth, TX where I attended the annual Lamaze conference.  I had some reservations about going to the conference.  Some of which revolved around the potentiality of Elaine weaning.  (After me being gone for 4 days, she was clawing at my shirt to get to the boob… she’ll nurse longer than her brother, for sure.)  Some of my reservations were the cost, and what was I really going to learn?  Well, I just sucked up the cost… what I learned was amazing and I’m looking forward to sharing it all with you.

Our opening session on Thursday was Dr. Rebecca Ewing who spoke and showed the video RISK: Consequences of a Near Term Birth.  Ostensibly, the talk was on why we shouldn’t schedule an early birth and the inherent dangers therein.  This is not unlike the article I wrote for the Expectant Mother’s Guide.  Although she presented some very good, compelling evidence to support Lamaze care practice #1 – Let labor begin on its own, the film was the topic of discussion for most of the attendees.  The film shows the stories of two mothers who went into labor on their own and had early (36-37) week babies with complications.  There’s a lot of maternal guilt shown in the film.  There’s enough maternal guilt in this world, we don’t need to encourage it.  The film would have been better had it shown women who’s care providers had chosen to schedule their births early.

“When you play God, you are going to be blamed for natural disasters.”

~ Marsden Wagner

The next session I attended was the early morning exercise session, hosted by Dorothy Guerra of “Yoga Birthing”.  I can get past the fact that this was mostly talk and very little exercise.  What I can’t get past is her extraordinarily prescriptive and exclusive method for using yoga during labor.  It’s these three breaths for labor, one for each stage; this asana flow for early labor; hold these poses for 30 min each during active labor; five mediations to use.  I queried her regarding mom trusting her body, and moving how and when her body needed to move.  Her response, “That trusting your body stuff is such baloney.  Women need to be told what to do in labor.  They are too lost to figure it out on their own.” WOW!  So she doesn’t think a laboring woman is competent or intelligent.  This makes me sad.

When another participant asked her how this method works for a mom who’s never done yoga or is in poor-average physical shape, she responded “This method is only for those who want me, and my birth method.  OF COURSE it doesn’t work for every woman.” Ummm… yoga is for everyone.  I find it offensive that she considers her method exclusive.

She also did some things I consider to be potentially injurious to her students.  When she manually adjusted women in the session she was very forceful in gripping and placing the participants’ hips in the place she thought they ought to be.  This was done without consent; without prior knowledge of the participants’ medical conditions; without knowing a participants’ range of motion.  This is Yoga adjusting 101 – you just don’t do that because you can injure people.  Also, if this is a pregnant woman, the Relaxin will make her joints looser, but not stretch her muscles.  Just because the hips (or other body part) can go there, doesn’t mean they should.

The other danger to adjusting this way is that some of the participants may take what they learned back to their classes, and injure one of their moms because they were taught incorrectly.  When I raised my hand to mention to Dorothy that I feel it is safer to adjust verbally and by demonstration.  She cut me off and said “I have 14 years of experience.  I know what I’m doing.” and refused to speak to me further during the session.  Ego, ego, ego…

At least the rest of the day was stellar…  Our next keynote was by Debra Pascali-Bonaro, she of the “Orgasmic Birth” video (and you know my feelings on that).  What I didn’t know is that she heads up the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization – and what an amazing group that is!  They work to implement the 10 Steps to Optimal Maternity Services, worldwide.  They make birth safe and better for mothers who would otherwise have little to no access to care.  She explained their 10 steps and showed us pictures and videos of their sites around the world.  Their work is truly wonderful and I hope it continues to grow.  I have a newfound respect for Debra.  I am a strong supporter of her work.

I choose a break-out session on “Dancing for Birth” because, well, how could I not take it!  As a bellydancer, I just couldn’t help taking this session (apologies to Rixa – I really did want to be in your breastfeeding session, but given a chance to dance…) Stephanie Larson was much more comprehensive than I expected.  She talked about why the uses of certain dance moves were beneficial physically during labor and how dancing benefitted mom emotionally.  She had us up and dancing for about half the session.  I truly had a blast.  I am actually considering taking her teacher training in December in Cleveland if money and time permits.

The next session was “Seeing is Believing – Building Breastfeeding confidence from the start” with Ann Grauer.  Have to say Ann is now my new breastfeeding guru.  She simplified explaining how to help baby latch.  She gave us great teaching tools to use with our own students.  She talked about how as a culture we’ve lost the visual of mothers breastfeeding.  “Monkey See, Monkey Do.”  Well, in America, we don’t see breastfeeding everyday, so we don’t do it. We forget to trust our instincts and allow our thinking brains to get in the way.

She also reminds us that the lactation consultant facilitates breastfeeding – they do not “get the baby on.” Ann reminds us how much of breastfeeding is instinctual within the baby and how we as educators can help mom learn to read her baby effectively.  I’ve already created a handout for my students with Ann’s information on it (with her permission).  I can’t wait to share it all with you!

Our next Keynote was by Liz DeMaere on “Labor management, fetal well being and induction of labor guidelines”.  Some of the information presented fell in the category of “well, I knew that already.”  However, in context it was truly useful.  Her focus was on the SGOC (Canada) and ACOG’s (USA) guidelines with regards to the above topics.  It was very insightful to hear the actual policies – released Sept. 7, 2011.  The most interesting one is that both organizations have adopted, for all low-risk laboring moms, intermittent fetal auscultation (fetal monitoring).  Hooray!  However, there are going to be issues with implementation due to staffing constraints at the hospitals…

Saturday morning started off with a distinct lack of morning exercise instructor.  So, I taught an abbreviated Yoga 1 since I was there anyway.  Good to get a little practice in, even at 6:00am!

The next session was a popular one “What about that breathing thing?” with Judith Lothian, Jeanne Green and Sharon Dalrymple.  We got a great overview of the history of Lamaze breathing, complete with the different styles of Lamaze breathing and how they evolved over the years.  Did you know they used to teach breathing “hee” sound to the tune of “Yankee Doodle”?  *giggle* They explained the paced, or patterned breathing, as well as “yoga breathing” – i.e. relaxation, long deep breathing.  The ladies went over a good bit of why and how mothers use breathing during labor, and how breathing is a very personal thing and how each mother has to find her own breath and her own rhythm.

My only criticism was that there wasn’t anything on how to teach breathing.  No talk on how to properly use a good focal point, how to modulate your voice to encourage a slower breath, etc.  This may turn into a workshop I teach in the future.

Next up – Research papers: “Chiropractic care”, “Home Birth” and “Epidural & Birth Outcomes”.  I tell you what, I learned more about how chiropractic care actually works (pregnant or not) in the 30 minutes for their segment, then I’ve ever been able to find out on my own.  I also now fully understand how the Webster technique works with regards to turning a breech baby.  Also learned how chiropractic care can prevent labor dystocia.

Home birth – “Planned home birth may improve outcomes.” This was a great overview of how home birth midwives actually care for their clients in a holistic manner.  Visits are more social and less clinical, allowing for time spent developing a trusting relationship.

Epidural & Birth outcomes – Pain, or lack thereof, is not an indicator of birth satisfaction. Then our speaker went over all the details of how the epidural impacts other interventions and eventual outcomes.  Also, a very well presented topic.

After lunch we had another keynote.  This one made me want to jump up and yell at the speaker, Dr. Susan Markel author of “What Your Pediatrician Doesn’t Know Can Hurt Your Child”.  Wow, talk about introducing MORE FEAR into parenting.   Ostensibly, this is an attachment parenting book, however, it is based on little or no actual evidence based practices.  The author admits she has a bias and “hates” the American Academy of Pediatrics.

She was a poor presenter on multiple levels.  She only provided one side of each issue – her point of view, rather than explaining when the newborn interventions are appropriate.  I sat next to a lovely lady during this talk.  She and I were both horrified at how unprofessional and how biased Dr. Markel was.  Dr. Markel then went on to sell her book! (which you aren’t allowed to do in this setting or nurses don’t get their CEUs)  No one that I spoke to was really happy with her.

I taught on Sunday morning!  It was a 60 minute version of my usual 80-90 min. prenatal yoga class.  I had a blast teaching, and from the comments afterwards I was pleased with how the session went.  My favorite comment was from Rachelle Oseran – she’s been a perinatal fitness instructor and Lamaze educator for just shy of 30 years.  If I impressed her, I must be doing something right.

The break out session was on Acupressure.  Loved it!  We got a brief history and then went over how it actually works.  We talked meridians, lines of energy, the nervous system, etc.  But we also talked about the equally valid placebo effect.  “May help, won’t hurt.” If mom believes it will work, then it does.  We then practiced six or eight different pressure points on each other.  It was very informative.  Can’t wait to share what I’ve learned.

Finally, there was a “motivational” speaker, Donna Hartley.  *rolls eyes and hides under the table* Her message was “Fire up your life!” with all the melodrama, videos and tag lines.  Nothing new was presented.  She sounds like Oprah mixed with magazine article titles.  Oh, and she started with a GREAT BIG FIREY AIRPLANE crash… because we aren’t all getting on airplanes that afternoon – just brilliant.   I kept having Dexter flash backs from last season – Jordan Chase: “Just Take It!”

On a positive note:  I also met some truly wonderful women there who work hard in their communities to bring a better birth to the women they serve.  I made some great friends and contacts.  I learned from every woman to whom I spoke.  I met brand new educators, and women who have been teaching for 30+ years.  I met some of the “big names” in the industry and saw how humble and wonderful they truly are.  I am very glad I went to the Lamaze conference and very proud of my LCCE.  Thanks to all those who put the conference together and who work diligently to change the face of childbirth in America and around the world.