Teaching, Seeing Friends, an Unusual Purchase and a Night on the Town – Day 2 of the Lamaze Conference in New Orleans

After getting a moderate amount of sleep, it was time to teach my 4-hour, pre-conference session entitled: “Integrating Yoga into your Lamaze Class: Making Labor Positions Accessible to All and Teaching Effective Breathing and Relaxation.” If you can figure out how to make that title shorter, I’m all ears…

Now, I’m not a morning person, so an 8:00-12:00 time slot was sub-optimal for me. Room service breakfast and mediocre coffee helped a bit. The very nice AV guy at the hotel was also quite helpful. I’m not usually one for PowerPoint, but, well, it is a conference, after all.

There were 23 attendees in my session! Woo Hoo! The hotel was kind enough to provide us with a huge bin full of pillows and bath towels to use as props as well as chairs. I am rather grateful for that.

The first half of my workshop was modifying the physical postures – how to correct for carpal tunnel, symphysis pubis dysfunction, sciatica, ‘bad’ knee and so on. This half went so well and there were so many great questions we ran long by almost 30 min, cutting into the time for the breathing and relaxation portion. My colleagues were well engaged and participatory.

We took a brief break and jumped into the breathing and relaxation portion. I opened with a story from the Upanishads about the importance of the breath. It was a great opener. Sadly I had to abbreviate the session due to the first half running long. However, I think it went just as well as the first portion. I taught breath awareness, and how to find your partner’s breath. We explored modifying breath with touch. I spoke on guided relaxation, and I finally took them through a relaxation. Loved teaching!

The response was very positive. Now, I need to revise the workshop to be 8 hours instead of 4, and to talk to the education council at Lamaze and see if we can have this as a permanent fixture in our continuing education program. If you want to see this workshop grow and possibly bring it to your city, do contact the education council on my behalf. Thanks!!!

By the time I’d finished speaking and cleaning up, I had left myself a grand total of 30 minutes to eat lunch before the keynote by Dr. Waldman, a former past president of ACOG. So… I had leftover room service breakfast and went in to hear him speak.

I can’t say enough about this guy. He’s personable, open and real. He GETS IT! Dr. Waldman understands the issues facing pregnant women. He understands the need for normal, physiologic birth. He understands the challenges OB’s face from their hospitals and from the fear of litigation. He is an advocate for women and babies. Oh, and he’s married to a midwife! We need more OB’s like him. This is one of the ways we will change the face of maternity care in the US.

After listening to Dr. Waldman’s inspiring keynote address, I had plans to meet up with some of my students who happened to be in NOLA for a wedding. We weren’t meeting up till a bit later so, I went out for a stroll in the French Quarter. Ok, really, this was the weekend of walking. I walked for hours every day. I love the energy of the French Quarter and the diversity of people. Not so fond of the drinking in the street… but maybe I’m getting old.

Along my travels, I popped into one of the may Antique stores on Royal St.  Ok, well, so I stopped in quite a few antique stores, but at one in particular I made a spectacular purchase. I will likely keep it over at Shining Light Prenatal Education, but only display it upon request.

I snagged a pair of obstetrical forceps. The antique store had 3, slightly different pairs, and a speculum. As my budget wouldn’t allow for the purchase of all three, I just picked one of them. It’s not marked, so I’m not sure how to date it. It could be a newer item for all I know. Some quick Googling would put it any time in the last 100 years. That’s not terribly helpful.

At least now I can say that I’ve started a collection of antique-ish medical items.

From there, I met my students Aimee, Larry and their baby girl Greta. We had beignets at Café du Monde because, well, as a tourist, it’s necessary. We walked and ended up in Jackson Sq. for a sit down. It was great fun to see them.

Then a walk back to the hotel to change clothes and get ready for our dine-arounds. (For those who don’t know, this is where you sign up and go to dinner with a group from the conference.) I had signed up for one restaurant… through the power of peer pressure, I ended up with another group. We went to Saints & Sinners. It’s styled after the brothels of the old days. The food and drinks were fabulous; their music was up way too loud. We had some really good conversation involving a gorgeous Greek man on a bicycle, among other topics.

Then our collective rolled down Bourbon St in search of a “fishbowl” of alcohol that Robin had noticed earlier. So, our tour of Bourbon St. consisted of that unique smell of vomit, piss and old booze; throngs of scantily clad people and a frat party atmosphere. After successfully procuring the fishbowl of alcohol, Robin implored us to try it. It was dubbed a “hurricane” but to me it tasted like kool-aid with grain a-la bathtub punch at the aforementioned frat party.

Then… oh, wait, what happens in NOLA stays in NOLA…

And off to bed, since I had to teach again at 7:00 am (!).  More on day 3 later!

For more on the conference and my adventures, check out the earlier post:

Interesting Conversations with Strangers and a Dress with Skeletons – Day 1 of the Lamaze Conference in New Orleans