Onto the City of Brotherly (and Sisterly) Love …

The original plan was to provide one Philadelphia-based study day while I was in town for the 20-year reunion of the Kelly Writers House, and the showing of our film on ‘Upright breech birth’ at the ACOG Annual Meeting. If being-with-breech teaches you anything, it is to go with the flow, as things rarely unfold as expected. The two main events conflicted, and the original study day was fully booked within a week or two of the listing. The demand for breech training spread quickly north and south, from Montreal to Atlanta. Clearly, many in North America are keen to develop skills and change the current breech culture.

Finally, the obstetricians join us! (They are always invited.) I was so pleased that three board-certified obstetricians attended this training. This is a big deal in Philly, one of the largest cities in America, where the midwives were unable to identify a single hospital-based practice where they can refer women who want to explore a vaginal breech birth. Big journeys begin with small steps.

Although I have been reassured that every evaluation of this training indicates those attending increase their confidence in supine/lithotomy breech delivery as well as upright techniques, I sometimes worry that our physiological birth-based approach might alienate doctors who work in settings where 90% of women have epidurals in labour. But I guess midwives who work in out-of-hospital settings have felt the same way for years, as their training has been determined by obstetricians whose challenges and location-specific resources are very different. We had great discussions, and there feels a real potential for future collaborative working in this area. (And of course I am wondering if the law of ‘attracting breeches‘ will take effect … ) 😉

Lifecycle WomanCare

The Philadelphia training was hosted by Lifecycle WomanCare, and organised by their Clinical Director, CNM Julie Cristol, who also has a passion for helping others to develop their physiological birth skills for normal birth. Thank you, Julie! Their practice is located in a beautiful building, right next to the original Bryn Mawr Birth Centre. I was so pleased to be able to have a brief tour of their home.

In Philly, we had a 3-hour half-day event because that is what fit everyone’s schedules this time around. Unfortunately, my old friend Christy Santoro was unable to attend because she was at a birth! See you next time, Christy. I enjoyed making new acquaintances and hope to see the Lifecycle crowd again. Didn’t get time to take many pictures because we spent our limited time together talking breech and research, then Dad and I departed for our 9-hour drive to Asheville! Epic …

Tomorrow: We arrive in Asheville to teach breech in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina …

Shawn