All in a week's work...

hello to all you sweet blog-treaders...

i've not been posting personally to the blog so far, but it's been lovely to hear about some of your thoughts and responses to heather's posts. it adds a new dimension to our processing to share things with cyber-folks!

i've been meaning to get posting here and since it's the end of a special week at mulago hospital, ward 14, it's as good a time as any!

monday - i was stabbed with a pen and spanked a few times by a crusty local midwife; i would have spanked her back if i wasn't struck still by my disbelief. heather got a spank or two as well, so we suffered together. the day was so frustrating, as we got into true baby catching sportsmanship. we were playig defence, catching babies with elbows out, fending off midwives coming in to cut episiotomies in women's vaginas who certainly didn't need the cut, or pulling women's hair to make them push harder! i appreciate that we work within different birth cultures, and i appreciate that a colonial history is what fueled the episiotomy train in the first place, but i couldn't help but leave feeling sickened. i felt like i wouldn't be able to face this everyday; women abusing other women. violence in birth just ain't going to make the world a better place.

tuesday - a rainy afternoon. i listened to babies fast little heart beats through big bellies in a quiet labour ward. the calmness was a gift.

wednesday - i chat with a local restaurant owner who shivers when i tell him that i am a student midwife. i ask why. he tells me that midwives are ruthless and violent. this reply rings familiar with the local belief that the midwife is a woman's worst enemy. i go into work in the afternoon and have a chat with the head midwife on the ward and her mother who is also a midwife. she's so rad and she is totally supportive of learning more gentle approaches to birth. we talked about tonnes of stuff...midwives' dissatisfaction with their work, poor pay, stress, power trips over women, modelling behaviour, ideas about how to motivate women, lack of educational opportunities, religion and birth... she really wants heather and i to do some teaching with the midwives and we're both super stoked for that opportunity!

thursday - incredible. it's a slow day on the ward, permitting some time for teaching and disussion. we started by talking about the importance of administering oxytocin with normal saline, rather than dextrose, and we pulled out the alarm manual to justify our case. we talked about using oxytocin rather than ergot for the management of third stage. we then demonstrated shoulder dystocia and breech birth management, as if we were a bunch of pros. then i went off on a big ol' rant about midwives being privileged to do the blessed work that we do. most of these women are christian, so i talked jesus talk and ranted about the incredible responsibility we have as god's servants to invite new human beings onto the planet in peace and without violence. i talked about sisterhood between midwives and the women we support, and the need to make one of life's most challenging experiences as pleasant for women as possible. the few nods of agreement that i saw were enough to make me swell with bubbles of joy. even if they are a little kinder to one or two women this week, that's important.

and by friday... - the midwives are stepping back and watching. they are interested in the differences between how we catch babies and the midwife who stabbed us on monday now has given me her name and calls us sisters. she likes the little knit dolls that we brought from canada and she keeps trying to breastfeed them; kinda creepy, but it's better thank spanking! we attended 6 lovely births today and left smiling!

peace...a-m