Trust Birth Conference — Day 2
On Saturday March 8, despite being totally wiped out, mentally and emotionally, from Day 1 of the Trust Birth Conference, I hopped out of bed about 15 minutes before my alarm, bright and ready to tackle Day 2.
I was lucky enough to have breakfast with the outstanding Melissa Collins and her husband Kenneth, who’d managed to fly in from Texas the night before. What a guy; patiently endured Melissa and I babbling an odd mixture of birth and tech over waffles and yogurt. When 8:00 AM rolled around, we wandered over to the conference, ready to dive in to another day.
My first session was in the gorgeous Mezzanine room, which had an ocean view, and featured again the delightful Dr. Sarah Buckley, speaking on “Prenatal Testing and Ultrasound: The Whole Story for Mother and Baby”. Again, nothing I didn’t already know, but nice to know that if I ever am in the position of having to convince someone else, I know exactly where to look for a calm, rational, excellently-reasoned, and meticulously-researched argument. I think because I do get so whipped up, I value people who can stay calm and steady even more. Thank you, Dr. Buckley.
Track 4 was probably the most fun I had at the conference, other than my own talk. “Writing About Birth”, a panel discussion featuring Jody McLaughlin, Sheila Stubbs, Jan Tritten, and Laura Shanley (swoon!), again covered both my personal and my ICAN goals at once. And what an amazingly accomplished group of speakers! I sat there, basking in the combined glow, and just astonished by the amount of between-the-eyes wisdom represented in just those four people. I took notes furiously, and willed myself to memorize the session in its entirety. Futile, I know, but it was that amazing. I got a few minutes to schmooze with Jody at the end, which was great for both instigating ideas, and for pumping me up.
After lunch, another earthshatteringly cool panel session, “Don’t Push Me; Physiologic Pushing” with Karen Strange, Gloria Lemay, and Heather Brock. I’d attended Heather’s postpartum exercise session the day before, so I was pretty sure I knew what to expect from her part of the talk, but was surprised when Carla Hartley also showed up, and the two of them talked about what their births had been like. Fabulous to hear a mother-daughter team discussing their birth experiences with each other. And of course, I’d been a total fan of Gloria Lemay’s for years and years, so again, being in the Physical Presence of Greatness was a pump all by itself. I knew she was wise; I had no idea she was also hysterically funny. Pushing is normally such an un-funny topic, it was unexpectedly delightful to be sitting there laughing about it. Of course, I’d read her article about pushing, but hearing her deliver the information live, with anecdotes, was absolutely wonderful. And Karen Strange piped in with a discussion of pushing from the baby’s perspective, which again, rocked my world. Mainstream medicine tends to ignore that there’s a baby involved at all, but hearing details of how the baby assists the pushing process was really enlightening. And Rachel Correa attended the session, again rocking my entire world, when she said that, having had one still baby and three live ones, it was amazing to her that people would even question that of course, a baby participates in their own birth.
Track 6, pretty much like all the tracks, was maddening to have to make a choice in. Even figuring out my “ICAN vs my upcoming birth” priorities didn’t help; too many fabulous speakers to choose from. I ended up opting for Raquel Lazar-Paley’s “Cultivating the Conscious Woman“, mostly because she’d promised a relevant discussion of Plato’s Republic when I’d spoken to her in the halls. I wasn’t familiar with Raquel’s work like I had been with the presenters of other sessions I’d gone to, and found myself being pleasantly surprised at the amount of work she’s done in an area that still eludes me; the question of how to help a woman move along the consciousness spectrum, and possibly even avoid the first cut. Sadly, some of my fellow attendees, birth doulas, were pretty spectacularly unaware of some of the big issues facing women with regards to cesareans, so that kind of threw a cast over things. Raquel did a brilliant job of being gently enlightening, without blowing up in their faces. Well done, Raquel!
By the time dinner rolled around, I was pretty much a ravening beast (going long stretches so fascinated by talks that I forget to snack does that). Another lovely meal with Melissa and Kenneth, and we were ready to tackle the evening session…
Track 7 was one of the things I’d been looking forward to longest. “Why Women Stay Home Alone” with Laura Shanley, Melissa Collins, Heather Cushman-Dowdee, Jody McLaughlin, Rixa Freeze, Heather Brock and Emily Reeves was absolutely brilliant. Each of them told the short form of their own unassisted birth story, and then it was opened up for discussion. Laura says,
One of the MANY highlights for me was the panel discussion on “Why Women Stay Home…Alone!” Several of us on the panel had been a bit concerned that we might endure criticism from midwives, but I can honestly say that not one of the midwives in the audience had anything negative to say about UC! After my fellow panelists and I shared our reasons for choosing UC, the discussion turned to how we can build a bridge between UC and midwifery. I was thrilled to learn that there are many midwives who truly want to help women in their quest for a UC, whether that means being a back-up, doing prenatal care, offering knowledge and support during the pregnancy and/or checking on the mom and baby after the birth.
The conversation was so animated and so lively, that when I finally couldn’t focus any more, around 10:30, the breakout talks were still going on. I congratulated Melissa, and drug my very weary self back up to my room. You know, the room I took a photo of because I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be there much? Yeah. That room. Because tomorrow was another day, full of sessions, breakouts, hallway chats… and my presentation. Eeeeeeek!