Many women wishing to use birthing seats in labour are still denied that option due to a lack of knowledge or skill of the attending midwife or, worse, because of antiquated, ill-informed hospital policy. The effects are demoralising for the woman and, at best, embarrassing for the professional caregiver. Using the midwife-designed BirthRite Floor Studio as learning platform, this practical and stimulating workshop will provide budding holistic midwife-practitioners with the knowledge and confidence to advocate for, and assist women with, labouring and birthing in upright, sitting positions.

We will be turning birthing seats upside down and inside out to cover all aspects of practice in the context of holistic midwifery. Midwives will be empowered to fully exploit their intuitive resourcefulness when helping women to connect with their intrinsic capacities for birth.

Some issues still creating uncertainty and concern about birthing seats will be addressed and resolved, so that labouring women expressly wishing to use birthing seats can feel welcomed and supported by their professional caregivers.

Participants will leave this two-day workshop with a different appreciation of the power of birthing seats, especially when utilised together with the “gentle 2nd stage coaching” promoted by the presenter. With such thought-provoking and practical insights under their belt, midwives will be bursting to put their newly acquired skills into practice at the very next opportunity and experience the excitement and joy inherent in holistic midwifery.

After completion of this workshop

• You will know about the historical significance of birthing seats through the ages.
• You will be able to discern the physiological and psychological benefits of upright labour and birth.
• You will be competent in deciding why, when, how and where to use a birthing seat.
• You will be more familiar with the intricate details of 2nd stage physiology and understand the dangers of closed-glottis pushing from that new-found viewpoint.
• You will have explored common psychological obstructions women may face in 2nd stage and how to negotiate those more successfully. You will in this context appreciate the advantages of having the woman in an upright position.
• The workshop will provide you with many practical ideas on how to keep the woman “in the zone” during 2nd stage of labour, including detailed relaxation and breathing techniques, and how to facilitate a truly gentle birth.
• The workshop will equip you with knowledge about the use of birthing seats during physiologically challenging births such as large babies, shoulder difficulties, vaginal breech and light epidurals.
• You will appreciate when not to use birthing seats.
• You will have knowledge about how to prepare the expectant couple for an upright, active birth and how to guide a woman towards connecting with her own, innate resources to birth her child.
• You will be able to employ loosening and visualizing exercises with women in your care.
• You will have discussed the objections or concerns you are facing from other professionals within your unit when trying to implement upright birthing concepts and birthing seats. You will have gathered some ideas for new ways to encourage midwifery and medical staff to participate more constructively.
• You will have developed an “on prescription” policy for the use of the obstetric bed.
• There will be a set of tasks which you set for yourself to complete during the next six months following the workshop. They will include aims for your own practice of midwifery, your birthing unit and your birthing community.

For further details of this workshop, please contact BirthRite Head Office (Australia).