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Independent Midwives Pink Kit Birth Stories
Independent midwives collect statistics like Andrea and Suzie about your Pink Kit practice.
At the same time hang up the sales flyer and sell/rent The Pink Kit
Package to families birthing in hospital as well. Send your stories to
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'It took me a great deal of time to change my attitude about The Pink Kit. At first, I have to admit, I just saw it as another skill I could develop and for several years I did hip lifts in some births when I felt it was necessary.. Sometimes the hip lift worked a treat and sometimes it didn’t. In the back of my mind was a niggling feeling I wasn’t doing this right. Being a homebirth midwife for many years, I’ve attended over 1500 births. My transfer rate is about 15%. There is no doubt that a number of woman who manage to give birth at home still struggle. Dads and family members are often there. Some help the woman better than others. There was little consistancy and frankly I became tired. My other colleagues had similar stories. Eventually, I did give a few kits to women I chose: first time mothers, women who had previous bad births. Then I took another step and realized that if I had known this at my own births, which were very good, I still would have been more in touch with my body and the births. So, now everyone does the work. There’s been a huge change in my practice.
Joy … CNM
‘I've had it! What happened to the 1980s when women were raging against the machine and midwives were forging ahead with political success? I live in a State in the US where we got what we wanted more or less. Midwives could practice legally and insurance companies have been coming on board. Women have more choices, yet the transfer rate from home to hospital has increased. I've just been introduced to the concept of The Pink Kit, pretty radical to me. The idea that there is one way that all women can prepare seems way off the mark, yet when I went through the video I certainly knew that all of us could explore our bodies in the same way. The idea that pregnant women had to be told to prepare and that here were the skills they had to use was just as confrontational to my way of thinking and practicing. Yet, once again I could see the benefit of working with women who did know their bodies and how to work better with labour. I think I'll give this a trial. Now, how do I convince my mothers?
Heather … Lay midwife
‘Our midwife was an incredibly committed woman. She had worked in our local area for years, always willing to be there for pregnant families. She stepped way beyond the boundaries imposed by her license and took risks to her professional status because she believed in home birth and natural birth. I used to listen to the women in the community to talk about how she had helped them through hours of labour when they had struggled, how she had stayed with them for days when labour was delayed and how she had put aside her family at times in order to attend a woman in labour. After all those years, she was exhausted. She felt sucked dry and thought seriously about leaving midwifery. My husband and I found The Pink Kit website and took a chance and bought the kit. We worked through the video diligently. As I was going through it, I realised that this wonderful woman could have actually experienced something different had all her couples worked through this resource, but it only came out in 2001. I knew when my partner and I worked well, as a team, in labour that we were helping her to enjoy her passion.'
Mary and Robert …With love to you, dear midwife and friend
‘Sometimes, even with the best planning, a woman birthing at home ends up in hospital. The first couple who used The Pink Kit in my practice ended up transfering to hospital... pea soup meconium, mother with a rising temp and a feeling I had. On the way to hospital I was thinking that The Pink Kit didn't make a difference and the couple had lost their chance to give birth in their own home. I knew it was wise to transfer but I felt that there was a loss they would feel and disappointment we all feel when this happens. But I watched an amazing thing happen. This couple were so clear about the skills they were using that even with the doctor's concerns and the need to be more closely monitored they just continued to work together with The Pink Kit skills. In the deepest core of my being I realised that all of us could have these skills and some of the things that we're so fussed about won't seem so significant. I believe this couple had as good a birth in hospital as they would have at home. Funny that.'
Jeanne … Direct Entry Midwife
‘Sometimes, even with the best planning you have another birth to go to, or you are sick, or your own child broke their arm, or the couple gives birth before you get there. The unexpected is expected in this profession.I got turned on to The Pink Kit when a couple was given the kit before the birth of their second child after a horrendous first birth. They told me how much they liked it but I didn't know anything about it. They called me in the worse storm the region has had in 100 years with flooding everywhere to tell me that her waters had gone and contractions were 20 minutes apart. I wasn't too fussed. Her last labour was long, so I told them to call me when they wanted to meet me in hospital. I got a call about 4 hours later saying they were on the way. I left my home on the other side of town. The roads were shocking. I snail paced down to the hospital and just as I pulled in they rang on the cell phone to say she had just delivered their baby. The father kept saying over and over again. 'She trusted me, she trusted me.' Later he said it was because of The Pink Kit that she had trusted him. She confirmed that'. Betty … Direct Entry Midwife
‘As an independent midwife in NZ, I can deliver women in both hospital and home. In the 1970s there were small maternity hospitals staffed by midwives. We still had to call the doctor at the delivery. I became independent when midwives were given professional autonomy. Things have changed tremendously, yet the rates of epidurals and c/s has rised so fast. I was stuck in the old belief that it was the medical profession that was responsible. Then I began to consider what women were saying on their birth plans. Because the New Zealand midwifery model is based on a partnership with woman, and woman has choice; we agree to follow her choices. Frankly, more women are choosing epidurals. Our profession isn't set up to argue the pros and cons of medical care. I practiced 10 years independently and 8 years before. Once the couples I work with started using The Pink Kit, I realised that the missing link were simple labour management skills and coaching skills for fathers. Since I'm a continuity of care midwife, as are many here, we have to be present the whole labour so we see how women are really managing. Before when I was a staff midwife, I'd come and go. It's certainly more tiring to see a woman have trouble coping with labour. With all my couples using The Pink Kit, birth has definitely changed.'
Anne … Certified nurse midwife
‘My husband and I were delighted when our midwife insisted we use The Pink Kit. I thought it was incredibly significant that she bluntly told us that she took responsibility for her job and that we had to take responsibility for both our jobs. We had never thought of us having jobs. Certainly, my husband never thought that supporting me was a job and that there was a job description and necessary skills to learn. In reality that's what it's like. I'm going to do the labour and it is my job to be skilled at doing that. I understand that I won't know what will happen, but I do realise that I'll be more responsive to whatever happpens if I know my skills options. That makes such perfect sense. My husband got a huge amount from The Pink Kit. I really think it was written for men who often feel left out. Even in NZ, the midwives are in partnership with women not with us as a couple, so sometimes he's felt a bit left out. He loved the information'.
Jo and James
‘Although I can attend home births, I can not go to hospital with the couples who transfer. Until I started encouraging my mothers to use The Pink Kit, I always felt I was abandonning them. I no longer feel that and the side effect is that less mothers transfer because they get on with labour.'
R. C-D … lay midwife
‘I can't tell you how turned off, insulted, angry and offended I was when I read what Common Knowledge Trust envisioned. There is no doubt that I felt criticised in lots of dimensions. I felt that my integrity was in question, my very deep level of committment ot women, my skills and ability to help a woman give birth and my role as a midwife. I was so angry that it took me ten years to come back to the concept. I think deep down, I wondered what my job was going to be if women were skilled at birthing, although it's always a joy to be with such a woman. I also couldn't quite understand how women who were going to hospital under obstetric care would even bother. Then I realised that I had a pretty fixed opinion and had a bit of a teary laugh. Midwifery has to change. We're losing it, not us as midwives, but us as women...women who give birth and women who help other women. We must go down a road together and together means a greater equality of skills. As a woman who chose to be a midwife, I have my skills. As a woman who has given birth and didn't have the skills, I realise now that the women we serve (like myself) have been clueless for a long time. The Pink Kit is the way out, a very neutral resource that focuses on our shared body. What has changed in my practice is that I think 3 dimensionally now'.
Ginnie …independent midwife
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