My Week at The Farm

Hello! A few weeks ago I got back from Tennessee, more precisely from The Farm, where I attended a 6 day midwife apprentice workshop. The Farm is well known for being the place where the legendary midwife and author Ina May Gaskin and her wonderful midwife collegues live and work.

The point of this workshop was to learn the basic skills needed to assist midwives during birth.  I don't think I'll be a midwife anytime soon (maybe in a long long time I'll get my training) but I thought this workshop would be good for me as a doula. I learned lots of new things and skills, through some hands-on classes and lectures. It all helped me understand better the wonderful process of giving life. The best part of it all was listening to the midwives from The Farm, who have been attending births for over 40 years, talking about their experiences and sharing their knowledge with us.

It was a wonderful week, full of new thngs to learn and feminine energy. There was 15 of us women, doulas, midwifery students and future midwives, there to learn and share. I'd do it all over again anytime. THANK YOU Ina May Gaskin, Pamela Hunt, Joanne Santana and Deborah Flowers for sharing your knowledge with us. It  truly was an unforgettable week.

here is the link to their website if you want to learn some more about that workshop: http://midwiferyworkshops.org/midwifery_assistant.html

And now here are a few snapshots of the workshop, and of the midwives who were there to teach us:

Deborah Flowers

Joanne Santana, and some of our hands on training models

How to clear a baby's airway. I don't know if I'll ever get to actually apply all these skills in real live, being a doula, but it was a lot of fun learning them all!

With Joanne Santana

With Ina May Gaskin

With Pamela Hunt

With Ina May, Joanne and Pamela

And BONUS, two days after I came back, I got to meet Ibu Robin Lim, a wonderful woman whom I admire immensly. She was in Montreal for a few days and I had the chance to meet her during a field day for doulas, or ''Birth Keepers'', like she says...

With Ibu Robin Lim

All these wonderful encounters all marked me, each in their own way. I am now ready to carry on with my work as a Birth Keeper, and I have many projects in developpement (I'll tell you in good time). I hope some of their wisdom and success rubbed off on me!

Have a great day!