Guiyang hospital November 2019.
In 2019 I took a leap of faith and signed myself up to go to China, Guiyang to be specific, As a representative of OMP aka Optimal Maternal Positioning.
We were assigned to groups where there was one English speaker, one Chinese speaker and one bilingual speaker, we used google translate to work together and we offered our doula and body work skills to mothers who had presented to the hospital in labour or to be induced.
The hospital we were volunteering at offered no pain relief, families stayed with their labouring loved ones, it was protocol to have a synto drip throughput the day and then have it turned off at night, and the delivery room was 2 half beds, Side by side, no curtain and a row of computers along the opposite wall for the midwives to sit at. Men and all family members were left back in the waiting room as women moved from the ward to the delivery suite.
Our objective was to inspire the hospital to adopt active labouring, gentle birthing, and to be of support for the mamas to feel supported and to provide them with options, to achieve the above.
In our first birth I was offered to give baby an english name after her birth, I choose the name Georgina, in honour of my Nana, later I looked up the name meaning and it means worker of the Earth 💚 which is what my nana is, and hopefully will come to mean something beautiful for this baby too.
Whilst writing this and as November approaches it’s been 4 years, and how precious it would be to see the babes we witnessed being born, again.
I attended 5 maybe 6 births in our 10 days in China and the memories of working as a team, shift work, the incredible food, the families and birthing women, the babies, the proud grandparents, the culture and the cold winter days will stay with me forever,
2019 was a year that I made many big leaps of faith for myself, choosing to speak at big events “Not another Childbirth Class”, pushing myself out of my comfort Zone, committing to go overseas for the first time ever and be of service, creating my first ever retreat and then hosting it in 2020….. ah so beyond elated and filled with precious memories.
Deep gratitude for OMP, Ginny, Andrew and Kieran Phang and the Mothers, babies and families I was able to walk alongside during my time in China
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Thank you.
You can read more about OMP on our Optimal Maternal Positioning Blog. Xxx
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