Today Joanne Santana taught us about the stages of labor and how to determine baby's position. 

I seem to get a lot of OP babies, so I was happy to learn that squatting was indeed a good way to help baby out but that you must help mom control the speed so that she does not tear.

Our 2nd class of the day we palpated fanny the dummy doll.  This was an experience.  When it was my turn I got my baby completely upside down.  Honestly it didn't feel like a real belly to me lol.  Anyways my baby was breech when I thought baby was ROA.

The 3rd class we got to practice on real mommas.  I measured fundal height, checked fetal heart tones and guessed baby's position.

Ina May showed up for dinner.  It was a nice surprise because there were rumors that something was amiss. 

The first class we had was on what to expect from a midwife assistant.  This is where we got to see what a typical midwifes bag contained.  We learned about labor support and comfort measures.

Midwife assistants are expected to be compassionate, reliable, and not pushy or loud.  We are expected to represent the midwife we work for.

This is where we learned a few tricks of the trade like intradermal water blocks (my friend Lisa has done this) to confuse the pain receptors.  We also talked about Blue Cohosh to enhance labor, Shepard’s purse to stop bleeding and borage oil to soften the cervix.  The most famous thing we learned in that class was the Twatcicle.  A Twatcicle is a ice pad with arnica gel applied.  It really helps heal the perineum.

We also practiced taking vitals on each other, like blood pressure, heart rate and respiration.

We also spent the majority of the day learning how to sterilize our midwifes equipment and all about sterile field.