Oregon Conference Program 2022
Midwifery Today Conference
Eugene, Oregon, USA • October 16–19, 2022
“Reclaiming Midwifery”
Sunday • October 16, 2022
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Registration and introductions
2:00 pm – 2:30 pm Opening session
Reclaiming Midwifery – Eneyda Spradlin-Ramos and Jan Tritten
We open with a reminder of the awesome calling we as midwives have within our world. Our calling is responsible for the foundational health and well-being of society. Let’s bring to birth the joy we know is possible. Let’s discover the joy that we as midwives should be experiencing in our profession. We will ponder these ideas together for four days.
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Heart and Hands: Sustainable Midwifery – Elizabeth Davis
With skillful hands and open heart, true midwifery marries science and art, forges the deepest alliances and operates at a level of intimacy uncommon in our busy society. We will explore how the three paradigms of health care (as articulated by Robbie-Davis Floyd) apply to our work, and consider how best to use this understanding to shape a practice that is sustainable, satisfying and safe. What are your deepest challenges in this regard? Whatever they are, this will be a safe space to share them and discover new and specific ways to deepen and streamline your care. From the initial visit to the last postpartum, assessment skills will be presented in a holistic vein, with updates based on the latest research in perinatal psychology and physiology. Delve into the joys and mysteries of our sacred calling!
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm General session
Checking dilation without vaginal exams – Gail Hart
For many women, a cervical exam in labor is not just uncomfortable, but emotionally intrusive. Sometimes an exam may be necessary, but there are other methods we can use to detect the progress of labor and the position and descent of the baby. By including these traditional hands-off skills, we can often do a “hands-out” labor.
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Dinner break
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Shoulder Dystocia Prevention and Management – Elizabeth Davis
Do you know that clues of the impending development of shoulder dystocia can help us prevent its occurrence? Elizabeth will discuss the mechanical and physical factors in shoulder dystocia; the three cardinal signs to recognize it accurately, and how best to remedy it. She will analyze tools and methods used to overcome panic reactions and will demonstrate effective techniques for immediate management and follow-up care.
Monday • October 17, 2022 • Conference Day 2
9:00 am – 10:00 am Opening General session
Visions and Dreams for Gentle Birth and Gentle Midwifery – Jan Tritten and Eneyda Spradlin-Ramos
In this inspiring session, we will discuss how we each play an important part in changing the birth future for mothers and babies, with a discussion of what other practitioners are doing and have done around the world. We encourage you to discover your dream and carry it out. Together we can continue the Birth Revolution and change birth practices while reclaiming midwifery.
10:00 am – 11:30 am
Autonomous Midwifery: The Key to the Future — Deb Puterbaugh and Gail Hart
One of the keys to joy in midwifery practice is autonomy. It is essential that midwifery be an autonomous profession. Autonomy gives us the freedom to modify our practices, rather than getting stuck in medically-based “standard of care” protocols that are not evidence-based and are often against our own intuition and integrity. Learn specific ways in which autonomy can help birthing women reduce unnecessary and risky intervention in birth and keep the joy in your midwifery practice.
11:30 am – 12:00 pm
Massage for Restarting Stalled Labor — Eneyda Spradlin-Ramos
This is a fantastic tool to treat labor dystocias, to get labor restarted, and more. This treatment activates the parasympathetic nervous system and facilitates expansion. You can release tension in the pelvis and pelvic floor and open up the birth channel. You can improve oxytocin, sexual energy, and the well-being of the baby, supporting him in his effort to come into the world. You may avoid many cesarean sections. Every midwife should have this tool!
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch break
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
New and Old: Techniques for Controlling and Preventing Hemorrhage – Elizabeth Davis
Excessive blood loss is often preventable or is controllable without medication. It is important to understand the full process of third stage and to facilitate the delivery of the placenta correctly. Elizabeth will discuss how to handle third stage problems with non-pharmacological methods that are frequently faster and more effective than medications. She will clarify situations when transport is essential and circumstances where manual removal is necessary. She will also discuss use of the placenta, cord, and membranes for fourth stage hemorrhage control; techniques could save many maternal lives worldwide.
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm General session
Alternative Remedies – Eneyda Spradlin-Ramos and Anita Rojas
You will learn about the use of herbs, essential oils, touch, and other natural remedies in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Learn practical uses of these remedies for your clients’ ailments and complications. Learn how to keep your clients well. Please come ready to share your techniques. This conference is about learning and sharing!
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Force of Nature a One Woman Play – Carole Groobman
Penny Simkin, says: “This engaging and educational performance uses storytelling, humor, and eloquent words to not only convey the wonder and power of childbirth, but also to introduce many questions about the medicalization of this normal body process and the culturally-based fear that underlies much of obstetrical care today.”
Tuesday • October 18, 2022 • Conference Day 3
9:00 am – 10:00 am
International Issues – Deb Puterbaugh and Jan Tritten
Brainstorm with us and your peers on how we can effect changes in midwifery and childbirth on a global level. This will be an interactive session, learning from the midwives present from the many different cultures represented. Learn about the midwifery and birth movements going on around the world and how you can help. We can make changes for the better with knowledge of global possibilities.
10:00 am – 11:30 am
Midwifery Defined by Midwives – Deb Puterbaugh, Elizabeth Davis, and Gail Hart
It is about time that we midwives define ourselves, what we do, and what we need. Only homebirth midwives and the moms we serve know what we really do. The obstetric community does not understand undisturbed birth or midwifery. In fact, many of them have never seen a normal, hands-off birth. Let’s define ourselves now!
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch break
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Detection and Prevention of Fetal Distress in Labor – Gail Hart
Participants will be guided, step by step, through the world of fetal monitoring. Gail will show how to identify reassuring and non-reassuring patterns of fetal heart rates. She will also discuss non-electronic fetal monitoring tools and their effectiveness and other ways of understanding how well the baby is doing, including taking into account fetal movement. Gail will also cover the essential (and often overlooked) subject of hydration and nourishment in labor. The mother and baby (motherbaby) are totally connected, after all, and both must be kept strong.
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm General session
Tricks of the Trade – Eneyda Spradlin-Ramos, Jan Tritten, Elizabeth Davis, and you!
Share the techniques you’ve perfected in your practice or bring your burning questions to this roundtable of pertinent tips on a wide variety of topics. Previous topics have included preventing hemorrhage, herbs for labor and birth, correcting malpresentations, nutrition hints, and essential oils. We also plan to share tips for posterior presentation in this session. This is always a much-appreciated session, for its sense of sisterhood as well as its information. “Worth at least two weeks of academic training,” said one participant.
Wednesday • October 19, 2022 • Conference Day 4
9:00 am – 10:30 am
Intuition in Birth and Midwifery – Deb Puterbaugh and Elizabeth Davis
What is intuition, and can we learn to rely on it? How much a part of the midwife’s art is based on it? And what role does it play in the birthing process—for midwife and mother alike? This class explores the physiological underpinnings of intuition, links intuitive ebbs and flows to the monthly cycle and certain brainwave states, and includes practical suggestions for cultivating our intuitive abilities.
10:30 am -12:30 pm
Rebozo Techniques and Practice – Eneyda Spradlin-Ramos and Anita Rojas
The origin of these techniques and traditions from Mexico goes back thousands of years. We will teach how to use a rebozo—a useful tool in all parts of the childbearing cycle. In this amazing class you will discover simple techniques that promote healthy pregnancy and birth. You will learn many “new” old techniques you can apply immediately to your practice. Time for hands-on practice will be provided.
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm Lunch break
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Short sessions
2:00 – 2:30
Birthing Women, Sacred Ground – Elizabeth Davis
Why is birth such a profound, intimate and deeply remembered experience for women? We will discuss the emotional and spiritual factors inherent in birth, and how birth practitioners can learn to understand and respect the holy ground upon which they walk whenever they are caring for a mother, baby or family. Birth is not only a physiological process; it is a rite of passage and is sacred.
2:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Repositioning the Malpositioned baby! – Gail Hart
Malpresentations and malpositions may cause difficulty in labor if they’re not recognized and corrected. How to detect, assess, and correct malpositions is one of the essential arts of midwifery. We’ll discuss how to identify malpositions; the risks associated with them, and tools to get them into the best position. Getting the wrong-way baby onto the right track may prevent a cesarean section.
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Creating a Better Future for Birth – Deb Puterbaugh
What is the future of midwifery and birth? What can each of us do to create a better future? What is your vision? We envision a future where every woman gives birth as she chooses and every baby is welcomed in gentleness and love. A future where all women have optimal pregnancies and births and every baby is healthy. A future where every family starts with this sacred and safe beginning. How do we get there from here?
3:30 pm – 4:00 pm Closing session
Gentle Birth; Gentle Midwifery – Elizabeth Davis and Jan Tritten
Join us for an inspirational closing, where we will recap what we have learned. Every woman has the right to a gentle birth with kind, loving midwifery care. All birth practitioners need to work toward this goal of helping families achieve an optimal, gentle birth.
