First Annual Midwifery Conference

On May 29th I had the honor of attending the first annual midwifery conference in Romania. There were some beautiful people present and several lovely presentations. I felt overjoyed to be a part of this movement... there was also room for improvement. Above is the picture that Irina took when I was speaking. I was able to share for about fifteen minutes regarding my dreams for the future of Romanian midwifery and hopes implementing the International Motherbaby Childbirth Coalition's ten steps towards a better maternal child healthcare system.

Overview
Positives
- attending the conference with midwife student Irina Popescu
- meeting Lamaze activist Oana Moraru once again
- Bianca' Brad's heart wrenching and personal presentation regarding the experience of a mother when her child dies.
- great attendance
- the meeting was initiated by the nurses' and midwives' association president (for Bucharest)
- an excellent presentation on the progress and normalcy of midwifery care in Western Europe

Room for Improvement
- I was shocked when at the university hospital, where the conference took place, there was no soap in the bathrooms (also no toilet paper etc.). When I asked the housekeeper she said, "There is an economic crisis, what can we do? If there is no soap, there is no soap." I thought, well, cutting soap out of the budget is not where I would have started.
- Several cord blood banking organizations paid for advertising and spoke at the conference. It was frustrating because in a country where state hospitals do not have soap, we are promoting this 'advanced' technology. What if we didn't have routine episiotomies and didn't systematically apply fundal pressure to women's uteruses when they were actively pushing.... what if we had soap and washed our hands....and then we talked about cord blood banking?
- Midwives were not able to share 'tricks of the trade' or present a clinical piece of information because of their limited professional role in the country's capital.
- Many midwives present told me they really didn't see the 'big issues' in current clinical practice and were overall satisfied with the care being provided.

But, really and truly, Bianca's presentation made the entire day worth it! I think we need more mothers like Bianca to break through to midwives and reconnect midwives with their emotions, their hearts. Bianca is also a local celebrity and well spoken in German and English. Feel free to check out her website http://www.organizatiaemma.ro/