Midwifery Today Community

Adrienne:

How do you fly with your supplies?  You pretty much have to check a bag and keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't get lost, right?  I'd imagine taking a photo of the items in the bag would be prudent.  Any other tips?

well, I've never had a bag lost in literally dozens and dozens of international flights. (touch wood).

taking a photo of stuff is good, so if things are lost you can accurately describe them. (I take photos of my important documents and store them in a secure place online, so they're accessable even if everything i own is gone, for example in a major disaster).

anything you *really* can't live without, carry in your carry-on baggage (you can often get away with carrying loads more in your carry-on than the allowance, if you have lots of big, full pockets. my last flight (with a budget airline that's really strict on restricting carry-on allowance and weighs all the bags) i managed to bring a copy of Mayes' Midwifery by putting it under my coat and holding it in place with the belt, and i had a whole host of homeopathics and herbs and stuff at the bottom of a plastic grocery-bag that i said was just snacks to eat before we get on the plane, and some medications. sometimes i've gotten close to 50lbs in my carry-on without problem.

travelling really helps you to cut down your birth kit to only what is necessary. :)

Don't your "snacks" have to go thru security?  Don't things have to be in original wrappers and unopened?  How can you get thru airport security with things stuffed under/in your coat? ???????

Brlnbabies:

Don't your "snacks" have to go thru security?  Don't things have to be in original wrappers and unopened?  How can you get thru airport security with things stuffed under/in your coat? ???????

yeah, but the problem is how much your carry-on weighs. yeah, it has to go through security, but they don't care how much stuff you have. only that it's not a threat to security.(and I think the original question was worrying about baggage getting lost).

lots (but not all) places won't let you take more than 10x 100ml of any kind of liquid, and nothing that could be a weapon, so no blades of any kind (including nail clippers), but homeopathic remedies in pillule form, herbs in herb form (not tinctures), books, BP cuff, fetascope, medications, etc, you can take as much as you want through security. they might have a look at your stuff, but it won't be an issue.

As to snacks, I've always brought loads of snacks on planes (I travel with a little kid), and they never care if the packages are opened, as long as it's not liquids (like juice - and that you can't bring whether opened or not if it's in a bigger than 100ml container). that said, i've never flown in the US, so I don't know what their requirements are. they're all arbitrary anyways. Israel, which has way more security than the US could ever dream of, allows people to take liquids on the plane (no doubt because they know that the "no liquids on the plane" rule is bogus anyways).

Hello there!

Is there anyone interested in traveling to Bolivia to attend a birth in June? I have a client who is moving there in April and she is a candidate for a lovely home birth, but lacking a midwife. Anyone interested, please contact me!

Also feel free to contact me if you know someone, there or who would travel. :)

There is another midwife who is looking to travel down to Chile - right next door to Bolivia.  From what I hear she is an experienced midwife , highly recommended, and is a child birth educator.  Check out her email address and post on the international midwifery post page.  http://community.midwiferytoday.com/forums/t/1125.aspx

I hope this helps we all need to keep each other going after all.

edited by Brlnbabies, Moderator

Check out MamaBaby Haiti. 

Wow, patrecia that was a big goal to achive, but i know that you could achieve those goal you have started....take care always.

I am a CNM in the USA who has travelled the world doing volunteer work (maternity bat roosts in australia, working with traditional midwives in Ghana) before "settling down" and working at a birth center here in Georgia (I no longer work there). I'm thinking of setting up a homebirth practice but can't find a backup doctor (georgia law says you have to have a doctor backup as a certified nurse midwife) and feel my calling in life is to help women all over the world. I'd be very interested in working internationally attending births and my husband and 3 year old (we birthed her at home) would be happy to pack up at a moment's notice. In fact, that is what we were hoping to do anyway! 

I'd love to hear more about this and how to connect with women around the world looking for a midwife. 

georganna

elphabala [at] hotmail [dot] com

Daniela:

Do any of you lovely ladies travel around Europe, Shakti and I are near one another, I am in Croatia located on the coast (which BTW, is a great holiday making destination ;)?  Perhaps you know of colleauges who are willing to travel?

 

I am in Germany, near Czeck Republic. I have worked both in England and in Germany as a homebirth midwife and once I travelled up to the Orkney Islands to attend a birth at an island there. I could imagine to travel to homebirths around Europe, if I'm free, but that would be mostly in my son's school holidays - anybody want to give birth in August.....?

Cheers,

Nina

georganna:

 

I'd love to hear more about this and how to connect with women around the world looking for a midwife. 

georganna

elphabala [at] hotmail [dot] com

I don't know exactly, but I suppose a travelling-midwife-website might be a good start. I once considered doing that, but then I got pregnant with my second child and settled down instead... Then, subscribe to different mailing lists about homebirth so that you hear when people put enquiries out. Check on this forum. Maybe also on mothering.com. Or - in addition or instead of all this - just send a message to the Universe that you are willing to travel for births. The right people will somehow find you!

Take care,

Nina

just bumping :)

I'm planning to be heading to South America in March next year, and probably taking a round-the-world ticket to the Middle East and back through Asia... so now is the time to start trying to concieve next cycle if you happen to live in Argentina and want me to attend your birth :P

GEORGANNA

Check Emory's website the institution just received a ginormous grant for an academic exchange/ midwifery  best practices sort of endeavor in Ethiopis. Surely they need and adjunct or to to travel abroad to implement the program and guide the students or whoever it is they plan to have do the work.

If you decide to stay pu in GA check withsoem of the fed design. clinics for a doc that may back you up. There hospital privledges should be decent and their malpractice insurance is usually covered by the feds and the tort stuff seems to make them feel a bit more relax in their practice protocols

(I travel with a little kid)

Would you be comfortable sharing how this works with your family and with various local laws?

Do you homeschool, does your partner accompany you, etc?

How does midwifery law or licensure in various countries affect you?

I have one seven-year-old son and am exploring the "roving midwife" possibilities....

Thanks. Ingrid

Ingrid, my daughter is also seven (and two months, which I should never forget to mention!); she's been to many births now, starting when she was 12 months old. We Homeschool (unschooling), so that isn't a problem for my travelling midwifery lifestyle. My partner is a computer programmer with a remote office, so essentially, all he needs is to have is internet connection and he can be "at work" anywhere in the world. That said, he doesn't accompany me to births in other countries all that often.

So far, as a visitor, the local laws in other places haven't affected me much at all, other than to create a huge need for holistic homebirth midwives. I think it's wise to have an understanding of the local laws, but this varies so much from place to place it's impossible to generalise.

Terrific. We have seriously considered homeschooling so this would not be a leap.

So you do not need a license to practice in each country?

Maybe I'm kidding myself in how much difference I make for my clients prenatally, but what about prenatal care and health history? How do you assure yoruself that a woman is appropriate for homebirth and that basic preventive nutrition, etc. has been covered? Or postpartum needs such as rhogam, etc.?

Thanks again!

Ingrid