Tales from an International Midwife
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Today’s podcast is with Laura Latina, a midwife, consultant and trainer for over 15 years and has a vast breadth of international experience.
After graduating in Midwifery in Italy, she completed her first assignment in the African country Burundi.
Laura continued her work with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as a supervisor in Malawi and then South Sudan and Kenya.
She has also worked as a community midwife in London and a midwifery team leader.
Laura completed her fourth MSF assignment in Afghanistan as a manager of a maternity hospital where more than 20,000 women (per year) give birth.
She has been an MSF Women’s Health Advisor, providing technical expertise and training in Bangladesh, Nigeria, Chad, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Pakistan and more.
Laura is currently interning with Compassionate Inquiry, a somatic-based psychotherapy developed by Dr Gabor Mate and Sat Dharam Kaur.
She is working as an independent consultant worldwide, preventing birth trauma and medicalisation and promoting gentle, respectful births. She offers sessions for women and families to reclaim their authentic inner power.
Today, we talk about birth in remote and less-resourced areas of the world.
We discuss the importance of community, elders and culturally appropriate woman-centered care.
We explore women’s wisdom and knowledge and birth as a community event and celebration.
We discuss the safety of so-called high-risk births and also what actually contributes to morbidity and mortality in these less resourced areas.
The importance of access, hygiene, nutrition and medicine to prevent hemorrhage.
We mention the power of culture and the evidence of effective TBA’s, traditional birth attendants.
Links
https://www.lauralatina.com/
Instagram @heal.birth.heal.earth
Birth Harvesting sessions with Nadine
I have begun offering what I call ‘Birth Harvesting’ sessions for families in the lead up to birth and in the debriefing of birth.
Whether you have given birth or not, these sessions are a powerful preparation for a more connected journey.
They have been crafted from my almost 2 decades work as a doula and yoga teacher. I am an extremely pragmatic person and also very spiritual too.
I believe that birth is a portal to some of the most beautiful gifts and offerings we as women and men can share with the world.
How we live is how we labour. And what shows up in the birthing process is for us to uncover.
The red thread of our matrilineal lines is a creative force and often we are clearing old patterns from our lineage.
Harvesting sessions are an invitation to process not only in the mind but also in the body, heart and soul.
To connect with instinct and intuition. To understand the nervous system and how you regulate and heal.
Thank you for listening today and being a part of this precious community. If you can share this episode or leave a review it is extremely helpful.