This is a short excerpt from a section on practical preparation.....copyrighted 1981 Apprentice Academics The Midwifery Home Study Course...a lot has changed...
PRACTICE AND PRACTICALS
Measure your finger, knuckle to knuckle. Purchase or make a dilatation chart and practice checking dilation with your eyes closed. Become familiar with the “feel” of the spread of your fingers at each centimeter.
Buy or borrow a pelvis and practice pelvimetry. Keep in mind that the real thing feels very different.
Practice labor mechanisms with a doll and pelvis. Use a textbook and go through each mechanism fore every imaginable presentation and position.
Exercise your arms and fingers: lift weights; grip rubber balls; etc. You will be amazed at how important this will be.
Practice good health habits and work on your own nutrition. Midwifery puts a lot of demands on your body.
Attend every local function concerning birth and babies regardless of who is the sponsor. Every class and every meeting will bring you in contact with information and contacts.
Become an expert in some related field. This will benefit your family and your clients and it will make you a valuable resource for other practitioners. You can never know too many people; the more contacts, the better! Many of your future opportunities will come from the contacts you are making now!
Put yourself on every mailing list you can even if the topics seem peripheral now. You may find a connection later.
Organize public presentations of videos and speakers on birth related topics. Use the public meeting rooms at your library or civic center.
Sell birth related books you would endorse at information meetings or health fairs. Contact the Special Sales office of the publishers for bulk discount information.
Submit book reviews for publication in magazines or newsletters.
Write a column for new parents or expecting parents for your local newspaper.
Interview home birth couples or midwives for a “future” book!
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