Birth is a Holistic experience and rite of passage
As women, mothers and carers for the lives to come and the pregnant goddesses, it is important in this time on earth that we honour ourselves and each other in these journeys and share our skills of the ancient art of midwifery to offer the chance for birth to flourish once more in a respectful way.
In the spirit of holding one another on the path, Ruth, Samara and Alex would humbly like to share with you a carefully crafted retreat that aims at empowering us with the essence of True Midwifery and care and love for self and others as we travel precious moments in our own existence and the ones of the women and babies we care for.
For 7 days you are invited to Southern Portugal (near Odemira) to come to learn, share and take time for yourself as birth keepers to reflect on your journey and our roles to keep on reviving the sacred haven of birth.
- The Basic Needs of a Woman in Labour and Authentic Midwifery
- What equipment and supplies are used to take care of a mother during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum? How to use this equipment.
- Preparing the birthing environment.
- Introduction to record-keeping and medical terminology
- Introduction to basic midwifery assistant skills, such as taking blood pressure, vital signs, urine testing, fetal heart rates, and fundal measurements
- this will be with a live model
- How to check the baby’s fetal heart rate
- If you are assisting at birth, what is your role in labour, birth, and postpartum?
- postpartum care of mother and baby
- Introduction to care and assessment of the newborn
- Helping the breastfeeding mother
- Cultural competency in childbirth and care of women
- Universal Precautions
- An introduction to birth first aid
- Listening and self-care skills
- homoeopathy and herbs
- Shiatsu in pregnancy
- Connection and sisterhood within your birthing community
- Singing and dancing!
We have an Early Bird fee of ….. Euro until ….
- A 50% non-refundable deposit is required to book your place.
- Please fill in this form to sign up for the journey. We will then get in touch to finalise the booking.
- Vegetarian Food and accommodation costs are separate and are between 250€ and 350€ per person for the week.
- This course will not qualify you to practice as a midwife.
- This is purely an explorative journey for those interested in pursuing a path of birthkeeping, or to deepen the learning of those walking this path already.
Ruth and Alex have been friends for nearly 20 years, sharing a connection with South Africa and birth since their children were babies. They met Samara in Portugal in 2016 when they were all together for Ruth’s An Introduction to Midwifery course. Samara, a very experienced Birthkeeper from Wales, shared Ruth and Alex’s connection with South Africa and birth.
In 2017 the three friends met again, this time at the tip of Africa, Alex to apprentice Ruth for three months and for all three to be together for the Cape Town Midwifery and Birth Conference.
A Journey of True Midwifery was born under the starlit sky at African Spring Equinox, a unified vision from three sisters who are excited to present this to you in the South of Portugal.
Ruth Ehrhardt
is the mother of 4 home-birthed children, a South African traditional birth attendant as well as a Certified Professional Midwife, the author of a book called The Basic Needs of a Woman in Labour (which has been translated into 15 different languages), and a birth and midwifery teacher. She is the daughter, granddaughter, and niece of midwives, so it seems this work was in many ways predestined from birth.
Ruth has an innate love and trust for birth, women’s bodies, and babies’ intelligence. In her teaching and work, she mainly focuses on guarding and protecting the environment for pregnancy and birth, as opposed to guiding or facilitating the actual birthing process.
Full bio here: http://truemidwifery.com/who-am-i/
Samara Hawthorn
Samara’s passion for birth-tending was born with the birth of her daughter in 1995, developed with the birth of her son’s and matured as she was present for the birth of her grand-daughter in 2018. Samara trained as a WellMother Maternity Shiatsu Teacher with Suzanne Yates, whilst living and learning with the lay midwives of Tipi Valley, Wales.
She then moved to Ashland, Oregon, where she apprenticed with CPM Maureen Mitchell of Helping Hands Midwifery. Samara returned to Wales in 2004, offering herself as a Community Doula and Traditional Birth Attendant
Samara’s sons were born at home 2005 and 2008, and over the next ten years, they grew strong roots on their homestead “Bryn y Blodau”, building a roundhouse and tending the land and animals, whilst continuing her path as a Traditional Birthkeeper, travelling occasionally to Africa to learn from traditional midwives and Zimbabwe and South Africa.
In 2013 Samara founded WellMama CIC, which continues to offer services and training to support and celebrate the Childbearing Year. “Bryn y Blodau” has become a regenerative, intergenerational community, hosting retreats, workshops and trainings for Birthkeepers and EarthKeepers
Samara is a certified Counsellor, Healing Tao, Chi Kung and Tai Chi Instructor, and a visiting lecturer at the School of Midwifery at Swansea University.
Samara’s calling is to learn, tend and weave Traditional Midwifery Skills and Herb Lore so that women and their families continue to have access to this ancient knowledge.
Samara has attended more than 150 births and supported numerous women and their families throughout the journey of the Childbearing Year.
Alex Alonso
Alexandra, Alex, is passionate about birth after she gave birth unattended to her 2 daughters in rural Africa.
She feels a deep connection to the sacred circle of women who she feels committed to serving in many ways. She worked for 15 years as a doula assisting midwives and traditional birth keepers in South Africa (Ruth Ehrhardt and Karen Clark) , Brazil, Indonesia (Ibu Robin Lim and Ibu Sulandri) and Portugal where she now practices holistic midwifery. She organizes yearly retreats in Portugal since 2016 with Ruth and later Samara, to empower the local community of women in the field of pregnancy, birth and postpartum care.
Along with her path as a birth keeper, she is a devoted single mother of two, she is 15 years experienced body worker, eco community co pioneer for 9 years, crafter (produce placenta remedies and natural skin care), dancer, and she holds rituals around the sacred child bearing years and beyond. (Blessings ways and Closing of the bones)
She lived in Africa for over 10 years and many other countries in the world which gives her a multicultural honoring of women and their different realities.
Check her website!
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