My name is Yvonne Argent. I’ve been a midwife since 1980. I have practiced midwifery in many different settings. I first met Heather Bruce around 2006 in Brisbane thru the Home Birth Group. I was practicing as a home birth midwife. Below is a list of many different things that I saw as changes in the health of women that Heather and I were caring for at that time.
- Ease with which these women gave birth. ( Women with a history of long slow painful labours giving birth in 2-3 hours or less without drugs for pain relief)
- Correct positioning of baby giving rise to easier births. Better positioning of transverse babies or unstable lie with grand multi para.
- Turning of breech babies ( or easier labours for women who choose to birth their breech babies vaginally)
- Change in symptoms of women with many serious conditions eg Pre-eclampsia, polyhydramnious, oligohydramnious, cholestasis of pregnancy, Gestational diabetes of pregnancy, placental problems like low fetal growth, high fetal growth, twins, pelvic or backache of pregnancy, morning sickness, or nausea thru out pregnancy, essential hypertension. Many of these women improved so much they still were able to birth at home safely.
- Post birth:- easier and safer birthing of placentas. How to stop or control bleeding post birth without drugs.
- Improved healing for any damaged perineums especially for 3rd and 4th degree tears. Outcomes for subsequent pregnancies much better with more holistic healing
- Better outcomes for women with depression, both ante-natallly and post-natally.
- Improved baby and mother attachment leading to much improved health for mother and baby post-natally, better breast feeding etc
To achieve these things it has meant some small changes in practice. No breaking rules of our profession. I spend much more time on diet and lifestyle. I have stopped using cold on perineum’s or breasts. Using heat you achieve great outcomes right when you want them plus better for long term health. Using Moxa sticks and massage on mothers sacrum and back.
Heather runs courses for midwives which help them learn how to be able to assist women to have much more enjoyable pregnancies and births. I have been incorporating different things in my practice, like no cold application at any time, better education about their bodies, better able to understand their bodies, encouraging women to take responsibility for their own and their children’s health, being patient with nature and allowing the women’s body to birth the baby and the placenta themselves. Using moxa sticks and massage and teaching dads to help their partners to achieve the great birth they are wanting to have.
- Almost zero induction rate,
- 90% homebirth rate with no drugs, (only non pharmaceutical pain relief),
- only occasional tears,
- no episiotomy rate,
- 95% + breast feeding rate,
- minimal 3rd day blues, only occasional post natal depression and by far
- almost 100% women who love their labour and want to repeat it.
What I have found is, working with Heather’s work, I been able to get a much more enjoyable practice, with giving women a much more healthy pregnancy, birth and post natal period even when working with higher risk women.
Heather is extremely passionate about helping women to birth naturally – and what’s more to enjoy their birth. Her focus is not only on what is best for both mother and baby but also the whole family. Differing to other health professionals, she has incorporated many different health modalities to be able to give all a more complete healing for both mothers and babies: this puts them in a fantastic place of complete health. Her comprehensive book “What Dads Can Do” is a great tool to help with what, where, why and when you can do to keep mum in optimum health throughout her whole pregnancy into the postnatal period and back into her active family life, to eventual menopause and old age.
What next?
Want to learn more on how you too can become a change agent in assisting natural easy pregnancies and births ?
See here for Heather’s pelvic opening work based upon her 4 decades of work with women.
To learn more in self home help in this precious time of life – please see here.
To find out how you can help yourself in pregnancy – perhaps visit. This site i full of helpful links across many different sites to allow natural information to flow for you. Breastfeeding? See here
Acupuncturists interested in being able to replicate the work Heather achieved with Yvonne – please look to the Transformative Healing package as all her work is maternally inspired.This package has Heather’s progression in obstetrics – with their weekend seminars and notes from 1994 til the present.
https://heatherbrucehealing.com/healsbruh/transformative-healing/