an introduction to her work for happy, healthy babies ...

My crusade against managed birth actually started many years ago. As a little girl,  instead of playing with the other children I  preferred to stay with the grown-ups and listen to my mother and her  friends when they were telling their stories about child birth. 

When I gave birth to my first daughter in 1971 I had studied every book that could be found on pregnancy and birth.  Therefore it was kind of a shock to me when I arrived at the maternity hospital and discovered that I actually knew more about certain things in this area than the midwives and obstetricians themselves!

During the eighties I worked  for eight years in a neonatal hospital, and for  two years in a maternity hospital. I also took further education during these years, and we watched the French obstetrician Frederick Leboyer's film ‘Birth without Violence’.  To see these relaxed and smiling babies was a true ‘wow’ sensation to me, and I knew by then that one of my missions in life was to help create as  pleasant births as possible, for both babies and mothers.  

As a way to learn more about this I took a Rebirthing Training course for one year (this is a form of alternative medicine mainly consisting of a breathing technique). This actually was the best thing I have ever done– to re-experience your own birth is probably the best way to understand the enigma of birth.  I even joined the International Society of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine. Then in 1989 I went to Jerusalem together with the Scandinavian section of the Society, (of which I by then was a member of the Board, to attend the International Birth congress - Encounter with the unborn.

However, only one year later my husband’s company offered him an engagement in the UK, so we moved there for a couple of years. Since then I have not worked professionally in the childbirth area. However, I took up an interest in this again when my granddaughter Hedvig was born in April 2007 and I attended at her birth. Since then I have put almost all of my time and energy into  stopping early cord clamping and other routines that can harm mother and baby.