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Karil Daniels, an independent filmmaker, began her pioneering research on underwater birth in 1981. That work led several years later to the multiple award-winning WATER BABY documentary, which was shot in three countries and brought together the world's leading pioneers in one comprehensive program that demystified this new method and motivated hundreds of birthcare providers and facilities to make it available to their patients. This tape remains, years later, one of the most comprehensive videos available on the topic and is now widely used by both birthcare professionals and parents seeking to educate themselves and their birthcare providers on the topic. To get more details regarding this video, Click Here.
On February 2nd, 1982, the first "Homo Delphinus Conference," was presented in New Zealand and produced by Estelle Myers, a waterbirth activist, dolphin lover, ecofeminist and peacemaker. 'Homo Delphinus,' the human dolphin, water babies, was coined by the infamous deep sea diver, Jaques Mayol. In January 1986 Estelle Myers again produced the second "Homo Delphiuns Conference" with Jaques Mayol as the key note speaker at both. Estelle, assisted the first underwater birth on the 17th of March, 1982 in New Zealand. She's produced a number of videos and become an international speaker on the dolphin and human connection.
In 1985, The Family Birthing Center in Upland, southern California headed by Dr. Michael Rosenthal offered women the possibility to labor or birth in water. After five years and extensive accumulation of experiences of water birth, by 1993, almost 1000 births later, no complications or infections of mothers or babies Rosenthal quotes, "At the Family Birthing Center, we feel strongly that woman are giving birth. They’re not coming here to have their babies delivered. Part of our effort is to restore control of birth back to women. We take the term ‘nonintervention’ in a very literal sense. It often means that women give birth without me using my hands. The use of warm water for labor and birth might be viewed as radical and new in the human experience, however, from a historical perspective, the use of most obstetric interventions such as spinal or epidural anesthesia, narcotics and forceps are comparatively recent. The use of water should be one of the most risk free interventions. If the bath had been used earlier in this century, we might never have passed through the era of ‘twilight sleep’ sedation that depressed babies and removed mothers from the conscious participation in birth." - (Excerpt from the video WATER BABY: EXPERIENCES OF WATER BIRTH by Karil Daniels)
In early 1989 the Waterbirth International Project of Global Maternal/Child Health Association began to meet. Director, Barbara Harper, became one of the waterbirth mothers of the planet acting as an international resource for tub rental and sales, books, videos and education on the topics of gentle alternatives in childbirth. For more information, visit www.waterbirth.org.
On April 1-2, 1995 at the Wembley Conference Center in London, England the "First International Conference on Water Birth, Exploring the Issues," was presented. Representatives from 39 countries presented data on some 19,000 births in water.
A book, entitled, "Waterbirth Unplugged, Proceedings of the First International Water Birth Conference," edited by Beverley A. Lawrence Beech was transcribed from the conference. Thirteen audio tapes from the conference can be ordered through QED Instant Audio Cassettes by clicking here. Video tapes of the Conference can be order through this web site by looking under Video Tapes.
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On April 12-14, 1996, the First North American Conference on Nurturing Women: Integrating Water into Maternity Care," was presented in Greensboro, North Carolina.
At this conference, medical caregivers and researchers were able for the first time, to examine the evidence and share their experiences with colleagues in other disciplines.
To order video copies of the lectures, go to Video Tapes in this web site.
For further information on the next International Waterbirth Conference go to: www.waterbirth.org.
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