“ The term ‘birthwork’ embraces all the different kinds of work and creative effort that mothers and their support people embark upon through childbearing. It acknowledges that birthworkers everywhere have the natural and necessary impulse to nurture mothers and babies, and share their experiences and wisdom. It also transcends the arguments about who should be caring for the mother, and helps us drop into the deeper process of understanding how to truly ‘be’ with birth.”

This wonderful quote comes from the home page of www.birthwork.com, a website created by Jenny Blyth - author, film maker, birthworker, educator, mother and wife. If ever you were considering having a natural birth or supporting at one, you would want Jenny on your team. She is an expert of natural birth and passionate about sharing her skills around this. This wisdom and experience has culminated in the publishing of a book “Birth Work – Compassionate Guide to Being with Birth” and a film “The Big Stretch” created cooperatively with Alieta Belle. Both have gone international and are a much sort after source of information and inspiration.

This passion was born from Jenny’s own birth experiences and the realisation that giving birth, though instinctual, is a huge process on many levels and one that needs to be travelled with support and knowledge. Jenny wanted to be able to support her friends along this journey. This began twenty eight years of attending, researching, recording, advocating and championing natural birth.

Jenny has seen how much responsibility and control of a woman’s birthing experience has been undermined, how women have become a passive participant in the process, whether through fear, politics, medical intervention or lack of information. This view is supported by other birth workers such as Kelly Winder creator of BellyBelly, mother and birth attendant, when she writes on her home page,

“The majority of the pregnant women I have known have expressed a desire, be it overwhelming or wavering, to give birth naturally (e.g. no drugs or interventions). However, what many of us have found to be lacking in today’s society is enough support, education and encouragement to help women achieve the natural birth they hope for. Not only that, labour pain has recently become something that has been seen by some as ‘unnecessary’ or ‘bad’ pain – when it is, in fact, a very useful pain. There is an epidemic of fear in labour which prevents some women to achieve this.”

Jenny’s mission then through workshops, talks and midwifery skills is to create a proactive approach to birth work; to encourage a positive mind stream of birth wisdom and to empower women and their partners by teaching them body awareness and preparation. She encourages women to stop feeling intimidated, to embrace that sense of vulnerability and to ask - indeed command what it is they need to birth in the best way for their bodies. Her workshops are for any birthworkers and future parents and involve skills such as body work, simple techniques to care for birthing mothers and how to develop an intuitive relationship with the mother.


But Jenny’s mentoring does not end there. For the past fifteen years she has organised and facilitated an annual women’s retreat. Jenny commented that she noticed that working with women over the years they often become stuck in the seriousness of motherhood and the expectations of doing a good job, which leaves little time for fun and playful expression, which in turn can lead to feelings of resentment. Jenny created the Women’s Dreaming Camp as a space for women to come together and play, to have time out and to have a different experience of self in relationship to other women. This is encouraged through movement, art, story, dance, games and theatre and offers a unique opportunity for the women to express their spirit. Jenny says, “I love to watch women express life in ways other than talking.” To create the balance, her equally inspired husband Warren runs similar weekends for men.

Jenny’s work is important and necessary. Empowering woman during birth ensures the best start in life for baby. She is in the process of writing another book and creating a sequel to the movie. This is more than taking back a women’s power in the birthing process - this is about celebrating a woman’s innate ability and strength to create, nurture, sustain and birth whatever she wants in her life. Jenny’s work is more than being at births, it is about finding the balance in birthing, beautifully and bravely.