Baby in a string bag

"What are you doing to me, Granny?"

The picture today has little to do with what I want to write!  

The string bag is a bilum, a traditional carry-all from Papua New Guinea.  A bilum may be used to carry babies, piglets, garden produce ...  I love the feel of the hand-made string, and the unique shape.  It probably smells strange to 4-month old Amelie, and she seemed quite happy to be in there - for a couple of minutes, anyway.

This blog attracts a very small group of readers, often 10 to 20 a day.  I don't really know who the readers are, but I assume that some of you know me, some of you are following my writing within a type of electronic preceptorship, and some of you are curious enough to read about the little details of private midwifery practice in Melbourne, Australia.


If you have read my recent post on the villagemidwife blog you will be aware that a couple of comments I made attracted strong objection from a couple of readers.  That blog usually receives around 100 visitors per day, but the number went to 500 briefly with that particular post.

One person who commented is well known in the midwifery blogasphere, and she asserted that:

"Australian homebirth midwives ARE more concerned about their personal income and status than the lives of the babies in their hands,"

That's a serious assertion, that I had denied, and the writer re-stated it.  She went on:

"and your extremely callous "comparison" of IVs and neonatal deaths is a perfect example of that." 

... which I also denied.  This respondent has twisted my words to suit her own agenda.  There was no "comparison" of IVs and neonatal deaths.  I won't try to explain it here - I believe the original post is quite clear.

Anyone who writes on a public medium, such as a blog, accepts that she is open to misunderstanding, distrust, and even cyber-bullying.  I have experienced that, yet I believe I need to continue writing confidently and truthfully about my life's work.

Thankyou for your comments