The Waterbirth Credentialing Workshop will cover the basics, the research, the physiology, the reasons and rationales for using warm water immersion in labor and birth. Topics like 'How to avoid 2nd stage difficulties. Dealing with shoulder dystocia, assessing blood loss, delayed third stage and initiating breastfeeding are covered in this all day course. This course was approved by ACOG in September 2007 and was presented at the Gentle Birth World Congress. Workshops have been presented in Dayton, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas and Portland, Oregon. There was much praise and gratitude for the information. It has changed how some midwives attend births.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 9am-5pm
The Net Shed at Arabella's Landing
3323 Harborview Dr. Gig Harbor, WA 98332

The Oregonian newspaper referred to Barbara Harper as "the Billy Graham of waterbirth" when they described her "missionary" style of promoting waterbirth around the world. Interviewed by magazines and newspapers and websites on a weekely basis, Barbara's mission of making waterbirth an available option for all women remains steadfast.

Her expertise in waterbirth and gentle, undisturbed birth is widely sought in all areas of the globe. She has lectured in 35 countries, including many medical schools, nursing schools, midwifery programs and university women’s studies departments. Barbara has been interviewed by hundreds of newspapers and magazines and has appeared on dozens of radio and TV shows to talk about her work with waterbirth and gentle birth.

Barbara started her career in maternity as an RN, but not your regular run-of-the mill-nurse. She was always passionate about mothers and babies, even in nursing school. Her maternal grandmother, Estella Ethel Harper Lemonyon, was a nurse and midwife and worked in rural Mercer Country, Ohio, where Barbara learned from an early age what service, sacrifice and hard work were all about. She founded Waterbirth International in 1987 after visiting Russia for the first time and sitting down with Igor Charkovsky, where she was influenced by his complete faith in birthing women and their babies. She also worked extensively with Binnie Dansby, in the early 1980’s learning to respect the cognitive, but repressed, experiences and memories of birth in all our lives.

Her research and experiences resulted in the publication of Gentle Birth Choices, book and DVD. She also produced Birth Into Being: The Russian Waterbirth Experience in cooperation with Alexi and Tatiana Sargunas in 2000, after traveling many times back to Russia. Midwives and parents alike have called her video programs "the most inspiring birth videos ever produced."

Single with three children, Barbara has dedicated her life to helping heal the way we welcome babies into the world. Her two youngest sons were born at home in water. Her daughter, Beth, the oldest, was born in a typical 1970s style hospital birth. Barbara and her children have lived in Wilsonville, Oregon, a suburb of Portland, for the past 16 years where she has been active in the community, including Boy Scouts and church.