Pink Kit Method For Birthing Better® Statistics from 2000-2010

See Pink Kit graphs.

View The Pink Kit PowerPoint presentation given by Andrea Vincent and Suzie Hume at New Zealand College Of Midwives unto 2010.

Birthing Better Has Two Outcomes

The positive 'outcomes' shown on the graphs were accomplished by ordinary pregnant mothers and expectant fathers who taught themselves The Birthing Better Pink Kit skills, practiced and applied the skills during their baby's birth process in order to improve their own personal experience. The Pink Kit skills are used in all birth situations because a baby is born in any situation.

As a charitable Trust, Common Knowledge Trust does not give direct service to people. We pass on childbirth skills so that people can improve their own birth experiences.

The midwives who collected these statistics had to evolve their personal practices. They have learned to persuade, encourage, enthuse, educate, insist, require and inspire couples to teach themselves these invaluable skills.

The results are impressive! Couple who taught themselves The Pink Kit skills self reduced their use of epidurals, need for induction, augmentation, use of forceps/ventoose and even emergency cesarean delivery.

More importantly, these two midwives report women manage labor better, husbands/partners and others know how-to coach the woman which leads to better parenting and partnership after the birth.

Andrea Vincent, Midwife, Nelson, New Zealand

Over 90% of the women birthed in hospital. Statistics exclude elective cesareans.

Andrea began having couples use The Pink Kit (The complete Pink Kit Package became available in 2006) midway through 2000 after 20 years of practice. Seeing so many consistent successes, she now strongly insists that couples use The Pink Kit Package to prepare for childbirth.

Originally, Andrea believed like many that  because birth is natural there is nothing a woman can do to prepare for birth. She had seen many women birth instinctively and many more struggle with labor.

At the time she also believed that a midwife's role was to sit back and let women discover her own way to birth. This just wasn't working. Fewer women were having spontaneous vaginal births and those who were used more pain relief. This is reflected in her statistics prior to 2000 before The Pink Kit had been launched.

After collecting statistics for several years, she still strongly believes birth is natural BUT couples must be skilled.These statistics reflect a tremendous change in her practice and show Practice Based Evidence.

Her reasons for wanting to see change in her practice.

• Many women over reacted to labor pain when they had no skills to put in place to manage their contractions.
• Women relied excessively on her, as a continuity of care midwife, to 'get them through their labor'.
• Fathers often stood around not knowing what to do and feeling useless.
• This caused occupational fatigue over 20 years.

Her clients come from diverse backgrounds, many had health issues and most chose to birth in hospital. She has renewed her love of being a midwife because she now attends so many empowered births with couples who really work together and feel wonderful about their experience.

Over 85% of the women birthed in hospital. Suzie entered independent midwifery practice mid way through 2001. Previously she had worked as a continuity of care hospital midwife in a team.

She began working with couples who used The Pink Kit half way through 2001. She has a smaller practice than Andrea, yet maintains a high level of ‘natural’ births. She works extensively with solo mothers from a lower economic background with little education.

Suzie took a while to be able to convince, encourage, persuade, insist, require and inspire these young couples or solo mothers to use The Pink Kit. These couples had many personal issues: partnership relationships, money and postnatal support and others. Suzie found herself focusing on these very important and big issues. Eventually, she began to balance her practice and evolve her practice to include The Pink Kit. She had concerns that these young mothers wouldn't understand the information.

Once she told them to watch only one section of the video at a time, they slowed down and did the work.These women also relied more heavily of Suzie as their professional and she had to explain to each other that The Pink Kit was the work they had to do. Once they discovered the information was not ‘formal’ education, they have done the work. After the birth they feel so very good about themselves. More young dads get involved. Couples stay together.

Her personal reasons for getting her clients to use The Pink Kit.

• She was a new midwife and didn’t want to face lots of complications.
• She was a bit uncertain about her ability to resolve long labors without the use of medical assistance.
• She was working with a lot of young, solo mothers and wanted them to have a self empowered birth.
• She came from a childbirth education background and didn’t believe childbirth education gave women and men necessary skills.
• She didn’t want the responsibility of providing someone with a positive birth and then feel guilty if she couldn’t do that.

Nelson Hospital

Elective C/S excluded. Results given in %

Over 85% of women in New Zealand are attended by a continuity of care midwife either within a hospital midwifery group or one who offers both home/hospital births as an independent midwife. Nelson Hospital’s statistics reflect the broader NZ midwifery practice and are in line with the National average.

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