This article is one in a series of interviews with expats in Stavanger. Its purpose is to share with everyone what your fellow expats are doing and also to help advertise the businesses/services/events that these expats are involved in. If you would like to or know of a business/enterprise to be interviewed, feel free to contact us!
Interview with Wendy Pagler of Stavanger Birth and Baby – an absolute gem for parents and parents-to-be in Stavanger. As well as running Stavanger Birth and Baby, Wendy (a qualified TEFL teacher) teaches part-time at the French School and takes some private clients for English lessons.
Where are you from?
I’m from the UK originally and came to Stavanger in 1999.
I had never lived abroad before and, like many people, only planned to be here for about eighteen months!
What brought you here in the first place?
I came here because of my husband’s work. We had three small children and he was always away when we lived in the UK.
Moving to Norway meant that we were able to be together as a family a lot more.
What made you start Stavanger Birth and Baby?
After my own children were born I trained as a Childbirth Educator with a charity in the UK called the National Childbirth Trust.
I have since taken qualifications in both baby massage and first aid and put all this together into a small business called ‘Stavanger Birth and Baby’.
What led to your decision to train as a Birth Educator?
I decided to train as a Birth Educator because, after having my own children, I became very interested in the whole process: not just the biological aspects of pregnancy and birth but also the psychological effects of becoming parents.
My first birth was not at all straightforward but was, nevertheless, one of the most important and wonderful days of my life and it saddened me to hear other people say what a nightmare their births had been and they they preferred to forget them. I wanted to try and help people have ‘birth days’ they could feel proud of and look back on with joy.
What are your basic principles in relation to birthing?
I believe the most important thing is choice. A couple should be able to decide what is most important to them and be able to do what they feel is right for them. They should have access to reliable information to help them make these choices.
Birth is a wonderful, well-designed process and all women are capable of giving birth using their own resources as long as the circumstances are favourable. Favourable circumstances mean a baby who is healthy and in a good position; a mother who is healthy in both body and mind and an environment in which that mother can feel safe and supported enough to surrender herself to an intense physical experience which she cannot control. This last aspect can be quite difficult to achieve given the negative messages many women are subject to concerning birth and the often less than ideal circumstances in hospital.
Often women need help because the environment in which they are expected to birth is lacking in some way. I try to encourage people to see this as a failure of the system rather than a failure in themselves so that, whatever sort of birth they have, they can feel that they, personally, did their very best.
Giving birth with this kind of positive feeling uppermost enables a couple to embark on parenting with pride and high self-esteem – vitally important!
What kind of courses do you run at Stavanger Birth and Baby?
I run Birth Weekend Workshops where groups of couples can prepare together for the challenges of birth and early parenting. These happen about once a month and are mostly attended by first time parents.
I offer the same course for individual couples in their own home if they are unable to attend one of the weekends.
I also provide Birth Consultations for couples who are expecting a second or subsequent child.
Several times I have been lucky enough to act as a doula and provide extra support for a couple during their birth. This is both a great privilege and a wonderful way to develop professional knowledge.
I run a weekly Baby Music group and hold regular courses in Baby Massage and also in First Aid for Babies and Children.
Do you run the courses in Norwegian as well?
All the courses are in English, partly because my Norwegian is not wonderful but mostly because that is where the demand is.
However the people that attend are from a wide variety of nationalities (so interesting for me) and many of them are Norwegians.
How can you be contacted?
You can get in touch with me here.
Thank you so much for your time, Wendy. All the best with Stavanger Birth and Baby! I have attended Wendy’s baby music sessions and find them to be fun for my little one. Wendy is such an easy person to talk to and she gives loads of good information and advice. She is also very non-judgemental and kind. I would say she is easily the most important resource for mums in Stavanger.
What participants of Wendy’s courses have to say about her:
My husband and I went to Wendy Pagler’s birthing course, first aid course, and we asked her to be a doula at Alyssa’s birth. As a first time mom in a foreign country, I was pretty nervous about the whole birthing experience. Wendy’s course was very informative and left me feeling much more confident than I had been before. We liked the course so much that we decided to ask Wendy to assist as a doula at Alyssa’s birth and we attended her first aid course. I was in labor for 22 hours and Wendy spent the majority of that time with us. She helped me throughout the labor by reminding me of everything I learned in her course, as well as reassuring Rich and I that we were both doing a great job. We needed to hear that, especially when we hit rough patches in the labor. After we came home from the hospital hotel, Wendy came to our house for a follow-up visit. We value the advice and knowledge that Wendy shared with us on many levels – as a birth educator, mother, and friend – and would highly recommend her to all new and even experienced mothers.
I took a birthing course from her as well as a baby massage class and I think she’s wonderful! I’m sure everyone has said the same thing about her but Wendy is such a warm and supportive person. You don’t feel as though she’s being judgmental or critical, she’s just there to support you though your birth. She makes you feel incredibly comfortable and you get the sense that you can ask her anything. I was able to have a natural birth and I really believe that the reason I was able to make it through the process of delivering Olivia was because of some of the things I learned in Wendy’s class. At one point she told our group that “no contraction would last for more than 90 seconds.” I held onto that little nugget of information like my life depended on it and I think it got me through the worst of it.
My husband and I had Wendy come to our place for a birth consultation for our second child. We were really impressed with the information she gave us and she helped us understand how to best prepare for our baby. We felt a lot more prepared for our second child – thank you so much, Wendy! My baby girl and I also went to the baby massage classes and baby music. Wendy is easy to talk with, perceptive, and has a lot of wisdom to share about many parenting topics.
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About Cynthia Myrnes
Cynthia is a Singaporean who has been living in Stavanger since Feb 2008 with her Norwegian husband. She works as a physiotherapist here and also owns her own petsitting service, Stavanger Petsitter, for the residents of Stavanger. In addition, she manages the Stavanger International Moms group. She loves hanging out with friends, spending time with animals, travelling and watersports such as scuba diving and wake boarding. Most of all, she is enjoying the experience of being a first time mom!
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