Iron Sharpens Iron

Yesterday a few of us got together for a Birth Workers Skills Day, and it ended up being such a good afternoon. We spent time catching up, working through case studies and different birth scenarios, talking through how each of us might handle certain situations, and practicing skills to keep all of us sharp. Some of the things we train for are things we hope we rarely need, but that is exactly why practicing them matters. When something unexpected happens at a birth, that is not the time to be trying to remember the steps of a skill you have not touched in years.

One of my favorite parts was honestly just being able to sit around with other women who understand this work. Birth work is incredibly rewarding, but it can also be a strange little world. We work odd hours, carry a lot of responsibility, and have experiences that can be hard to explain to someone who is not in it. Being able to ask each other, “What would you do here?” or “What would make you change your plan?” is so valuable. Everyone brings different experiences, different strengths, and different ways of looking at a situation, and I think we are all better when we are willing to learn from one another.

We also spent some time talking about the business side of what we do, what is working, what is challenging, and how each of us is trying to grow. That part was probably just as helpful as the skills practice. There is something really encouraging about being able to celebrate each other, bounce ideas around, and be honest about the things we are still figuring out.

I kept thinking about Proverbs 27:17 afterward: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” That really sums up the day for me. None of us has every answer, and none of us should ever get to a point where we think we have nothing left to learn. Good care is not just about what we learned in school or the certifications we collected along the way. It is about continuing to practice, continuing to ask questions, continuing to learn from experience, and being willing to let the people around us challenge us to grow.

I am really thankful for the women in this photo. Friends, coworkers, colleagues, and people I genuinely enjoy learning from. We got to practice, talk through cases, chat about business, laugh a lot, and remind each other that we are not doing this work alone. I hope we keep making time for more days like this, because when birth workers support each other and keep each other sharp, the families we care for benefit too.

As iron sharpens iron,
    so one person sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17