I am also starting my journey into CBE and I am glad that you said this. I wasn't planning on getting a pelvis. I just don't picture myself using one that often.

This is me! I teach hypnobabies and occasionally do private classes with non-hypno doula clients. I have tons of handouts from various places and ones that I have made... I have the foam dilation model from bestdoulas.com and that is it. LOL. I like to discuss and demonstrate and do!

My new favorite with my non-hypno clients is the ice contraction. Seriously, doing this did more for the families I've worked with than anything else I say or do.

Baby
Placenta
Uterus
Projector
Laptop
These are my top ones.
I have my booklet for parents, then I have pp presentations, movies, etc.. on my laptop.

I taught for a few years without a pelvis and baby, but IMO my classes and student's understanding is MUCH better now that I can show them exactly what the cardinal movements are, how the baby has to move under the pubic bone, what malpresentation looks like and how position can cange it. The major biggie being how squatting narrows the pelvic inlet and opens the pelvic outlet. I feel that students *hear* me and *understand* way better than just using a doll to demonstrate the same things. I could live without them, but I feel I would be doing a disservice to my clients and students by not having them.

As I said in a previous thread I often use the pelvis and baby with doula clients.

I called just a few days ago to request one and the woman I talked to said it would be in the mail - I wonder which one of us was getting faulty info...

The first thing I did after my PfB seminar was go to the thrift store and find a sweater where the sleeve could work as a uterus . I cut the sleeve at the shoulder and never even hemmed it or anything. Then I use the knitted sleeve part as the cervix.

I now have access to a full model with the pelvis/placenta/amnion/cord, and I find it's so much easier to use my generic sweater sleeve uterus!

Okay, top 10?
1-baby, I got mine from the thrift store
2-uterus/pelvis -- I use a cloth pelvis and I really like it , uterus, see above
3-useful DVD clips. 3 Rs, Birth Day, Baby-Led Latch, Born in Water, Orgasmic Birth, Business of Being Born, and I LOVE this!!!!!: http://www.injoyvideos.com/product.php?proid=109&page=Healthy_Birth_Your_Way Everybody should get it!
4-charts I have made, b/c I am cheap, and b/c I haven't found any I like better
5-tool kit of comfort measures (my son made the tool box in cub scouts!)
6-birth ball
7-extra babies for breastfeeding (you shoulc see my office, lol)
8-markers for all!!! I get them cheap after they go on clearance in the fall
9-music to teach by or relax to (I have quite an assortment, and I like to have it playing in the background often)
10-enthusiasm, humor, honesty, and empathy

I also made dilation charts out of foam myself. I am pretty cheap, and if I can make it, I won't buy it .

Thanks for all the great ideas! I especially like the sweater/uterus idea!

Who do you call at Pampers?

The box idea is cute. I just use crepe paper streamers in a couple of colours and masking tape for everything: monitor belts, iv, cath, bp. It gets the visual across. I use an easel flip chart for notes during class and I tape everything to those in lieu of a monitor. The victim///partner sits on a chair in front of the flip chart.

Baby and pelvis, no question. To me, it's worth paying bucks for a good pelvis. You'll use it for the rest of your career. I have the vinyl one with bolts in it so I can demonstrate the effects of relaxin. I would not use a cloth one as they move unrealistically. Need to show the effects of bone structure on the baby in order to demonstrate cardinal movements and the importance of movement to facilitate rotation and descent.

You need to beg, borrow, copy or buy whatever you can in the way of videos. They're an investment, for sure, but they make a huge difference. To get started, the Lamaze website now has some clips you can use. I show a mainstream birth 101 video from (crap, brain freeze...the big medical video company) on the first night. After that I show alternatives. I go all the way over to the Russian waterbirth video the second night and then some different things after that. I also pass along a link to some Youtube videos I've collected in a playlist for people to watch on their own time. Youtube is a bit of a minefield for pregnant people, but there are a number of good, positive videos if you dig around enough.

I get a good response in class to the items I've picked up at births to discuss interventions. If you have a friendly nurse or midwife at a birth you may be able to have a couple of things "fall" into your bag. I have an amnihook, a scalp monitor, a kiwi vacuum and an empty epidural syringe with the meds label on it in case someone asks about the specific drugs. If disposable, sterile things are opened but not used at a birth, they're garbage, so they might as well go for educational purposes.

Some posters are handy. I have a flip thingy that another CBE gave me that was a freebie from Pampers. I'm not keen on branded things, but this one is useful and it saved me spending over $100 to get something similar. People really like the non-pregnant/9 months pregnant torso pic to see the changes of pregnancy. It also has cervical changes during labour, some positions for labour and pushing, normal newborn appearance, what the setup looks like in a c/s and one bf poster.

HTH

I just read through the rest of the responses. For those who are saying no pelvis, I respectfully suggest you reconsider. I've been teaching for over 20 years, and I consider a well-fitting doll and pelvis the absolute most important visual aids I use. Most people learn better with some visual and/or kinesthetic component. I put the doll and pelvis out on the table at every class so that anyone can pick them up and try out something we're talking about. They are really, really useful. (And I don't even own shares in the company! I got mine from Directional Learning in Ontario, but I think they may have gone under or been bought out, because I can't find them at the moment. They never did have a useful website - you had to call them and order a catalogue.)

I also have minis that I bring to prenatals and births, and they get used at every birth where there's a positioning concern. Often the nurse and I will be huddled over the doll and pelvis trying different things to offer ideas to the woman.

I spoke today at the local CBE class (hospital). The teacher surprised me and told me she would give me her old pelvis (the hospital had bought new ones that she uses). YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's wonderful! That's a major expense taken care of. (So you can use the money for more videos!)

Hmmm, I'll have to call back and check on it. I found of all of the charts I ever had, that one I used the most. Hopefully the person I spoke with didn't know what she was talking about!

I would have to respectfully disagree about the pelvis for teaching. After teaching for over 15 years, the pelvis and doll are the two items I use the most. I'm always picking them up and demonstrating something such as cardinal movements or how various positions open or decrease the outlet and/or inlet.
I think when women see this they get the picture in their mind of how their pelvis works and how they can work better with it.
Definitely worth the investment. And if you buy through Childbirth Graphics it is only $60 I believe. And it is jointed and movable.

I was told it was in the mail and when it came a couple of months later!! there was a box of 20 teaching booklets and some flyers with a letter saying they were no longer producing the flip chart,and could I reuse the booklets with each class. I ordered in Oct 2009 and the box came in Dec. 2009