Jan Tritten is the founder and editor-in-chief of Midwifery Today magazine and a midwife who was in active practice from 1977 to 1989. She became a midwife in 1977 after the powerful homebirth of one of her daughters. Her mission is to make loving midwifery care the norm for birthing women and their babies in the United States and around the world. Meet Jan at our conferences around the world! Photo by Andrea Noll
The most important event in many women’s lives is giving birth. It is so pivotal that most moms can remember it in great detail their entire life. I met a woman in Japan who was in her 80s and could recount every detail of her birth. Her father-in-law had been her support person.
Every woman is different and every labor is different. In this editorial, Jan shares some of the ways labor can be experienced by different women.
I believe that doulas need to have some preparation for handling emergency clinical situations: not to take them on, but to be ready in case of an emergency. This is a somewhat unpopular view. However, doulas can never know what kind of situation they may find themselves in. For example, you may be the first to arrive at a homebirth, when the midwife gets a flat tire or, for some other reason, does not arrive in time for the birth.
Continuity of carer is key to a normal, physiological, and empowered birth. Midwifery is about relationship which develops in the course of prenatal care.
Our developing insights into the microbiome have the potential to change everything regarding homebirth for moms—if we can get the word out about its importance to a healthy life. We will need to work on this from all spheres of influence.
When we help a mother bring forth her baby onto this earth it will resound in the world forever.
We have lost an amazing Fijian midwife and nurse, Albert Edward McLaren. We would not have been able to do the Fiji conference without this maverick of a midwife. He passed away on September 26, 2016, of complications from diabetes.
Reflecting on Fiji: Highlights from the Midwifery Today Conference by Jan Tritten. Complete with the prime minister of Fiji’s opening speech, Jan shares some of the highlights from a truly inspiring conference in the South Seas.
It is important to realize that the health of the mother and baby are deeply dependent on what happens in pregnancy, birth and in the hours and months after birth. These are life-altering days often referred to as the childbearing year.
